When writing PR for an anti-spam firm, don’t spam
Picked this up on Slashdot: Paul McNamara expresses the irritation felt by journalists everywhere when PR firms send out indiscriminate press releases:
This isn’t exactly brain surgery, yet the fellow at a PR agency called Rocket Science managed to violate Rule #1 while attempting to drum up publicity for Singlefin, which provides e-mail, IM and Web filtering services to the likes of Juno and NetZero.
Rather than direct the request to the appropriate individual or individuals here — oh, say our spam and security beat writers — the Rocket Science rep lit up the inboxes of 11 different Network World staffers, not to mention at least three individuals who no longer work here.
For more examples of PR madness, from my blog see:
- The top ten lies of PR companies
- Bad PR meet bad hack
- Journalist Anti-FAQ
- Unintended press release disclosures
- The worst press release ever
- Another dumb press release
- Ban the word ‘leverage’
Technorati Tags: PR, spam, junk mail, bad writing
Allister Frost wrote:
Aha, but I bet a lot more people have heard about Singlefin now. All that coverage on Slashdot and now here? I’ll bet those media coverage scores will feature fairly highly on the inept PR exec’s CV as they find themselves unwittingly re-entering the job market this morning
Posted on 27-Jul-06 at 7:27 am | Permalink
Strive Notes » NetworkWorld slaps wrists for rule breaking wrote:
[...] UPDATE: I just noticed that Bad Language mentions this story too. [...]
Posted on 27-Jul-06 at 11:24 am | Permalink
Owen Lystrup wrote:
This seems to be one of the worst problems doesn’t it?
I think the worst thing about it is the company is always named as well. Many companies have had dirt thrown on them because the PR department f’ed up.
Doing the research first seems to be the best way to go.
Posted on 28-Jul-06 at 12:54 am | Permalink
Paul McNamara wrote:
Thanks for the link. … There’s more to this story. We kinda-sorta kissed and made up.
http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/6451
Posted on 28-Jul-06 at 1:05 pm | Permalink
PR blasts don’t work | Tech PR Gems wrote:
[...] A reminder to PR folks everywhere: PR blasts don’t work. [...]
Posted on 23-Jun-08 at 3:51 pm | Permalink