Thu, 25 Jul 2002 11:44:50 GMT

The Fall of Advertising….Yeah Right
A new book from self-styled marketing guru Al Ries is titled “The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR”. In the book, he states that PR is going to replace advertising as the primary ‘branding’ tool and that advertising will be relegated to defending existing brands. [Ad Age have a great article on the book here]

NOTE: I had, based on reading two reviews of this book, published some opinions on what I believed was wrong with the premise of the book. However I have removed those opinions pending a first-hand opportunity to read the book in full when it’s published next month!

Wed, 24 Jul 2002 11:50:02 GMT

Flash Hall of Shame #14….Cane Communications [Special Award Winner]
So I am trying out Mozilla the open source Internet browser. It’s clean and fast but I haven’t yet allowed the Flash virus to install its Mozilla plug-in. Anyhow I go to Cane Communication’s (a UK PR company) website and it tells me that I MUST install the Flash 6 plug-in to get into their site. Now this is a PR company, probably looking for clients, trying to impress journalists and you can’t get into the site without Flash. Now obviously this is the same for any completely Flash-built sute, but to add further insult to injury on the ‘no flash detected’ page, there’s no contact details, no alternative HTML information. Excellent strategy. Excellent communicators.

Wed, 24 Jul 2002 08:19:03 GMT

Some interesting online reading….
Catching up on some PR reading since my break I came across a very interesting article in O’Dwyers PR Daily by New York Post columnist John Crudele. The piece details how Pre-Paid Legal Services reacted to a negative piece he wrote about the company. I’d take John to task on his fifth point but it’s a very interesting read.

If you’re interested in some personal thoughts and insights into the world of technology and technology related PR and marketing, you could do worse than stop by SIPR and have a browse through Shel Israel’s It Seems to Me (ISM) columns.

Finally, CornerBarPR’s Brenda Clevenger has published the first part of a two-part piece on on-line PR. If the whole ‘on-line PR’ thing is still a little foreign it’s not a bad introduction.

Tue, 23 Jul 2002 12:24:12 GMT

Seeing the other point of view….
As PR practitioners we’re all told to think about our work from the audience’s point of view. I came across a book review on PR Watch that provides a really interesting take on activists’ views of PR activity. It’s a review of Denise Deegan’s book ‘Managing Activism”.

Mon, 22 Jul 2002 16:44:43 GMT

PR 101: Anything Apple can do, Oracle can do better….

You might remember that in August last year Oracle Corporation took the brave decision to take their PR back in-house after a very successful eight year relationship with Applied Commuications.

Most high tech firms rely heavily on external PR agencies, so this move was certainly an interesting departure – particularly given the size of the PR brief.

Last week PR Week ran a story entitled “Oracle Completes Global PR Revamp”. A notable achievement in itself, but then I noticed towards the end of the story, James Finn, VP of worldwide corporate communications at Oracle was paraphrased as follows:
“Finn said the company has been dismayed with some of the recent media coverage it has gotten, which he said is unfairly negative. He said Oracle would not be as keen to work with reporters who take a one-sided view of the company.”

Now I am sure this is a mistake, because if Oracle’s VP of coporate communications actually believes that only briefing favorable media is the best way forward, Oracle could be heading into very choppy waters. Let’s hope for his sake it’s a mis-quote.

What do you think?

Mon, 22 Jul 2002 14:05:31 GMT

TDA Group…Muppets of the Week

One of my more interesting spams this morning was from TDA Group, expounding the benefits of tightly targeted, personalised, e-mail based direct marketing. Fine except they did it by spamming me as part of a non-targeted, non-personalized spam. Jeez. You’d never expect a company of this intellectual calliber to have a Flash intro would you? Check it out…

Mon, 22 Jul 2002 12:29:54 GMT

Please: Patronize me, I’m a client….

OK, I have worked both sides of the PR divide, I’ve been the consultant and I’ve been the in-house PR (and am presently). From a professional point of view there are significant pros and cons of both roles and I believe that if possible PR people should try both roles so they have an understanding of the different pressures and challenges.

I came across an article today that has made my blood boil. The PR agency-client relationship, probably more than any other in the marketing discipline, relies on a close working partnership. The business world moves quickly and it’s essential that both the agency and the in-house people are comfortable with each other and confident that each is doing their jobs.

This ‘article’ (and I use that word in the loosest possible sense) is one of the most patronizing and ridiculous ‘how to’ articles I have ever read – and I’ve read a few. It throws out the ‘partnership’ ideal and instead propogates the theory that the in-house drone is an inferior being that should ‘do as they are told’.

To quote Mr. Paul J. Krupin:
“If there’s something you don’t understand, ask about it. Do you want to know why they chose a certain news angle, page format, word limit, or media list? Ask. Politely.”

Maybe I am coming at this from the wrong angle, maybe I have overdosed on spam, your can read “Super Client! Getting the Most Out of Your Publicist” here.

Let me know your thoughts, I think its absolute trash….but am open to contradiction!

Mon, 22 Jul 2002 12:29:48 GMT

Back in the office…

Back after a week’s vacation and spam seems to be taking over the world. I think the fact we put our e-mail addresses at the end of press releases and on web-sites is leading us all to take on more than our fair share of spam. My poor spam filter is very tired….