I’m in a good mood and this flack seems nice, so I won’t out his name. Here’s part of an email interchange that has been going on since yesterday, when he sent me a press release about optical something or anothers in an email attachment. I do not open unsolicited attachments, and neither does anyone else in their right mind. I politely asked him to put it in the body of an email. Listen up young flacks, old flacks and flacks in ships at sea: Don’t ever do what this publicist did.
Me: what are you selling and why do you think i should be on your list?
Him: Subject: RE: Optical polishing equipment
“You were on a list of technology editors…. although judging by the information in your email it does not seem you would be interested in the subject. One of the problems of using lists. If you dont want to be added back to this list I won’t put you there.”
Me: if you read my blog even once, you’d know what i cover. It’s not telescopes
Him: Sorry I never read your blog, although I am sure it is good.
UPDATE: This guy won’t quit.
Me: “you need to bring yourself up to speed on blogs now. you are coming across as both clueless and lazy.” Was that nice? No way.
Him: I used to cover internet, computer and communications technology very closely–for 15 odd years. Lot of corners I did not delve into. They came and they went so fast. Blogs was one of them. Too crowded to attract my attention for long. I have been intriqued by the apparent interest in them for pr & marketing, but I have not thought them useful for the clients I deal with, for a lot of reasons. I gather you write mostly about consumer technology – again not an area I have been working. I was very lazy when I was nominated for a Pulitzer. Cheers [Translation: I used to be a reporter before I started doing PR for telescopes.]
Me: Nobody can afford to rest on his/her laurels these days.
public_relations, PR
Why Nobody Loves PR People. Sigh
BL Ochman | September 22, 2005 | Permanent Link | Comments (6) | TrackBack (
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Categories: Blogging and Moblogging, Media Relations, Press Release From Hell, Public Relations, Worst Practices
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He was honest, at least. And, he added “I’m sure it’s good” which was sweet of him.
I had a similar run-in where the kid just said “oh, we don’t read the blogs we pitch because we don’t have time” and another kid got snarky when I told her that my blog is on PR, not blogging platforms.
B.L. feels my pain
I feel hers, too … although meeting brain-dead flacks when you are yourself a PR professional is probably a higher degree of pain than I experience as a mere journalist. Never mind, B.L. … I do recognize that not all…
My criging was progressively more pronounced as I read further.
I never fail to be amazed by the consequences of anesthetization against the word “no” (or more broadly, all of the failure modes for a pitch).
You were lazy when you were nominated for a Pulitzer?
For some reason, Bacon’s slapped me into their database some months ago. I *specifically* said in their survey that my preferred contact method was reed-etched clay tablet, and that I prefer that they be dry by the time they get to me.
I get email pitches all the time now.
*sigh*
Nobody listens…
No: HE was lazy when HE got nominated for a Pulitzer. :>)
I haven’t had my nomination yet.