The Chicago Sun-Times has published a news story that takes three facts and tries to weave them into a sensational story.
- Fact number one, Edelman makes political contributions in Illinois.
- Fact number two, Edelman was recently re-awarded the Tourism account for Illinois
- Fact number three Edelman wasn’t the cheapest PR firm on the tender.
The headline reads:
“Chicago PR firm wasn’t low bidder, but got state deal”
The opening line reads:
“A Chicago public relations firm that has contributed $32,600 to Gov. Blagojevich was awarded a new multimillion-dollar state contract even though it wasn’t the lowest bidder.”
So, Edelman, like most corporations of any size make political donations (that are on the State records) and the fact that they have won a re-pitch of an existing client is that big a deal?
Give me a break, I’ve no connections to Edelman, but I think that’s sensationalim at its worst.
A call to any PR agency in North America (or 98% of them) and the journalist would have discovered that PR services don’t equate to paperclips. Service and performance outstrip cost in relative terms for clients every time.
Look out for the next big story in Chicago:
“PR Firm wasn’t the biggest consumer of Big Macs, but got McDonalds account.”
or
“PR Firm bought $20,000 of computer equipment from IBM, and got the PR account.”
My final thought on this is, that if it only costs $32K to, as the journalist is trying to insinuate, buy a tender process that has already garnered $12.2 million why aren’t we all doing it?
Give them a break, Jeezzzz…
Murphy's Law 