A TOUCH OF HOLLYWOOD

I think it was spring 2003. I was sitting on my farm in Utah with two German friends when the phone rang. An employee of my company excitedly called the receiver. At first I didn't understand her, prepared for the worst, I asked her to start over and speak slowly. She said almost spelling: "Nicole Kidman uses our cosmetics". Almost a bit annoyed, I ask, "Who is Nicole Kidman?" I almost had to keep my ear open, a deafening screech from my friends from the corner of the sofa mixed with that of my colleague at the other end of the line: "Waaaaaas, you don't know who Nicole Kidman is?" sounded it.

I squatted pretty helplessly there and had to be instructed. Admittedly, I was never particularly good at actor names. Except maybe Julia Roberts - one of my favorite films is Pretty Woman - and I hardly knew Richard Gere. I had it explained to me and at the next opportunity I drove into the city to get a picture of Nicole Kidman from a video. My colleague reported that she had been made aware of this by an article in a women's magazine that also mentioned our camellia seed oil used by Ms. Kidman. Unfortunately, we were never allowed to exploit this little sensation in advertising, an advertising contract with the star would have been unaffordable. We were of course allowed to show the magazine with the corresponding page to our customers - we bought up the entire stock of this issue.