Since I’m being mean to PR companies this week, I had to mention something that happened to me in April.
I was writing a supplement for The Independent about eBay. I had put out a request on ResponseSource to find companies who used eBay in their business and a certain PR firm got in touch to say their client was the perfect case study.
We booked up an interview with the boss.
I rang him. His secretary tracked him down and put the call through. He said:
You *%£$!”s. eBay has all the ethics of a barrow boy with kleptomania. I don’t know why you’re calling me. I don’t want to speak you. You’re the scum of the Earth. Now, f*** off!
Or something like that. I stopped taking notes after the first two words. He hung up on me.
Why did he agree to do the interview? Why did his PR firm put him forward?
I would have thought that after this call either he would sack his PR firm or his PR firm would resign the account.
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Darn. I guess we should have had that second media training session after all.
Sorry, Matthew.
I’m with you at the moment on PR agencies. I realise it’s a sweeping statement but I met a PR guy back in March that was late, kept answering his phone during our meeting and then…. never got back to me.
What’s more, every suggestion he made was lame and we were already doing it. And he didn’t understand blogging and social media.
My comments to that experience are on my blog:
http://www.click71.com/2007/03/15/do-your-own-pr/
Maybe the angry man wasn’t the PR firm’s client. Maybe the PR firm worked for one of eBay’s competitors.