Sunday, January 08, 2006
Why Me?
I shouldn't whine, but I am tempted to ask, "Why me?" I got a press release in the mail late last week from a California PR firm about a California issue. The issue has nothing to do with communications and nothing whatsoever to do with this blog. Yet, here I am on a list of reporters and bloggers to be spammed. I should be honored, I guess, but I'm not. I am beginning to understand why reporters get snippy and sometimes, angry, with publicists. Don't they ever read what I write? The answer in the case of this PR firm is that it couldn't have. I won't mention the issue, but I will point to the offending PR firm. Beware. It has a tacky flash animation opening to its web page and badly produced photos to go with it.
I hope that Mayo PR reads this blog entry and desists in sending me any more releases on the subject. That said, if Mayo PR has a good program that it thinks deserves notice, I am happy to take a look as I will do for any PR firm. I enjoy well done PR campaigns, and I like to write about them.
But puh-leeze, read the blog before sending me releases.
I hope that Mayo PR reads this blog entry and desists in sending me any more releases on the subject. That said, if Mayo PR has a good program that it thinks deserves notice, I am happy to take a look as I will do for any PR firm. I enjoy well done PR campaigns, and I like to write about them.
But puh-leeze, read the blog before sending me releases.
Comments:
Like you, Jim, I also received an email pitch on this topic, which has little relevance for my blogs.
It reminds me of the time I was moderating a panel of technology writers at a PRSA Tech Section event, and Michael Schrage of the MIT Media Lab, who writes technology trend columns for a number of publications, asked the audience for shows of hands -- in succession -- as to whether they had read the last article bylined by each of the other panelists. No one admitted reading anything the panelists had written, including Schrage.
"If you don't read our columns and know what we write about, how can you possibly expect us to care about you or your client?" he asked.
No one had the answer then (circa 1994 or 1995) and obviously no one does now.
It reminds me of the time I was moderating a panel of technology writers at a PRSA Tech Section event, and Michael Schrage of the MIT Media Lab, who writes technology trend columns for a number of publications, asked the audience for shows of hands -- in succession -- as to whether they had read the last article bylined by each of the other panelists. No one admitted reading anything the panelists had written, including Schrage.
"If you don't read our columns and know what we write about, how can you possibly expect us to care about you or your client?" he asked.
No one had the answer then (circa 1994 or 1995) and obviously no one does now.
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