IT WAS the client brief from hell - how to make Hampshire-grown watercress fashionable.
But a public relations firm came up trumps with this now famous image of glamorous Jo Guest at Alresford, near Winchester, and in doing so worked some market magic.
The campaign, which was funded by the UK's three biggest producers, Geest, Andover-based Vitacress Salads and Alresford-based The Watercress Company, helped revitalise the industry, securing jobs.
Sales were boosted by £1.75m, turning a 15 per cent year-on-year sales decline into an 11 per cent increase.
Wendy Akers public relations, located in south-west London, developed the campaign for The Watercress Alliance.
The firm fought off stiff competition to win the consumer relationship category in the 2004 Institute of Public Relations Excellence Awards in London.
The "Not Just a Bit on the Side" publicity stunt saw page three model Guest posing American Beauty-style, garnished in watercress, to launch National Watercress Week.
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