Every year I do rate the P R of each each country from a press perspective (seen out of my own eyes mostly) but also taking into account that I hear from others and then give them a point of out 10
Every year some countries SHINE and others are just awful. 2015 was no exception. I have decided to do this in order of appearance via semi final 1 and 2 and then those automatically in the final
MOLDOVA
I always love it when it starts off with a great country. Getting the bag with the CD single and full CD and the singer making himself available for photo’s. What more can you ask?
10 out of 10
ARMENIA
A rough start – for me a special interest because the one member is from Ethophia and he actually was recently in South Africa to audition for Big brother Africa. I think the head of press felt a little overwhelmed by the degree of interest (because of the 6 members being from different continents). But in the end all worked out well, getting the bag with the paper CD single and also the special production of a 3 set with CD, CD rom and DVD.
9.5 out of 10
BELGIUM
A huge disappointment, having personally wrote well ahead of the event and seeing that the entry is via SONY MUSIC Belgium. There were 250 promo CD’s and I failed to get one. Yes there was a lot of interest because the song was a favourite, plus some language problem since it was the turn of the French side of Belgium TV to have the entry, but I still feel extremely let down by them. Maybe those 250 press people who did get the promo CD will have another more positive experience?
0 out of 10
NETHERLANDS
After a little rocky start it was great and each pigeonhole got the promo CD without having to ask (Netherlands did that also in 2013 and 2014). Sorry they failed to make the finals but if it had been me, I would have staged the song like WALK ALONG and have a road and lots of icons along the road like ABBA, CELINE DION, UDO JURGENS, etc so to play in with the fact that it is 60 years of Eurovision.
9 out of 10
FINLAND
It could not have been easy to work with the band and their circumstances but they did a great job – we were upset that we could not hand the good luck messages but the band members were tired and had to go home and then later they allowed us personally inside an interview booth to do it. I am also one of a few who did the the promo CD
9 out of 10
GREECE
I cannot recall a year Greece was not among the top 5 in my review – they are just amazing when it comes to promo CD’s and the way it is available to all. And their promo CD’s always look so good.
10 out of 10
ESTONIA
Difficult to judge them since I got the promo CD from the president of OGAE Estonia as a thank you for helping one of their members with Mark Churches tickets. Luigi and I were glad to stand next to Estonian TV at the red carpet so we called most artists to them and has close access as well.
9 out of 10
MACEDONIA
Compared to last year, this was a big disappointment. I expected more but we learned that Daniel donated the money normally spent on promo material to a hospital and we all got just a UB stick (that is enough, at least we got something). The song is in huge demand to cover in Afrikaans and we probably will do a single with both Daniel’s version and the Afrikaans cover so we could have a physical single.
6 out of 10