72 (what's the) Point..?

There's a PR agency called 72 Point that I'd never heard of. It calls itself a "national news and PR specialist" and has a huge headline on its homepage which says "GUARANTEED COVERAGE OR YOUR MONEY BACK!" (yes, it's red and in capital letters on the website too).

It also has a blog and, presumably using the very same skills that will "GUARANTEE YOU COVERAGE OR YOUR MONEY BACK!" has decided to use one of oldest PR industry stories in the book to drive some traffic (and before you say it, yes, we're obviously happy to oblige...). It's the old hacks vs. flacks battle. As Point 72 itself says:

"PR people! Fighting back! All guns blazing! No more Mr or Mrs Nice Guy! Yes, the return leg of the epic PR-versus-journalists battle starts right here!"

Basically, Point 72 posted a bunch of verbatim comments from hacks a little while ago under the titel of "Top tips for PR people from the mouths of journalists" which were, unsurprisingly, the usual moans and gripes interspersed with a handful of ridiculous ones. Of course, the flacks were up in arms and fired back with their own salvo. Point 72 has posted these under the title of "Top tips for journalists from the mouths of PR people" and which are, unsurprisingly, the usual moans and gripes interspersed with a handful of ridiculous ones.

Actually, the flack comments are a far more interesting read. Interesting in the sense that they sound like a bunch of bleating cry babies who should maybe think about doing something else for a living. Like caring for the elderly. Or being librarians.

Get this: “Don’t be rude - if we call/email you and you’re not interested please be polite. Calling grumpy journalists can be very scary and can really knock the confidence of the juniors.”

And this: “If you’re rude, unreasonable and insensitive, expect not to be given the story that you really do want, we do have them sometimes.”

And stuff like this: “I would love it if PRs went ‘on strike’ for a week, to see how many of the rude, lazy so-and-so’s are actually capable of thinking up, researching and writing THEIR OWN stories, without the help of so many brilliant PRs who usually just end up doing their jobs for them while they pontificate on high about how useless we all are.”

It's worth checking out...though it's a depressing read. I have no idea what purpose it serves. It's not even funny.