After the manufacturing of the first prototype I began and tried to get publicity, so the public would get used to a completely new type of spade. Big companies often spend millions on the introduction of new products. Since I have a more modest advertising budget it seemed better to me to ask publicity from newspapers and magazines. I better not name all newspapers and magazines that didn't want to give publicity to the spade because that list would be rather long. Here follows a summary of all media attention for the APPELSPADE :

• February 1, 2001 Noord-Hollands Dagblad, daily newspaper for the province Noord-Holland : article of more than half a page, with four colour photos depicting me and the first prototype of the spade, and also the new type of windmill I designed.
• November 11, 2003 Radio Noord-Holland : Live broadcast on the farm of Henk Hemke in the presence of agricultural labour expert Hans van der Loos who alas died a few years later. Everybody was enthousiastic about the spade that was fully tested in the heavy soil of Oterleek. The only response came from a lady from Hoofddorp (near Schiphol airport) who was interested in the spade for her amateur gardeners society. I went there to demonstrate the spade and let the amateur gardeners have a go at it. Of course the society bought the spade.
• February 2004 de Amateurtuinder (the Amateur gardener), magazine of the organisation for amateur gardeners societies in the Netherlands : an article of a quarter page with a black and white photograph taken by me. Readers were asked to come and test the spade in Enkhuizen. Four e-mails came in, two of them from people who wanted to test the spade. Only one came to Enkhuizen and actually tested the spade. Of course he bought one
• May 8, 2004 Eigen Huis & Tuin (Own Home & Garden), RTL4 (national commercial television) : I had sent them a photo of the spade with a letter and a users manual. Gardener Rob Verlinden showed the photo on television and told some lame tale, ending with the words "How it works, well, I don't know either because you have to shovel anyway." (I translated this from Dutch). This was the TV début for the spade. No response whatsoever surprisingly.
• September 2004 Kamerkrant (periodical from the Chambre of Commerce) : small article with a colour photo and my company name A2 innov. mentioned. No response.
• September 10, 2004 RTVNH (RadioTeleVisionNoord-Holland), regional public television, program "Van zuks dus" (dialect meaning "Something like that") : program maker Teus van Sintmaartensdijk came at my home to shoot some video and then we went to a nearby allotment complex where I demonstrated the spade and had it tested by three elderly amateur gardeners. They all were very positive of course. The only response to this charming video (that was also broadcast on May 6, 2005, came from a man from Amsterdam who wanted to market the spade with the help of a man from a trading company. He has tried to find a manufacturer abroad to produce the spade more cheaply but without any result.
• March/April 2005 Landleven, Dutch magazine for living in the country, 180 pages : On page 159, of course under the heading "Goed gereedschap" (Good tools) an article of about a quarter page with three colour photos taken by them. I posted them the spade so they could test it. In response to this article I got a call from eight people for information, and four of them bought a spade.
• March 30, 2005 Enkhuizer TV-krant (local newspaper on television) : Every 15 minutes text and photos concerning the fact that my spade would be on German televison a few days later. The Enkhuizer TV-krant has its office in the street where I live and I sent them a newsletter. The next day they came to my house for an interview and some photos.
• April 3, 2005 ARD (German national public television).Program "Heim & Garten" (Home & Garden) I sent them the spade to have it tested by a group of people who also had to test nine other spades. The group consisted of young and old, experienced and unexperienced men and women. At the beginning of the very short program item all the spades were briefly shown, laying on the ground. Because the APPELSPADE has a very recognizable shape I was just able to pick it out. Not all spades were demonstrated, but there was a scene with the APPELSPADE : A middle-aged woman with my spade was having a fierce battle with a lump of soil of approximately 30 kg. The video was namely made in the coldest period in a long time, with a temperature of minus 20 degrees centigrade, and the soil was not really nice and loose. The lump of soil won the battle and the woman said : "Er ist schwer und unbequem." (He is heavy and uneasy.). Without a doubt she must have meant the lump of soil. The program was also to be seen on the German channel WDR on April 15 and 18, 2005. The only response came from a woman from Denmark, who wanted my e-mail address. Because I didn't have one then they gave her my postal address but she never wrote.
• December 2005 De Begraafplaats (The Cemetery), magazine of the national organisation of cemeteries : Under the heading "New products and services" a small black-and-white photo of the spade with covering text, together about one fifth of a page. No response.
• January 31, 2006 Enkhuizer TV-krant (see above). An announcement of the fact that that evening my spade was to be seen on national public television.
• January 31, 2006 Nederland 1, NCRV (Dutch national public television), program "Man bijt hond" (Man bites dog), mild satirical program : First some videos were shot at my home, not only of the spade but also of the windmill I developed. I showed a scale model of that windmill that, put on wheels, rolled towards the fan that made it work. Unfortunately that scene was not broadcast. Later, outside was tried to ask passers-by to test the spade. However, it was drizzly weather and that one passer-by didn't feel like it, so I was asked to dig a bit in the grass alongside the street. At the first thrust the spade went into the soil easily, but the second and third time I had trouble getting the spade in, because the ground alongside the street is not as loose as in a garden. The take of the first thrust was not broadcast, and the second and third one were put together, so it seemed as if I had twice as much trouble getting the spade in. Like I already mentioned, it is a satirical program. After I had ruined the grass we started to ring people's doorbell and found someone willing to destroy even more grass. All and all it became a nice video, although I still find it a pity that the scene with the windmill model is not broadcast. I have been working for days to prepare that test, so the first take was good right-away. However, at the beginning of each edition of the program, still the scene is shown in which I'm making the big windmill work by using a propeller on a powerdrill.

1. In response to this broadcast four e-mails arrived at the NCRV, two of them from starting entrepreneurs who wanted to market the spade, and two from people who wanted to buy a spade. I told the entrepreneurs I will get in touch with them when the next edition of spades will be produced. A few days later a teacher salesmanship called me. He wanted his students to sell the spades as part of their study. They did pretty well as you can see on the web sites www.hva.nl (only to be seen via www.google.nl by searching for "ergonomische spade" or "Arie Appel") and www.tomharing.nl

• August 2006 Gardens Illustrated, a BBC Worldwide Magazine, English garden magazine, 116 pages : On page 17 a colour photo of the APPELSPADE with a short text and my name and phone number. This magazine is available since July 4, 2006. Till now (September 10, 2006) no response.
• On June 2, 2008 the American ergonomist Chris Adams from the web site about.com sent me an e-mail with the announcement that his review on the Appelspade had been published. I had sent him an Appelspade to try out, and on account of that he gave my spade five stars (the maximum) and has written a cheering article, to be found on http://ergonomics.about.com/od/gardeningequipment/fr/appel_spade.htm

It's a good thing I didn't advertise just yet. If I would have to pay for the above-mentioned publicity it would have cost me many thousands of euro's, while the profit on the spades I sold as a result of this publicity is only a fraction of that.