This is rich: Ketchum Public Relations — which has no blog or RSS feed on its site — issued a 1055 word press release from hell announcing their new “personalized media” practice. Translation: they will advise clients on blogs, RSS, podcasting, search engine optimization and mobile marketing.
Free advice: learn to write a press release in under 300 words. Journalists are busy.
Ketchum Public Relations — Which Has No Blog or RSS Feed — Launches Blog Practice
BL Ochman | June 13, 2005 | Permanent Link | Comments (12) | TrackBack (
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Categories: Press Release From Hell
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PR agencies getting involved with new media
Today Ketchum announced their new global ‘personalized media’ service (here). They will basically provide consulting services to their clients on how to use blogs, wikis, SEO, mobile text messaging and the like as part of their overall communications s…
Dear Ketchum: I would be happy to promote your “personalized media” practice. Just pay me the same $240,000 fee you gave Armstrong Williams to promote No Child Left Behind :-)
I think we should be glad that Ketchum doesn’t have a blog…it might have items like the other announcement on their website… “Reaching Out to Today’s Multiminding Women.” Multiminding? Would that be today’s Hydra?
Blogging practices that need practice
Ketchum announces a Global Personalized Media service with a 300+ words news release that goes on and on and on and on….
You can almost take this one apart, sentence by sentence, for committing all of the sins of traditional corporate-speak PR. You …
A good way of checking if you have a personal voice in your writing is to read the sentences out loud. Now try out a couple of the sentences (in the Ketchum Press Release):
“A lot of conflicting information and anxiety exist about how to incorporate these new online technologies into ‘traditional’ communications programs. But Ketchum has the technological expertise to help dispel that uncertainty.”
And this one:
“For several years, Ketchum has been at the forefront globally in developing and introducing new communications approaches that incorporate breakthrough technology — from our award-winning intranet and our early adoption of eRooms to our Influencer Relationship Management program for identifying and linking valuable allies to organizations,” noted Raymond L. Kotcher, Ketchum Senior Partner and Chief Executive Officer.
Very convincing – I mean that is what a human being would say to another human being is it not? :-)
I hope Hugh Mcleod (www.gapingvoid.com) is reading this – it would make a brilliant cartoon! “Did I just dispel your uncertainty?” “Read my blog!”
You Have to Eat the Dog Food, Part Whatever
David Parmet harshes on Ketchum’s announcement of its new DIY media influencer services. They call it personalized media. Micromedia. Micromarketing. Global microbranding. Whatever. Key is, as Parmet points out, they did the announcement in the same ol…
Trine – you point out another thing that I didn’t even realize the first time I (*shudder*) read the release.
They’re treating this as a tech play – boasting about their tech expertise and savvy.
But blogging isn’t about technology. It’s about communication, conversation.
Maybe if they bragged about their marketing smarts….
Their announcement does seem a tiny bit disingenuous. Or, maybe I’m wrong about blogging. Maybe it has nothing to do with personality. Maybe everything we’ve heard and experienced about the blogosphere thus far is just plain wrong.
After all, who are we to argue with such an esteemed institution like a New York based communications firm that is connected at every port to Mainstream Media?
And I’m sure there’s a very good reason that a communications firm with expertise in blogging would not publicly use a blog to communicate with their audiences. Certainly they don’t need to demonstrate their expertise in personalized media by actually (dare I say it?) USING such media. why, that’s ridiculous.
I’d write more but I have to take my car to my mechanic, who by the way refuses to drive a car. After that, I will meet with my accountant who hasn’t filed a tax return in decades. Then, I’ll finish my errands with a stop by my favorite meat market that’s owned and operated by my good friend who does not eat meat of any kind. Gotta run!
And I’m sure Ketchum isn’t following what’s being said all over the blogosphere. if they were, they might want to respond to some of the blog posts that are creaming them. Not exactly an auspisious beginning for their division.
This announcement is agency promotion at its worst. Should have been more strategic and gone direct. Especially with no direct blog experience. That said — watch the PR trades cover it next week!
Dear Ketchum, welcome to the blogosphere.
When it launched the Personalized Media service, Ketchum had some good ingredients for preparing a smooth entry in blogland: a (sort of) blog (and RSS feeds, by default), a podcast (well, almost), and a collaboration with a PR blogger. But it just didn…
Ketchum Personalized Media Practice launched… with a few hiccups…
Last Monday I read on Micropersuasion about the launch of Ketchum’s new “Personalized Media” practice. Always when I read about a big agency starting to offer blog-related services to their clients, my first reaction is to look for their blog. For me, …