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Sprint Flak's PR Pitch from Hell - A New PR Low

I didn't think it was possible, but this pitch, ~~from a Sprint flak,~~ has driven my opinion of flaks even lower:

The email, from Mia Giusti, has the subject line "tip for whatsnextblog"

the pitch:
The William Hung(s) of Breakdancing

http://video.sevvkmuann.com/magog/vids/audition.wmv

Sprint's Viral Video

A link in the video takes you to an insipid contest that "that gives participants the chance to win awesome prizes like a Power Vision phone, participate in the Ultimate Entertainment Hookup Grand Prize, win a daily giveaway, and receive a free song download. There's even an opportunity to help local charities."

Ok mia, here's my response: Your pitch, the contest, the video and not saying what you are pitching sucks.

I don't need to think twice about outing her, because I'm sure Mia Giusti isn't her real name any more than her pitch is a tip from a reader.

UPDATE: Looks like I screwed up. Mia says she's not a flak. I apologize. Instead of rushing to publish, I should have checked to see who Mia was. So who are you Mia?

Categories: Press Release From Hell, Worst Practices

BL Ochman | Jan 23 06 2:49 | TrackBack (0)

Comments

My turn to 'out' you, per the e-mail I just sent you:

Ouch, indeed. I'm not quite sure what you mean by flak but I'm not that. I liked the video and I knew it was from Sprint (I said it was from Sprint in the e-mail). I wasn't aware that I needed to give you a pitch, especially to a person who posts 'bad' viral all the time. As far as a new PR low? Please, you posted about the Burger KING, at least I try and give tips on things that aren't already out there on every blog rather than cliche' BS that everyone has seen a million times. Don't call out people's names when you go by B.L.

Posted by: mia "yes it's my f-ing name" at January 23, 2006 8:37 PM

a flak is a publicist. if you aren't a publicist, I made a mistake and I apologize.

Posted by: BL at January 23, 2006 9:09 PM

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Contact: BL (at) whatsnextonline (dot) com
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About BL Ochman

Blogger, social media strategy consultant to Fortune 500 companies, and sought-after corporate speaker B.L. Ochman heads the creative team of whatsnextonline.com. She also publishes the Ethics Crisis blog for SRF Global Translations

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