Three word descriptor….
Mallet’s Mallet, the word association game on Wacaday, is a good introduction to the three line descriptor.
Timmy Mallet used to get two small children, usually a boy and a girl, and make them look at each other and go bleugh. Then Timmy would say a word and child one would respond with the first word that came into their head. Child two then had to say the first word that came into their head and so on. It would have been dull TV were it not for the fact that pauses or repeats resulted in a bang on the head for the errant child.
Companies like the same thing...for the brand to instantly create a word association. Bentley = luxury, EasyJet = cheap and cheerful, M&S = filthy voiceover.
The press, too, likes to explain a company in a few words to help people place it.
The trouble comes, of course, when the newspaper’s three word descriptor differs from the company’s three word descriptor. Back in the day, Xerox was always described along the lines of ‘the photocopier company’ and it hated it because Xerox’s strapline and intention was to be ‘the document company.’ It’s a small difference and, while it’s petty, you can understand (it does printers too)…
So in all its press releases Xerox always described itself as the ‘the document company.' Overtime, the media did indeed change the way it described Xerox. After a series of poor financial results, the descriptor became ‘the troubled photocopier company.’
Thankfully, many large companies have finally given up the practice of forcing a three word descriptor into the first line of every news release. Honestly. Check out news releases from SAP, IBM, even Xerox, and the three word descriptors have gone.
Smaller companies, however, still love the three word descriptor and often - with no genuine USP - these companies tend to create longer and longer descriptors. We all have a favourite example, but flying the flag for the tech PR industry is Clarity Public Relations. A rare bastion standing firm against the onslaught of common sense, it proudly uses the descriptor:
“The only CarbonNeutral PR consultancy that specialises in the technology sector and related industries.”
Kudos to Clarity for its environmental commitment but, honestly, that descriptor is a large enough blot on the landscape to block out all the coal-fired power stations in China.
30 January 2007
Formulaic PR….
Possibly the UK’s finest journo blogger, Rupert Goodwins, has devised a very useful formula for people called Tamara who work at Hill & Knowlton.
Goodwins’ irrefutable law of PR success states:
The probability of a successful pitch can be calculated by the following handy formula applied to the details of your client's latest wheeze.
3NT x 4UP x 2BI x 5EAI
----------------------------- = P(copy)
3M^3 x 2ACE x 10L
Where NT = New Technology, UP = Unique Product, BI = Beer Involved, EAI = Engineers Available for Interview, M = Marketing Managers, EMEA or Mornings, ACE = Already Covered Elsewhere (ie, your American brethren have already spilled the beans) and L = the word Leading or Leader in the first paragraph of the press release.
Good work from Goodwins….
Possibly the UK’s finest journo blogger, Rupert Goodwins, has devised a very useful formula for people called Tamara who work at Hill & Knowlton.
Goodwins’ irrefutable law of PR success states:
The probability of a successful pitch can be calculated by the following handy formula applied to the details of your client's latest wheeze.
3NT x 4UP x 2BI x 5EAI
----------------------------- = P(copy)
3M^3 x 2ACE x 10L
Where NT = New Technology, UP = Unique Product, BI = Beer Involved, EAI = Engineers Available for Interview, M = Marketing Managers, EMEA or Mornings, ACE = Already Covered Elsewhere (ie, your American brethren have already spilled the beans) and L = the word Leading or Leader in the first paragraph of the press release.
Good work from Goodwins….
Scoop..!
You probably won't have heard about this, but we've got the inside track on the latest developments on planet technology. Word on the street has it that today, American computer company Microsoft has launched what it is calling a new "computer operating system" and we can exclusively reveal its codename: Misty. Fisty. Pasta. Summat like that, anyhow.
We found out about it from top secret underground newsrag, "The Inquirer" which has also pulled wide open the kimono of the entire tech PR industry.
Help! We've been rumbled.
You probably won't have heard about this, but we've got the inside track on the latest developments on planet technology. Word on the street has it that today, American computer company Microsoft has launched what it is calling a new "computer operating system" and we can exclusively reveal its codename: Misty. Fisty. Pasta. Summat like that, anyhow.
We found out about it from top secret underground newsrag, "The Inquirer" which has also pulled wide open the kimono of the entire tech PR industry.
Help! We've been rumbled.
He ain't gettin' on no plane for H&K or anyone, fool...
You might've missed this as it appeared in PRWeak's US edition, but have a look at the worst ever attempt at a viral video, knocked together by H&K for its client Hitachi Data Systems.
Well, ex-client that is, because - as PRWeak reports - HDS has decided to end its relationship with H&K. As Joe Paluska, director of H&K's technology practice put it: "We reached an impasse over an element of the company's digital strategy."
Steven Zivanic, HDS director of corporate communications was a little more direct when he said: "We need a partner that knows there is a difference between a corporate video with a man in a suit, and a viral video with an action star."
Actually, to be fair to H&K, this particular viral wasn't the sole reason that HDS ended the relationship...there were loads! Zivanic again: "There were more issues than a video. That quote is an understatement. There were multiple issues on multiple areas."
Paluska's biog quotes him as saying: "Our clients choose Hill & Knowlton because we can help them reinvent the way they communicate their technology agenda and then drive that message as far and as wide as they want to go."
Ain't that the truth!
That's all shocking enough, but according to PRWeak, H&K only won the business late last year and started working with HDS on December 1st. So, by my reckoning, that makes it about an eight week relationship (with Christmas in the middle!).
Crumbs.
You might've missed this as it appeared in PRWeak's US edition, but have a look at the worst ever attempt at a viral video, knocked together by H&K for its client Hitachi Data Systems.
Well, ex-client that is, because - as PRWeak reports - HDS has decided to end its relationship with H&K. As Joe Paluska, director of H&K's technology practice put it: "We reached an impasse over an element of the company's digital strategy."
Steven Zivanic, HDS director of corporate communications was a little more direct when he said: "We need a partner that knows there is a difference between a corporate video with a man in a suit, and a viral video with an action star."
Actually, to be fair to H&K, this particular viral wasn't the sole reason that HDS ended the relationship...there were loads! Zivanic again: "There were more issues than a video. That quote is an understatement. There were multiple issues on multiple areas."
Paluska's biog quotes him as saying: "Our clients choose Hill & Knowlton because we can help them reinvent the way they communicate their technology agenda and then drive that message as far and as wide as they want to go."
Ain't that the truth!
That's all shocking enough, but according to PRWeak, H&K only won the business late last year and started working with HDS on December 1st. So, by my reckoning, that makes it about an eight week relationship (with Christmas in the middle!).
Crumbs.
26 January 2007
More four letter acronyms...
Of course, it wouldn't be fair of me to mention the CIPR without also having a look at the tremendous progress made in t'age of computers by our other esteemed representative body the PRCA.
The PRCA, it goes without saying, has its own blog. It's called PRCA Bites. It's a bit tricky to find, however, as the link to it on the drop-down "PRCA Links" menu on the PRCA's homepage is broken...so here's one we prepared earlier.
You can tell that the PRCA "got it" early, as it published a post way back in November 2005 called "Blogging can't be ignored"...right on, brother.
That's easy for the PRCA to say. And it would seem, to do. Since that post - 14 months ago - the PRCA blog has featured a grand total of, umm, hang on I've just got to count them all, oh yes, five more posts. That's like one every three months or so.
Interestingly, the "Blogging can't be ignored" post reported an Edelman/Technorati event which included a panel, one member of which was Stuart Smith, Edelman's UK CEO. He's a man who also seems adept at ignoring blogging, as since he set up his blog back in October, PRwordSmith ("Those that know me, know that I am not often short of words, opinions (or even the odd diagram," he said), he's posted a grand total of seven times...and six of those were in the first four days!
Come on chaps. A blog is for life, not just for the birds after the show.
Of course, it wouldn't be fair of me to mention the CIPR without also having a look at the tremendous progress made in t'age of computers by our other esteemed representative body the PRCA.
The PRCA, it goes without saying, has its own blog. It's called PRCA Bites. It's a bit tricky to find, however, as the link to it on the drop-down "PRCA Links" menu on the PRCA's homepage is broken...so here's one we prepared earlier.
You can tell that the PRCA "got it" early, as it published a post way back in November 2005 called "Blogging can't be ignored"...right on, brother.
That's easy for the PRCA to say. And it would seem, to do. Since that post - 14 months ago - the PRCA blog has featured a grand total of, umm, hang on I've just got to count them all, oh yes, five more posts. That's like one every three months or so.
Interestingly, the "Blogging can't be ignored" post reported an Edelman/Technorati event which included a panel, one member of which was Stuart Smith, Edelman's UK CEO. He's a man who also seems adept at ignoring blogging, as since he set up his blog back in October, PRwordSmith ("Those that know me, know that I am not often short of words, opinions (or even the odd diagram," he said), he's posted a grand total of seven times...and six of those were in the first four days!
Come on chaps. A blog is for life, not just for the birds after the show.
One step forward, two steps back...to the future...
Always at the forefront of PR innovation - like adding another letter to an acronym - the CIPR looks to be once again driving the use of social media within the industry. Outgoing President Tony Bradley set the ball rolling, of course, by last year starting to "blog" (this, for those of you that don't know, being short for "weblog", a new-fangled techno-whatsit that the kids are into) which immediately placed him at the very bleeding-edge of "computer age" communications techniques. New man at the helm of the good ship CIPR, Lionel Zetter, looks set fair to carry on the inexorable march into this exciting new era.
Or does he?
His first post on the CIPR's blog PR Voice, setting out his priorities for the year ahead (neatly summarised as "members and money"...though I suspect it could have been even more neatly summarised as "money") ends with this little note:
(Due to technical difficulties, this post, written by CIPR President Lionel Zetter, is being published by the CIPR on his behalf.)
Oh dear. I wonder what these "technical difficulties" might have been? Perhaps the final handover post from exiting President Tony Bradley might offer up a clue? Ah yes, here we are:
"...as I hand over the Presidency to my successor and good friend Lionel Zetter it's also time to give him the log-in details and password for PR Voice."
He's forgotten it already. Doesn't bode well. Still, best not take the mickey too much...Lionel's got a black belt in karate.
Always at the forefront of PR innovation - like adding another letter to an acronym - the CIPR looks to be once again driving the use of social media within the industry. Outgoing President Tony Bradley set the ball rolling, of course, by last year starting to "blog" (this, for those of you that don't know, being short for "weblog", a new-fangled techno-whatsit that the kids are into) which immediately placed him at the very bleeding-edge of "computer age" communications techniques. New man at the helm of the good ship CIPR, Lionel Zetter, looks set fair to carry on the inexorable march into this exciting new era.
Or does he?
His first post on the CIPR's blog PR Voice, setting out his priorities for the year ahead (neatly summarised as "members and money"...though I suspect it could have been even more neatly summarised as "money") ends with this little note:
(Due to technical difficulties, this post, written by CIPR President Lionel Zetter, is being published by the CIPR on his behalf.)
Oh dear. I wonder what these "technical difficulties" might have been? Perhaps the final handover post from exiting President Tony Bradley might offer up a clue? Ah yes, here we are:
"...as I hand over the Presidency to my successor and good friend Lionel Zetter it's also time to give him the log-in details and password for PR Voice."
He's forgotten it already. Doesn't bode well. Still, best not take the mickey too much...Lionel's got a black belt in karate.
24 January 2007
Brighton Belle….
It was lovely having the prolific Sally Whittle joining in the ‘comments’ banter recently. It inspired a quick visit to her blog and, boy, it was a trip worth making.
Sally has a bit of a thing about Response Source. And not in the lazy-account-execs-have-it-all-laid-on-a-plate-for-them-these-days type way that it annoys us.
Our favourite musing was her post asking who the hell would want a Response Source branded T-shirt or cap. It’s a fair question. Today’s well dressed AEs are not sporting MediaDisk trainers, PR Newswire jumpers or Romeike trousers. In fact it is only in the techiest realms of IT that anyone thinks that company branded clothes are anything other that dreadfully embarrassing.
There’s only one tech shop in town that does cool clothes, and that’s The Register’s Cash ‘n’ Carrion. It has a cheeky little range, including this and this.
In a different post, Sally highlights a great piece related to MySpace, a place for freaks, which is obviously awash with saddos and marketers (Ed – isn’t that a tad tautological?).
Some poor stammering fool who hasn’t left his or her bedroom in all 15 years of their existence came up with a MySpace phishing scam to capture passwords. Texturbation does some nice analysis on popular passwords (340 occurrences of the word “password”), but even better lists some of the passwords left by those that knew it was a phishing scam.
Some of them involve some rather vulgar language, so don’t visit if you’re easily offended by teenage homophobia and swearing….
22 January 2007
Thank Christ, another IT mag….
Hoorah for metrics everywhere, IDG is really starting to take Ol’ Blighty seriously with a UK version of the chart-topping US IT magazine Computerworld.
The new publication (well, website, paper is bloody expensive you know) is being edited by Mike Simons, formally news editor at Chinook Weekly.
In the UK IDG already has the unsexy, but actually quite good, Techworld (about the world of technology) and the remodelled CIO Magazine (which is a magazine aimed at CIOs). Computerworld sits somewhere between the two, but won’t be sitting at www.computerworld.co.uk.
Yes, as though “CIO Magazine” didn’t already spoil the genes of the Techworld and Computerworld family, the logical URL is already taken up by a company based just off the Almondsbury Interchange (J16, M5) that has been providing business services in the UK for over 20 years.
Probably a nice place to work as it’s headquartered from a country manor and obviously enjoys the occasional stroke of good luck as “ComputerWorld is a customer service organisation that happens to be in the computer industry.” Extremely fortunate, because otherwise it would have a vastly inappropriate name.
Now this could be a huge billion dollar turnover company (doubtless “the industry’s best kept secret,” should it ever issue a PR brief). After all it already has the power to make Bristol considerably closer to London but the chances are it isn’t.
Which makes you wonder why IDG has opted for www.computerworlduk.co.uk instead of simply steamrollering a sweet innocent nice firm like any global organisation should do. There again, perhaps it should have simply bought Computing off of VNU before 3i got it and saved everyone a lot of trouble.
Ah well, clunky UK web address aside, at last there’s a UK tech publication the Yanks can instantly get their heads around instead of UK PRs having to put cover-your-arse-it’s-The-Register American phrases like “irreverent humor” into their briefing documents.
Mike’s already canvassing content, which you can submit through the oddly familiar looking cwuknews@idg.co.uk ....
Hoorah for metrics everywhere, IDG is really starting to take Ol’ Blighty seriously with a UK version of the chart-topping US IT magazine Computerworld.
The new publication (well, website, paper is bloody expensive you know) is being edited by Mike Simons, formally news editor at Chinook Weekly.
In the UK IDG already has the unsexy, but actually quite good, Techworld (about the world of technology) and the remodelled CIO Magazine (which is a magazine aimed at CIOs). Computerworld sits somewhere between the two, but won’t be sitting at www.computerworld.co.uk.
Yes, as though “CIO Magazine” didn’t already spoil the genes of the Techworld and Computerworld family, the logical URL is already taken up by a company based just off the Almondsbury Interchange (J16, M5) that has been providing business services in the UK for over 20 years.
Probably a nice place to work as it’s headquartered from a country manor and obviously enjoys the occasional stroke of good luck as “ComputerWorld is a customer service organisation that happens to be in the computer industry.” Extremely fortunate, because otherwise it would have a vastly inappropriate name.
Now this could be a huge billion dollar turnover company (doubtless “the industry’s best kept secret,” should it ever issue a PR brief). After all it already has the power to make Bristol considerably closer to London but the chances are it isn’t.
Which makes you wonder why IDG has opted for www.computerworlduk.co.uk instead of simply steamrollering a sweet innocent nice firm like any global organisation should do. There again, perhaps it should have simply bought Computing off of VNU before 3i got it and saved everyone a lot of trouble.
Ah well, clunky UK web address aside, at last there’s a UK tech publication the Yanks can instantly get their heads around instead of UK PRs having to put cover-your-arse-it’s-The-Register American phrases like “irreverent humor” into their briefing documents.
Mike’s already canvassing content, which you can submit through the oddly familiar looking cwuknews@idg.co.uk ....
Pleon...Judged...
Lovely post from Peter Judge...sounds like one of ours.
Hang on...could he be...? No, surely not...but maybe...same blog template...and I've never seen us in the same place at the same time...
Lovely post from Peter Judge...sounds like one of ours.
Hang on...could he be...? No, surely not...but maybe...same blog template...and I've never seen us in the same place at the same time...
Glass half-full..? Half-empty..?
I read that today is supposed to be the most depressing day of the year. I’m generally an optimistic type though. Always look on the bright side…thing’s will turn out alright…everything happens for a reason…positive thinking…blah, blah, blah.
Having said that, when I think about the PR industry in 2007, I get a bit gloomy.
You see, last year we all got excited about this new world of social media and how it could be the chance for PR to step right to the forefront of communications; how it played to our strengths; how we were soon to topple those pesky flash Harry advertising types from their self-built pedestal. But it didn’t really happen, did it?
So here we are looking forward to another dull year of slogging away trying to generate same old same old press coverage in an ever-decreasing pool of traditional media and not really having a clue about how to interact with the new stuff.
This new world of blogging hasn’t really worked out as we’d have liked, has it? I mean, how many of you are being paid decent money by clients for advising them on their own blogging? Or helping to create content? OK, so you’ll be keeping an eye on the blogs that matter (if you can find them) to make sure you client’s not being slated, but that’s just a monitoring service.
Blogs should be our bag. We’d all love to be involved in clear, open, honest, transparent communication about the truly decent things that clients get up to. But therein lies the problem. Clients. They still want to have control over the message; total transparency isn’t really their thing, is it? And as we bang on about how anything but transparency doesn’t work in the blogosphere, the more they think, “well I’m not touching that with a bargepole, that wouldn’t work for us at all…” And even when they do decide to do it, they still want to retain control and you end up with an Edelman/Wal-Mart fiasco.
Here’s another problem that blogging has presented us with. Time was that you could make a bit of cash – even a few grand a month – pushing out rubbish press releases full of guff and spin just because the client wanted you too. The very worst that would happen is that they wouldn’t generate any coverage and you’d just have to roll out an excuse to the client…”got bumped by a bigger story”…”it was written by got edited out by a sub”…”needed a customer angle”…”feature got pulled”…or some other bull. Nowadays, if you try and shove something weak or inaccurate out there, it’s likely to get jumped all over by the blogosphere and torn apart…your reputation with it. The Porter Novelli/SpinVox thing being a little example of what can happen. There’s no hiding place.
In many ways, this should help. Agencies need to push back on their clients if the story just isn’t any good. It should raise the game. Thing is, a company that didn’t have any decent news before can’t just come up with some because you’ve given them a kick up the backside; they’re more likely to decide not to do it at all and stick their money into something they can control, like direct mail, or advertising.
One of the traditionally tricky things when selling PR to a client is the lack of guaranteed results, and the lack of control over those results. Hacks will interpret the story and put their own angle on it. But that’s PR’s power too…the third-party endorsement. You just need to convince the client that the risk/reward equation is worth it. With blogging, the balance gets skewed again. For many clients, it’s just too risky. But as blogs become more influential within key audiences, “traditional media” becomes less so, and clients start questioning the money they’re paying to get covered by it. Which is your PR budget.
This time last year many people felt that social media might be the thing to not only save PR, but to send it into the stratosphere. But maybe in 2007 we’ll be scrabbling around trying to hang on to the little we’ve already got?
As some bean-counter once said when asked if he was a glass half-empty or glass half-full type of man: “I’d get used to a smaller glass.”
Just make sure it's got enough Scotch in it.
I read that today is supposed to be the most depressing day of the year. I’m generally an optimistic type though. Always look on the bright side…thing’s will turn out alright…everything happens for a reason…positive thinking…blah, blah, blah.
Having said that, when I think about the PR industry in 2007, I get a bit gloomy.
You see, last year we all got excited about this new world of social media and how it could be the chance for PR to step right to the forefront of communications; how it played to our strengths; how we were soon to topple those pesky flash Harry advertising types from their self-built pedestal. But it didn’t really happen, did it?
So here we are looking forward to another dull year of slogging away trying to generate same old same old press coverage in an ever-decreasing pool of traditional media and not really having a clue about how to interact with the new stuff.
This new world of blogging hasn’t really worked out as we’d have liked, has it? I mean, how many of you are being paid decent money by clients for advising them on their own blogging? Or helping to create content? OK, so you’ll be keeping an eye on the blogs that matter (if you can find them) to make sure you client’s not being slated, but that’s just a monitoring service.
Blogs should be our bag. We’d all love to be involved in clear, open, honest, transparent communication about the truly decent things that clients get up to. But therein lies the problem. Clients. They still want to have control over the message; total transparency isn’t really their thing, is it? And as we bang on about how anything but transparency doesn’t work in the blogosphere, the more they think, “well I’m not touching that with a bargepole, that wouldn’t work for us at all…” And even when they do decide to do it, they still want to retain control and you end up with an Edelman/Wal-Mart fiasco.
Here’s another problem that blogging has presented us with. Time was that you could make a bit of cash – even a few grand a month – pushing out rubbish press releases full of guff and spin just because the client wanted you too. The very worst that would happen is that they wouldn’t generate any coverage and you’d just have to roll out an excuse to the client…”got bumped by a bigger story”…”it was written by got edited out by a sub”…”needed a customer angle”…”feature got pulled”…or some other bull. Nowadays, if you try and shove something weak or inaccurate out there, it’s likely to get jumped all over by the blogosphere and torn apart…your reputation with it. The Porter Novelli/SpinVox thing being a little example of what can happen. There’s no hiding place.
In many ways, this should help. Agencies need to push back on their clients if the story just isn’t any good. It should raise the game. Thing is, a company that didn’t have any decent news before can’t just come up with some because you’ve given them a kick up the backside; they’re more likely to decide not to do it at all and stick their money into something they can control, like direct mail, or advertising.
One of the traditionally tricky things when selling PR to a client is the lack of guaranteed results, and the lack of control over those results. Hacks will interpret the story and put their own angle on it. But that’s PR’s power too…the third-party endorsement. You just need to convince the client that the risk/reward equation is worth it. With blogging, the balance gets skewed again. For many clients, it’s just too risky. But as blogs become more influential within key audiences, “traditional media” becomes less so, and clients start questioning the money they’re paying to get covered by it. Which is your PR budget.
This time last year many people felt that social media might be the thing to not only save PR, but to send it into the stratosphere. But maybe in 2007 we’ll be scrabbling around trying to hang on to the little we’ve already got?
As some bean-counter once said when asked if he was a glass half-empty or glass half-full type of man: “I’d get used to a smaller glass.”
Just make sure it's got enough Scotch in it.
19 January 2007
If you're going to piss one person off, why not a whole industry..?
No, no. Not us. Porter Novelli.
Seems that Porter Novelli thought it's be a smart post a press release about its client SpinVox on the online forum at industry networking group Mobile Mondays. But as you, I and everyone else knows, online forums are for rich, constructive discussions, not places for PR companies to start pitching weak releases about their clients.
And believe me, this press release was weak. Imagine the conversation within the team at Porter Novelli:
"We haven't done much for SpinVox recently, and the monthly meeting's coming up. Anyone got any smart ideas about getting a quick hit?"
"Well, that iPhone seems to be getting a lot of coverage..."
"Brilliant! We'll do a press release about the iPhone and then somehow try and spin some dodgy angle for SpinVox. Spinning for SpinVox, I love it!"
Hence the creation of a press release which starts:
SPINVOX HAILS iPHONE'S VISUAL VOICEMAIL AS A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
London, UK - 18th January 2007: SpinVox, the Voice-to-Screen messaging expert, has applauded Apple's decision to include a `Visual Voicemail' feature on its iPhone, calling it a step towards what consumers really want - simple, relevant services.
I'm sure Apple is pleased with the endorsement - as it has clearly been struggling to generate any decent coverage for the iPhone - but the members of Mobile Mondays seem less impressed. We can't see the entrie comments, but the beginning of a few give you a flavour:
This is clearly spam and I suggest that the sender should be removed from the momo group list
In fact, this email is worse than spam, as it has been deliberately placed onto the groups list by a Ms Nathalie Agnew, whom Google shows to work at the PR...
Theres a time and a place for press releases, but Im not convinced this email group is it. so, sorry, but 3rded...
It's ineffective anyway - the PR makes SpinVox sound quite rattled by the iPhone, and posting it here has not exactly improved their standing amongst their...
So all in all, quite a drubbing for Spinvox. Spinvox, would you like to comment and turn your press release into more of a discussion point, as is demanded by...
I'm glad there's so much agreement on this - the use of new media and technology also demands restraint and ethics, something which seems forgotten by many...
Surely unless it is made clear to the "stupid" amongst the group that sending press releases out to a group such as this is a) not tolerated b) will draw...
Here, here. Seconded. Press releases don't count as discussion
+1, if this is to be put to a vote. I didn't even think it was a *good* press release
I am amazed of how people can "try" to gain traction by involving popular terms like iPhone in their press releases for no reason whatsoever
I also wrote up some of the tricks PR agencies are using in social media in the post from a session I was at last night- sobering reading
Thirded. Boring, ineffective and inappropriate press puff hung tenuously onto the launch of a competitor product by Apple
Oh. Dear. That didn't really work then, did it?
No, no. Not us. Porter Novelli.
Seems that Porter Novelli thought it's be a smart post a press release about its client SpinVox on the online forum at industry networking group Mobile Mondays. But as you, I and everyone else knows, online forums are for rich, constructive discussions, not places for PR companies to start pitching weak releases about their clients.
And believe me, this press release was weak. Imagine the conversation within the team at Porter Novelli:
"We haven't done much for SpinVox recently, and the monthly meeting's coming up. Anyone got any smart ideas about getting a quick hit?"
"Well, that iPhone seems to be getting a lot of coverage..."
"Brilliant! We'll do a press release about the iPhone and then somehow try and spin some dodgy angle for SpinVox. Spinning for SpinVox, I love it!"
Hence the creation of a press release which starts:
SPINVOX HAILS iPHONE'S VISUAL VOICEMAIL AS A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
London, UK - 18th January 2007: SpinVox, the Voice-to-Screen messaging expert, has applauded Apple's decision to include a `Visual Voicemail' feature on its iPhone, calling it a step towards what consumers really want - simple, relevant services.
I'm sure Apple is pleased with the endorsement - as it has clearly been struggling to generate any decent coverage for the iPhone - but the members of Mobile Mondays seem less impressed. We can't see the entrie comments, but the beginning of a few give you a flavour:
This is clearly spam and I suggest that the sender should be removed from the momo group list
In fact, this email is worse than spam, as it has been deliberately placed onto the groups list by a Ms Nathalie Agnew, whom Google shows to work at the PR...
Theres a time and a place for press releases, but Im not convinced this email group is it. so, sorry, but 3rded...
It's ineffective anyway - the PR makes SpinVox sound quite rattled by the iPhone, and posting it here has not exactly improved their standing amongst their...
So all in all, quite a drubbing for Spinvox. Spinvox, would you like to comment and turn your press release into more of a discussion point, as is demanded by...
I'm glad there's so much agreement on this - the use of new media and technology also demands restraint and ethics, something which seems forgotten by many...
Surely unless it is made clear to the "stupid" amongst the group that sending press releases out to a group such as this is a) not tolerated b) will draw...
Here, here. Seconded. Press releases don't count as discussion
+1, if this is to be put to a vote. I didn't even think it was a *good* press release
I am amazed of how people can "try" to gain traction by involving popular terms like iPhone in their press releases for no reason whatsoever
I also wrote up some of the tricks PR agencies are using in social media in the post from a session I was at last night- sobering reading
Thirded. Boring, ineffective and inappropriate press puff hung tenuously onto the launch of a competitor product by Apple
Oh. Dear. That didn't really work then, did it?
EuroSmarting…
A decent PR company always has plenty of high-jinks, humour and drunken revelry. Hell, even the crap ones do. But, of course, the nature of PR and the pressure of keeping several clients happy simultaneously means that not every one can join in the fun all the time.
We hear that Tom Jennings, part of Edelman’s tech team, just found himself in the ‘unlucky ones’ camp, cruelly ostracised from the fun. Due to catch a 06:30 Eurostar train to Paris this morning, Jennings eschewed a night of drunken ‘Tomfoolery’ at Edelman’s Third Thursday bash (where the tech team apparently sticks a corporate credit card behind an upstairs bar of a smoky Soho pub and gets leathered with tech journos. Umm, excuse me, but why isn't TWL invited?)
Having just popped in for a couple of swift halves, Jennings went home early and got his head down.
His colleagues happily drank the night away, enjoying the Sangria and tapas (Third Thursday’s nod to the looming 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona). Ever thoughtful, and fuelled by alcohol logic, a select bunch of Edelman’s tech team decided to give Tom a midnight alarm call.
We understand that Tom immediately saw the funny side and laughed heartily.
When his real alarm call went off just a few hours later, despite his bleary eyes and lack of sleep, the boy Jennings raced to Waterloo to find that all the trains to Paris had been reserved to clear the backlog of passengers from last night (Waterloo this morning, apparently, was “reminiscent of black and white film footage from the blitz”).
Tired, emotional, a little peeved, Tom fired an email to the team:
From: Jennings, Tom
Sent: Friday, January 19, 2007 06:55 AM
To: @LON Tech
Subject: Yes, I really am in the office at this time...
“Ah, there's nothing quite like getting up at 04:30 to get to Waterloo, only to find there's no chance of getting on a Eurostar train before lunchtime...
FYI - I will be leaving the office at 14:00 today as a result.
Cheers, Tom
PS: And a particular thank-you to the truly hilarious Manners, Robertson and Sondhi for their midnight phone call. Very, very amusing. Believe me - much like last night's tapas, revenge is a dish best served cold.
You'll laugh about this one day Tom. Just not one day soon.
A decent PR company always has plenty of high-jinks, humour and drunken revelry. Hell, even the crap ones do. But, of course, the nature of PR and the pressure of keeping several clients happy simultaneously means that not every one can join in the fun all the time.
We hear that Tom Jennings, part of Edelman’s tech team, just found himself in the ‘unlucky ones’ camp, cruelly ostracised from the fun. Due to catch a 06:30 Eurostar train to Paris this morning, Jennings eschewed a night of drunken ‘Tomfoolery’ at Edelman’s Third Thursday bash (where the tech team apparently sticks a corporate credit card behind an upstairs bar of a smoky Soho pub and gets leathered with tech journos. Umm, excuse me, but why isn't TWL invited?)
Having just popped in for a couple of swift halves, Jennings went home early and got his head down.
His colleagues happily drank the night away, enjoying the Sangria and tapas (Third Thursday’s nod to the looming 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona). Ever thoughtful, and fuelled by alcohol logic, a select bunch of Edelman’s tech team decided to give Tom a midnight alarm call.
We understand that Tom immediately saw the funny side and laughed heartily.
When his real alarm call went off just a few hours later, despite his bleary eyes and lack of sleep, the boy Jennings raced to Waterloo to find that all the trains to Paris had been reserved to clear the backlog of passengers from last night (Waterloo this morning, apparently, was “reminiscent of black and white film footage from the blitz”).
Tired, emotional, a little peeved, Tom fired an email to the team:
From: Jennings, Tom
Sent: Friday, January 19, 2007 06:55 AM
To: @LON Tech
Subject: Yes, I really am in the office at this time...
“Ah, there's nothing quite like getting up at 04:30 to get to Waterloo, only to find there's no chance of getting on a Eurostar train before lunchtime...
FYI - I will be leaving the office at 14:00 today as a result.
Cheers, Tom
PS: And a particular thank-you to the truly hilarious Manners, Robertson and Sondhi for their midnight phone call. Very, very amusing. Believe me - much like last night's tapas, revenge is a dish best served cold.
You'll laugh about this one day Tom. Just not one day soon.
18 January 2007
Twitter…rhyming slang or any use..?
“Twitter” we thought. “What the fuck?”
So rather than languish in our own ignorance of the latest social media craze, we thought we’d ask someone who knows about this sort of stuff. This is what he said:
Twitter is already the new black. But, for those of you not wearing black, I will try to explain what Twitter is all about…
Twitter is a new social media web 2.0 phenomenon, for people that want to share (with people that care) what they’re doing now. In essence it’s a blogging, SMS, IM mash-up for those with the attention span of less than 5 seconds (which, as we all know, is now pretty much everyone). Twitter seems to largely be about people saying very little, of very little substance, fairly often – in fact it’s blogging SMS style (posts are limited to a max of about 135 characters). The idea is that you can update your Twitter page in a various ways: directly online, by IM and by Text and your ‘followers’ (yes ‘followers’…very biblical – as you’ll see Brucey baby even has a following) can choose to receive your updates via the same medium…crazy, I know.
So why should TWL care? Well, perhaps you shouldn’t, but it does seem that many people are now “Twitting” and, as ever, the technology marketing and journalist digerati (i.e. readers of your popular gossip blog) are at the forefront of such things. As well as communicating with these early adopters you can now even sign up to follow Twitters from the likes of the BBC and CNN (although there is some debate at present as to whether this is actually Auntie being all ‘down-with-the-kids’ or just overly keen Twitters fiddling with news feeds). You can even sign up to follow spoof Twitters, should you so desire, from the likes of Condoleezza Rice.
As by way of understanding (or at least attempting to) here are some of the great Twitter posts from our Twitting friends:
Scoble: Back from BillG. 45 minute interview, it's always fun to chat with Bill, but now onto other fun PodTech things. Call me if you want into BlogHaus 01:26 PM January 07, 2007 from web
Justin Hayward: discovered fantastic adapter to broadcast my MP3 tunes to the car stereo, saving about £150! Nice... 04:33 PM January 13, 2007 from web
Justin Westcott: thinking that i might have signed up for a few too many BBC twitter feeds 10:54 AM January 15, 2007 from im
Bruce: Ah the joy of working at home - no tube, no buses, no jams. 07:51 PM January 15, 2007 from mobile
Drew B: Anyone else been invited to the opening of Mood Supperclub in Hollywood ? Don't think I'll be able to make it :-) 07:15 AM January 17, 2007 from im
Any clearer? Probably not.
So is Twitter the new Blogger? Maybe. Can we expect a wave of articles in National media talking about Twitter addiction? Very likely. Will PR folk be busy devising new ways of engaging with this fast growing Twitter community, developing and selling to clients Twitter communication products and at the very least pretending to know what the hell it is all about? More than likely. If that’s the case I hope this helped. Happy Twitting.
So, as far as we can tell, it’s a way for people that for some reason think you might give a shit telling you what they’re doing for pretty much every minute of the day. Crikey, and we thought blogging was ego-driven.
Of course, our man pulled out some of the more “interesting” nuggets that people have…you know…oh Christ how I don’t want to say this…umm…”Twitted”…but of course most of them are really, really dull things like this:
Think I’ll have a cup of tea
Better get on with some work
Need a pooh
On the bus
Going to bed
And it’s really dangerous, because you get things like this:
Gosh this Twitter’s addictive, I can't concentrate on anything I need to do for my client Cisco. Oh well, I'll still bill the time to them
And that character limit is frustrating, ‘cause you get stuff like this:
I am supposed to be writing a briefing document for Larry Ellison’s trip over but I can’t be arsed, so I’ve been surfing the internet – now I think I’ll nip off for a wa
So again…Twitter. What the fuck?
Twatter more like.
“Twitter” we thought. “What the fuck?”
So rather than languish in our own ignorance of the latest social media craze, we thought we’d ask someone who knows about this sort of stuff. This is what he said:
Twitter is already the new black. But, for those of you not wearing black, I will try to explain what Twitter is all about…
Twitter is a new social media web 2.0 phenomenon, for people that want to share (with people that care) what they’re doing now. In essence it’s a blogging, SMS, IM mash-up for those with the attention span of less than 5 seconds (which, as we all know, is now pretty much everyone). Twitter seems to largely be about people saying very little, of very little substance, fairly often – in fact it’s blogging SMS style (posts are limited to a max of about 135 characters). The idea is that you can update your Twitter page in a various ways: directly online, by IM and by Text and your ‘followers’ (yes ‘followers’…very biblical – as you’ll see Brucey baby even has a following) can choose to receive your updates via the same medium…crazy, I know.
So why should TWL care? Well, perhaps you shouldn’t, but it does seem that many people are now “Twitting” and, as ever, the technology marketing and journalist digerati (i.e. readers of your popular gossip blog) are at the forefront of such things. As well as communicating with these early adopters you can now even sign up to follow Twitters from the likes of the BBC and CNN (although there is some debate at present as to whether this is actually Auntie being all ‘down-with-the-kids’ or just overly keen Twitters fiddling with news feeds). You can even sign up to follow spoof Twitters, should you so desire, from the likes of Condoleezza Rice.
As by way of understanding (or at least attempting to) here are some of the great Twitter posts from our Twitting friends:
Scoble: Back from BillG. 45 minute interview, it's always fun to chat with Bill, but now onto other fun PodTech things. Call me if you want into BlogHaus 01:26 PM January 07, 2007 from web
Justin Hayward: discovered fantastic adapter to broadcast my MP3 tunes to the car stereo, saving about £150! Nice... 04:33 PM January 13, 2007 from web
Justin Westcott: thinking that i might have signed up for a few too many BBC twitter feeds 10:54 AM January 15, 2007 from im
Bruce: Ah the joy of working at home - no tube, no buses, no jams. 07:51 PM January 15, 2007 from mobile
Drew B: Anyone else been invited to the opening of Mood Supperclub in Hollywood ? Don't think I'll be able to make it :-) 07:15 AM January 17, 2007 from im
Any clearer? Probably not.
So is Twitter the new Blogger? Maybe. Can we expect a wave of articles in National media talking about Twitter addiction? Very likely. Will PR folk be busy devising new ways of engaging with this fast growing Twitter community, developing and selling to clients Twitter communication products and at the very least pretending to know what the hell it is all about? More than likely. If that’s the case I hope this helped. Happy Twitting.
So, as far as we can tell, it’s a way for people that for some reason think you might give a shit telling you what they’re doing for pretty much every minute of the day. Crikey, and we thought blogging was ego-driven.
Of course, our man pulled out some of the more “interesting” nuggets that people have…you know…oh Christ how I don’t want to say this…umm…”Twitted”…but of course most of them are really, really dull things like this:
Think I’ll have a cup of tea
Better get on with some work
Need a pooh
On the bus
Going to bed
And it’s really dangerous, because you get things like this:
Gosh this Twitter’s addictive, I can't concentrate on anything I need to do for my client Cisco. Oh well, I'll still bill the time to them
And that character limit is frustrating, ‘cause you get stuff like this:
I am supposed to be writing a briefing document for Larry Ellison’s trip over but I can’t be arsed, so I’ve been surfing the internet – now I think I’ll nip off for a wa
So again…Twitter. What the fuck?
Twatter more like.
17 January 2007
Numero Uno meme….
In the run-up to Christmas (that’s “Holiday Season” for our surprisingly high contingent of American readers) there was a popular meme that went round the blogosphere (that’s “chain letter that got passed around on the internet” for those that can’t be arsed with all this lexicon 2.0 nonsense).
The whole thing was encouraging people to expose five things about themselves that almost no-one else would know.
This is obviously very dangerous. Not so much that you reveal an embarrassing story about yourself, after all, that’s the point. No, this is dangerous because if you’re ever abducted by aliens and replaced by a very clever robotic replica of you, your nearest and dearest would be able to tell there had been a switch by asking you an intimate question to which only you knew the answer. A flawless plan, provided the real you hadn’t posted five things that people didn’t know about them on the web for any old robot-toting alien to take note of and lodge into the fake you’s silicon head. Anyway, we digress.
A highly scientific poll at TWL towers judged that Jono ‘the beard’ Bacon – a leading open source light, Ubuntu Community Manager for Canonical, prolific blogger and occasional journalist – had the most interesting ‘thing you didn’t know about me’ fact:
Someone took a shit on my Fiat Uno Van
Well Jono, if you insist on living in the West Midlands…
In the run-up to Christmas (that’s “Holiday Season” for our surprisingly high contingent of American readers) there was a popular meme that went round the blogosphere (that’s “chain letter that got passed around on the internet” for those that can’t be arsed with all this lexicon 2.0 nonsense).
The whole thing was encouraging people to expose five things about themselves that almost no-one else would know.
This is obviously very dangerous. Not so much that you reveal an embarrassing story about yourself, after all, that’s the point. No, this is dangerous because if you’re ever abducted by aliens and replaced by a very clever robotic replica of you, your nearest and dearest would be able to tell there had been a switch by asking you an intimate question to which only you knew the answer. A flawless plan, provided the real you hadn’t posted five things that people didn’t know about them on the web for any old robot-toting alien to take note of and lodge into the fake you’s silicon head. Anyway, we digress.
A highly scientific poll at TWL towers judged that Jono ‘the beard’ Bacon – a leading open source light, Ubuntu Community Manager for Canonical, prolific blogger and occasional journalist – had the most interesting ‘thing you didn’t know about me’ fact:
Someone took a shit on my Fiat Uno Van
Well Jono, if you insist on living in the West Midlands…
Get back on the meat, fella...
People say that TWL is by far and away the most entertaining PR-related blog (yes they do...) but as far as we're concerned, Simon Collister wipes the floor with us. This is a post of his from last Friday:
"Turned on BBC Radio 4's In Business programme last night while cooking some tasty vegan sausages. I wasn't expecting much but was rewarded with a not-too-ground-breaking but interesting programme on open-source business.
"As well as the US centric background it featured the UK's first open-source firm - whose name now escapes me."
Comic genius!
Whaddya mean he's serious?
People say that TWL is by far and away the most entertaining PR-related blog (yes they do...) but as far as we're concerned, Simon Collister wipes the floor with us. This is a post of his from last Friday:
"Turned on BBC Radio 4's In Business programme last night while cooking some tasty vegan sausages. I wasn't expecting much but was rewarded with a not-too-ground-breaking but interesting programme on open-source business.
"As well as the US centric background it featured the UK's first open-source firm - whose name now escapes me."
Comic genius!
Whaddya mean he's serious?
You gotta practice what you preach...
...and here's someone doing exactly that. Following our call for industry news, the sparky Fiona Blamey of Prompt Communications has been in touch. As you'll see from this press release, Prompt has launch a blogger relations service and, if the way Fiona "related" to TWL is anything to go by, while it's a crazy plan, it might just work.
To be frank, Fiona flattered us beyond all reason..."Very much enjoying your site," she said, "there aren’t too many people in the industry who can write nicely like what you can" she continued. Stop it, Fiona, stop it. Oh, go on then.
In return for her shameless sweet talk, we're happy to give the new service a mention...details of Prompt's new blogging service can be found here.
And just so we don't upset TWL viewers who might be aghast at the lack of piss-taking in this post, we're delighted to see that Prompt is one of those generous agencies that puts pictures and short biographies of their consultants on its website.
The first consultant is called Hazel Butters which initially, to be honest, I thought was part of her job description. Well, some agencies have tea boys, why wouldn't others have someone to butter the toast?
Fiona's there, obviously, and before you scoff at Prompt's new blogging service, how many other people do you know who have written a thesis on the cultural significance of blogging and social media as part of an MA in Popular Culture? Oh, yes, I see what you mean...scoff away.
There's a serious man called Lance (well, you would be, wouldn't you?) and a chirpy ginger one called Dave. There's Kate who's "full of ideas" and Annie, who's "capable, creative and client-focused" (but then so is foxy Elissa. How do they work that out? Is one capable on the other's client-focused days? You wouldn't want them both creative at the same time...or maybe you would? Help!). Heather, meanwhile, is "capabile, curious and service oriented"...I'm particularly interested in that curious bit...I wonder if Elissa might have a bit of "curious" in her too?
Mysteriously, there's no picture of Lisa Facinelli...with a name like that though, I wonder if she's on a witness protection programme of some kind?
And get the linguist...Louise Hill speaks Spanish, Italian, Franch and Portuguese fluently, elementary Greek and is currently studying for GSCEs in Arabic and Russian. The best bit is, she apparently swears like a trooper...in eight different languages! Actually, I made that bit up. But she has got an Advanced Certificate in Wines and Spirits. Is that like I've got a Doctorate in Pies and Pasties?
...and here's someone doing exactly that. Following our call for industry news, the sparky Fiona Blamey of Prompt Communications has been in touch. As you'll see from this press release, Prompt has launch a blogger relations service and, if the way Fiona "related" to TWL is anything to go by, while it's a crazy plan, it might just work.
To be frank, Fiona flattered us beyond all reason..."Very much enjoying your site," she said, "there aren’t too many people in the industry who can write nicely like what you can" she continued. Stop it, Fiona, stop it. Oh, go on then.
In return for her shameless sweet talk, we're happy to give the new service a mention...details of Prompt's new blogging service can be found here.
And just so we don't upset TWL viewers who might be aghast at the lack of piss-taking in this post, we're delighted to see that Prompt is one of those generous agencies that puts pictures and short biographies of their consultants on its website.
The first consultant is called Hazel Butters which initially, to be honest, I thought was part of her job description. Well, some agencies have tea boys, why wouldn't others have someone to butter the toast?
Fiona's there, obviously, and before you scoff at Prompt's new blogging service, how many other people do you know who have written a thesis on the cultural significance of blogging and social media as part of an MA in Popular Culture? Oh, yes, I see what you mean...scoff away.
There's a serious man called Lance (well, you would be, wouldn't you?) and a chirpy ginger one called Dave. There's Kate who's "full of ideas" and Annie, who's "capable, creative and client-focused" (but then so is foxy Elissa. How do they work that out? Is one capable on the other's client-focused days? You wouldn't want them both creative at the same time...or maybe you would? Help!). Heather, meanwhile, is "capabile, curious and service oriented"...I'm particularly interested in that curious bit...I wonder if Elissa might have a bit of "curious" in her too?
Mysteriously, there's no picture of Lisa Facinelli...with a name like that though, I wonder if she's on a witness protection programme of some kind?
And get the linguist...Louise Hill speaks Spanish, Italian, Franch and Portuguese fluently, elementary Greek and is currently studying for GSCEs in Arabic and Russian. The best bit is, she apparently swears like a trooper...in eight different languages! Actually, I made that bit up. But she has got an Advanced Certificate in Wines and Spirits. Is that like I've got a Doctorate in Pies and Pasties?
16 January 2007
A problem shared….
Government, employers, PRs…a devious lot, one and all.
There is much hand-wringing about the UK’s low recycling rate. Jolly serious politicians use the media to urge ‘householders’ to recycle their rubbish. If ‘we’ all use three different bins, the world will be a cleaner place. Or take last summer when there was a hosepipe ban, and ‘we’ were made to feel ashamed for putting a splash of water on our toothbrush before cleaning our teeth.
Whether it’s that ‘we’ drive our kids to school, fly more often or buy cheap food, ‘we’ – householders, consumers, average Joes – seem to be intent on ruining the world for everyone.
Except, of course, that the problems – and their solutions - don’t actually lie with ‘us’ at all. Poor recycling rates have more to do with government policy and businesses than inconsiderate consumers. And ‘we’ were short of water because it was deemed OK to build millions of houses in one corner of the country without updating the water supply infrastructure and, of course, to allow Thames Water to piss most of it away.
Yet the focus always comes back on how ‘we’ must change our ways. In many cases, of course, ‘we’ quite legitimately must play our part…although the burden of separating your rubbish into three different bins when you live in a small flat in London with no storage space - and the borough has just switched to only collecting rubbish every fortnight - is too much for most of us. Especially when you know that the contents of all three bins end up in the same hole anyway because the council hasn’t got the private sector firms in place to keep their side of the bargain.
The jolly serious politicians know this of course. They don’t actually think, or probably even care, what ‘we’ do. But by reminding us that ‘we’ could be doing more, they share – or at least shift - the problem. It’s harder to not vote for a government because it’s weak on the environment if it’s just pointed out that you’re a bit crap too.
Which is also a favourite tactic for employers, of course. The AD just buggered up the account? The AM wasn’t managing upwards effectively. Having to stay in work until 8pm every night to get through your excessive workload? Poor time management skills. Client doesn’t appreciate all your work? You’re not selling the results back to them well enough. A grain of truth in all of those, but the greater responsibility lies elsewhere. Yet shifting the issue quells the complaint.
When ‘my’ business is going down the toilet (because ‘I’m’ spending all the money on fast cars, a flash house, sharp suits, lap dancers and a coke habit), ‘we’ must all work harder.
Despicable PR tactic? Not me guv, it’s an industry issue…
Government, employers, PRs…a devious lot, one and all.
There is much hand-wringing about the UK’s low recycling rate. Jolly serious politicians use the media to urge ‘householders’ to recycle their rubbish. If ‘we’ all use three different bins, the world will be a cleaner place. Or take last summer when there was a hosepipe ban, and ‘we’ were made to feel ashamed for putting a splash of water on our toothbrush before cleaning our teeth.
Whether it’s that ‘we’ drive our kids to school, fly more often or buy cheap food, ‘we’ – householders, consumers, average Joes – seem to be intent on ruining the world for everyone.
Except, of course, that the problems – and their solutions - don’t actually lie with ‘us’ at all. Poor recycling rates have more to do with government policy and businesses than inconsiderate consumers. And ‘we’ were short of water because it was deemed OK to build millions of houses in one corner of the country without updating the water supply infrastructure and, of course, to allow Thames Water to piss most of it away.
Yet the focus always comes back on how ‘we’ must change our ways. In many cases, of course, ‘we’ quite legitimately must play our part…although the burden of separating your rubbish into three different bins when you live in a small flat in London with no storage space - and the borough has just switched to only collecting rubbish every fortnight - is too much for most of us. Especially when you know that the contents of all three bins end up in the same hole anyway because the council hasn’t got the private sector firms in place to keep their side of the bargain.
The jolly serious politicians know this of course. They don’t actually think, or probably even care, what ‘we’ do. But by reminding us that ‘we’ could be doing more, they share – or at least shift - the problem. It’s harder to not vote for a government because it’s weak on the environment if it’s just pointed out that you’re a bit crap too.
Which is also a favourite tactic for employers, of course. The AD just buggered up the account? The AM wasn’t managing upwards effectively. Having to stay in work until 8pm every night to get through your excessive workload? Poor time management skills. Client doesn’t appreciate all your work? You’re not selling the results back to them well enough. A grain of truth in all of those, but the greater responsibility lies elsewhere. Yet shifting the issue quells the complaint.
When ‘my’ business is going down the toilet (because ‘I’m’ spending all the money on fast cars, a flash house, sharp suits, lap dancers and a coke habit), ‘we’ must all work harder.
Despicable PR tactic? Not me guv, it’s an industry issue…
15 January 2007
Trademark troubles…
I’m not sure if you remember, but back in September 2006, PRWeak said this:
“The most powerful and influential figures in the UK PR industry are to be profiled in a new book, published by PRWeek. Scheduled for publication at the end of this year, The PowerBook will be a Who's Who-style directory of over 400 leading industry figures.”
I’m fairly sure that the end of the year has passed now, and I’m waiting with baited breath to flick through, as PRWeak itself called it, “the UK PR industry’s first A-list.”
Has anyone seen it? It all seemed very urgent at the time, as again, back in September, PRWeak’s story stated that:
“Each individual selected under PRWeek's criteria will be approached by the magazine over the next two weeks. They will be asked to fill out a brief questionnaire, which will subsequently lead to a personal profile in The PowerBook - and ultimately a place in the industry's hall of fame. Please look out for this letter and respond quickly…”
Perhaps Apple – though currently involved with Cisco in a similar dispute of its own – didn’t like the use of the PowerBook name? I mean, they've even used the same IT industry standard embedded capitalisation.
We’re particularly anxious to see it though as, would you believe it, good old TWL was invited to be included!
Yes, that’s right, back on the 5th October, we received an email from Kate Magee at PRWeak which said:
“You are looking at something rare. It's an invitation to appear in the UK PR industry's first 'who's who' guide - The PowerBook - which is being published by PRWeek. Only a select group of powerful, influential or inspiring individuals are invited to appear in the PowerBook, which is scheduled to appear at the end of this year. It will be a recognised guide to the leading figures currently working in the UK PR business.”
We followed all the instructions very carefully and made sure we got in before the deadline. OK, so we couldn’t really provide “a recent, colour, head and shoulders photograph” but we did provide an alternative image.
So where is it? Anyone?
I’m not sure if you remember, but back in September 2006, PRWeak said this:
“The most powerful and influential figures in the UK PR industry are to be profiled in a new book, published by PRWeek. Scheduled for publication at the end of this year, The PowerBook will be a Who's Who-style directory of over 400 leading industry figures.”
I’m fairly sure that the end of the year has passed now, and I’m waiting with baited breath to flick through, as PRWeak itself called it, “the UK PR industry’s first A-list.”
Has anyone seen it? It all seemed very urgent at the time, as again, back in September, PRWeak’s story stated that:
“Each individual selected under PRWeek's criteria will be approached by the magazine over the next two weeks. They will be asked to fill out a brief questionnaire, which will subsequently lead to a personal profile in The PowerBook - and ultimately a place in the industry's hall of fame. Please look out for this letter and respond quickly…”
Perhaps Apple – though currently involved with Cisco in a similar dispute of its own – didn’t like the use of the PowerBook name? I mean, they've even used the same IT industry standard embedded capitalisation.
We’re particularly anxious to see it though as, would you believe it, good old TWL was invited to be included!
Yes, that’s right, back on the 5th October, we received an email from Kate Magee at PRWeak which said:
“You are looking at something rare. It's an invitation to appear in the UK PR industry's first 'who's who' guide - The PowerBook - which is being published by PRWeek. Only a select group of powerful, influential or inspiring individuals are invited to appear in the PowerBook, which is scheduled to appear at the end of this year. It will be a recognised guide to the leading figures currently working in the UK PR business.”
We followed all the instructions very carefully and made sure we got in before the deadline. OK, so we couldn’t really provide “a recent, colour, head and shoulders photograph” but we did provide an alternative image.
So where is it? Anyone?
There's a bottle of pop in it for you...
We've been getting a little stick here at TWL recently for a perceived lack of "transparency" or some other bull that we don't care very much about. Well, check this out.
It's an article from the Chicago Tribune about how many more people are drinking "soda pops" (that's fizzy drinks to the rest of us) first thing in the morning, rather than the more traditional coffee. In itself, it seems a fairly thinly-veiled plug for the soft drinks industry, but this is the best bit:
Brent Curry, a vice president with Hill & Knowlton Inc., said..."I have never a been a coffee drinker. I have already had two Diet Mountain Dews this morning. It is one of the first things I do in the morning when I get into my office," adding that he refrains from drinking the soda with his breakfast.
But that could be subject to change.
Unlike the days when it took him just 10 minutes to get to work, he now commutes on the train, and it's a longer trip. As a result, he carries a can of Mountain Dew in his briefcase in case the train is delayed.
"If I get desperate, it is there," Curry said.
Of course, what the article doesn't mention is that Mountain Dew is a PepsiCo brand. And PepsiCo is a client of, umm, Hill & Knowlton...
We've been getting a little stick here at TWL recently for a perceived lack of "transparency" or some other bull that we don't care very much about. Well, check this out.
It's an article from the Chicago Tribune about how many more people are drinking "soda pops" (that's fizzy drinks to the rest of us) first thing in the morning, rather than the more traditional coffee. In itself, it seems a fairly thinly-veiled plug for the soft drinks industry, but this is the best bit:
Brent Curry, a vice president with Hill & Knowlton Inc., said..."I have never a been a coffee drinker. I have already had two Diet Mountain Dews this morning. It is one of the first things I do in the morning when I get into my office," adding that he refrains from drinking the soda with his breakfast.
But that could be subject to change.
Unlike the days when it took him just 10 minutes to get to work, he now commutes on the train, and it's a longer trip. As a result, he carries a can of Mountain Dew in his briefcase in case the train is delayed.
"If I get desperate, it is there," Curry said.
Of course, what the article doesn't mention is that Mountain Dew is a PepsiCo brand. And PepsiCo is a client of, umm, Hill & Knowlton...
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