Bad Pitch Blog

DECEMBER 31, 2006

'New Year’s resolutions are crap. It takes more than a new calendar and blind optimism to make a change in your life. But the Bad Pitch blog tries to provide timely, relevant content. So here are six media relations resolutions in a box—a healthy mix of doing less and doing more for better media relations in 2007. Write Less: Write what you want to say, then (to roughly quote Pulp Fiction) take your blow torch, pliers and get medieval on it.

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Bad Pitch Blog

DECEMBER 30, 2006

'Just finished reading Peter Shankman’s book, Can We Do That?! It covers a lot of ground from PR basics, media relations and events to creative thinking, crisis communications and account management. Shankman’s conversational style makes it an easy read (no small feat for non-fiction). His hard-earned experiences recounted in the book make it credible (no small feat for a business book).

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Bad Pitch Blog

DECEMBER 23, 2006

'It''s not our thing to make fun of folks, but heck it''s Christmas so I say, let''s do it! Ed Begley is an ok actor and I liked him on St. Elsewhere, he was craggy good as the hairdresser and Ruth''s love interest on Six Feet Under. And the other week I met him at a party and let me tell you this guy is "circus tall" (reference Vince Vaughn in the cable sleeper I Love Your Work, a showy and not entirely dull film).

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Bad Pitch Blog

DECEMBER 22, 2006

'Slick here. On behalf of the Bad Pitch Blog, I want to wish you and yours all the best during this holiday season. Me? I’m all about the c-word and the 3 ho’s. These guys are a bit more politically correct. Anyways, they tell me I’ll be working over the break, but who knows. So until next time, keep those bad pitches coming. Slick’s gotta eat.

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Internal

Bad Pitch Blog

DECEMBER 18, 2006

'If you’re hoping for a gift from your employer this holiday season, cross your fingers it’s ProfNet. Anyone getting this service can tell you it’s equal parts entertaining and educational--all while bringing solid media leads to you via email. The Bad Pitch Blog is awarding Glinda, our good pitch badge of honor, to The Morris + King Company for turning ProfNet’s value add into a publicity opp for their firm.

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Creativity Pitching Fashion Education 40

Bad Pitch Blog

DECEMBER 2, 2006

'Boy + Girls: Let’s pause from talking about Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise’s “relationship” to wonder if PR professionals have become unnecessary. Does anyone need us anymore? Keeping clients happy was once a cakewalk. PR professionals merely had to write up press releases with some good words in them, get the messages right, and pick up some ink. Then suddenly everyone became aware of the capabilities and value of so-called real PR.

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Education Writing Consumer Report 40

Bad Pitch Blog

NOVEMBER 5, 2006

'With apologies to The Bard , set your microscope on hella-small as we examine the lamest part of most any news release—the boilerplate. The Bulldog Reporter defines boilerplate as “text that is reused, as at the end of a news release or in a legal document. The fascinating origin of the word is discussed in "The Skinny" book.” Legal document? That alone should raise a red flag.

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Bad Pitch Blog

OCTOBER 18, 2006

'In a short period of time, the Bad Pitch blog has seen a lot of crappy media relations. But this is a first—a pitch so bad the reporter outed it on Flickr. Not sure what Flickr is? No cookie for you. There are plenty of ways Flickr can keep your PR skills sharp. Check it out. ROBTv’s Michael Hainsworth can be seen on The Business News. His blog has me convinced he’s equally qualified to work on The Daily Show.

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Bad Pitch Blog

OCTOBER 17, 2006

'This from someone at RLM who isn’t as wily as I am. Turns out that PR folk are not the only ones who send bad pitches! As we know, our HR colleagues pitch all day, every day. When they recruit, they’re pitching. When they announce inevitably negative changes to benefits packages, they’re pitching. You get the idea. Last week, a zealous HR pro (her title is Manager, Talent Development) sent an e-mail to a former employee at my agency.

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Journalists receive an overwhelming number of press releases daily, making it hard for your news to stand out. While some news is valuable, most is not.

Media

Bad Pitch Blog

OCTOBER 2, 2006

'We knew Glinda would be back as soon as we glanced at this pitch from The McGinn Group’s Nellie Lide. - Subject: chevy''s trying more co-creation Kevin- Some lucky (and talented) Gen Yers will create Chevy’s 2007 Super Bowl Ad. Here’s the blogger press release: [link]. Thanks, Nellie [Sig File] - In addition to the wicked-short length and link to the news release, here’s why this good pitch gets a Glinda, our badge of honor.

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Bad Pitch Blog

OCTOBER 1, 2006

'Want to stay up to date on the Bad Pitch Blog but not interested in RSS? Check out the sidebar and you''ll see we now offer Feedblitz. Just enter your email, hit enter and you''ll be signed up to receive our posts in your email inbox shortly after we hit publish.

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Bad Pitch Blog

SEPTEMBER 26, 2006

'Nudity and liquor seem like a sure-fire combo to get the media’s attention. After all, this headline got your attention. But sometimes PR people can over share on behalf of their clients. This is one of those times. This news release posing as a pitch was forwarded by a Philadelphia-based reporter to "Trebuchet," a fan of the Bad Pitch blog. She is also the author of the wonderfully-written Legwarmers.

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Bad Pitch Blog

SEPTEMBER 22, 2006

'Poynter’s Amy Gahran will delete any unsolicited news releases sent to her, labeling them as spam. Techdirt also joins the discussion with reference to Valleywag’s snarky ire for Tech PR''s approach to media relations. You should read the comments at all of these posts. That is, unless you haven''t eaten breakfast yet. Are these responses to PR people harsh or too general?

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Speaker: Michelle Garrett, PR Consultant, Author, Speaker

Yes - press releases are still relevant in the world of public relations! 🎯 Ever wondered how to write a compelling press release, or what are current best practices for pitching your news to earn media coverage? In this exclusive webinar with Michelle Garrett, PR Consultant, we’ll cover tips and advice to help you get the most out of each piece of news you pitch!

Pitching

Bad Pitch Blog

SEPTEMBER 20, 2006

'OK, we have more geographic reach online than off, but Richard and I are out and about spreading the good word about bad pitches and wanted to let you know the details. Cue the ad. This morning I’m in Chicago presenting at Ragan’s 10th Annual Strategic Public Relations Conference. Richard will be conducting a “Full Frontal” seminar for Mediabistro on September 28 at their West Hollywood offices.

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Bad Pitch Blog

SEPTEMBER 19, 2006

'As a public (PR) service I’m suggesting an ideal tactic for CEOs of the world who do not see the value in a blog or are too good or busy for a blog, but definitely want (need) to reach online audiences. Rather than sending a bad pitch (or a good pitch that results in a bad interview), there is BlogTalkRadio. Seriously, you need your own radio talk show.

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Bad Pitch Blog

SEPTEMBER 10, 2006

'The Bad Pitch blog received its first response from someone it outed. We’ve outed eight offenders since starting this party nine months ago. MAYO is the first to engage in the conversation around their Slick-worthy pitches. We always email the guilty parties when we award them a badge of dishonor. But MAYO’s response is not exactly what I expected.

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Bad Pitch Blog

SEPTEMBER 8, 2006

'Hold the MAYO. Oh, wait. You can’t hold it, or stop it. Asking MAYO to stop sending you pitches news releases doesn’t work. After a request to stop, MAYO still sends bad pitches news releases to Blake Barbera. Barbera left the PR industry four months ago to pursue another career. Or perhaps to escape MAYO? My response to one of the five MAYOmail’s I received also went unanswered.

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Brand

Bad Pitch Blog

AUGUST 31, 2006

'Note to Self: Find the person at Bacon’s that updates Media Map profiles. See if we can put visual aids in our profiles to clearly communicate our rules of engagement* to the learning-impaired kids that spam us with noise like this. Hello! AGENCY was honored yesterday by the NON-PROFIT for our creative work documenting the distribution of donations to Katrina victims.

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Bad Pitch Blog

AUGUST 28, 2006

'We received a question from a reader we’ll refer to as Nonplussed. Nonplussed is pitching for a couple of clients to trade, business and consumer media and experiencing a dramatic dip in August coverage. He writes: “I never knew there was an official downturn (I came here from working in broadcast) and it would have been really nice to anticipate before getting bombarded by clients asking why they haven’t had any traction in a while.

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Bad Pitch Blog

AUGUST 27, 2006

'I knew that would get your attention. Last year the phrase was “couch jumping,” alluding to did you go off the deep end? This time it’s “Anakes On A Plane,” meaning have you hyped a new product on a blog or a vlog and did it totally screw with corporate expectations? But let’s take a look at how this happened, and thus portray Hollywood at its most elitist, totally headless (no puns) – and misled Today is the end of the second weekend of the hissy little horror flick (AP''s assessment), one wee

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Bad Pitch Blog

AUGUST 22, 2006

'The Bad Pitch Blog is hitting the road and spreading the word about what NOT to do to achieve media relations success. We’re presenting at Ragan’s 10th Annual Strategic Public Relations Conference in Chicago from September 21-22. There is also a Wiki for the event, PR Rehab. Richard will be unable to join me, but you can. As a Ragan speaker, I can invite one person to the conference for half price.

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Crisis Management

Bad Pitch Blog

AUGUST 15, 2006

'OK folks. Those who know me personally will represent and tell you that I am not a mean-spirited person. But wtf is this crap? Here''s some PR spam I received this afternoon. Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2006 15:54:22 -0400 To: prblog@yahoo.com From: " AGENCY " AGENCY@AGENCYNAME.com > Subject: News: NAME Joins AGENCY NEWS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: FLACK NAME FLACK PHONE FLACK EMAIL NAME Joins AGENCY BETHESDA, MD- August 15, 2006- NAME has joined Bethesda, MD-based AGENCY as an Account Executive and C

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Bad Pitch Blog

AUGUST 6, 2006

'Pardon the pun, but the Bad Pitch blog is pleased to bring you 10 tips to improving your approach to media relations. Now let’s be clear—the biggest media relations mistake people make is not taking the time to do their homework. This list is NOT a short cut to good media relations. It is a way to work smart vs. work hard (or work stupid). All Hail Google: You should be reading everything your reporter writes.

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Bad Pitch Blog

AUGUST 5, 2006

'This was supposed to be in my book Full Frontal PR, but the vagaries of editing and layout kept it from publication. I started working on a revision and decided it goes back in. Screw the editors, I say. There’s a breed of PR people out there that can get the meeting, do the interview and chat it up all day long on the phone with journalists. They have an anemic press book, though, and the buzz meter isn’t reporting the faintest blip.

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Bad Pitch Blog

AUGUST 1, 2006

'Shel Holtz forwarded a blanket pitch sent to him that brings several basic lessons to mind. But before we unfold it, a word from Shel. “Clearly, this guy is hitting every podcaster without learning a thing about us or the themes of our podcasts. Neither Neville nor I would find anything about his podcast useful and interesting for FIR. This is one of the lamest pitches I’ve seen in a long time.

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Pitching Radio Interviews Writing 40

Speaker: Shawna Bruce, Director of M.D. Bruce & Associates Ltd.

Are you ready to face the unexpected? When the stakes are high and the pressure is on, there's no time to waste - you must be prepared to communicate clearly and confidently. In today's unpredictable world, mastering the art of crisis communication is a must-have skill for any public relations professional. Whether you're facing a weather disaster, a cyber attack, or a PR nightmare, knowing how to craft a clear and compelling message can mean the difference between chaos and calm, confusion and

Crisis

Bad Pitch Blog

JULY 24, 2006

'Pitches seem to be reaching an all-time low. It’s getting so bad that two people recently lost their jobs over pitches they distributed. Gawker tells us of a racist pitch so misguided that its sender is lucky if unemployment is the only consequence of her actions. The pitch is so negative you have to wonder if the client is considering legal action.

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Bad Pitch Blog

JULY 7, 2006

'We were dealt into the next bad pitch by an anonymous member of the news media. It was sent from a firm that has been outed before. So we edited the pitch to keep the media outlet’s identity anonymous instead of the person pitching it. All edits are in BOLD and CAPS. I had to forward this pitch to you. Believe me, I get a ton of pitches that are totally not targeted or personalized to me, and more yet from people who clearly DO NOT FOLLOW MY MEDIA OUTLET.

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Bad Pitch Blog

JULY 6, 2006

'Melinda, Bill and Warren announce to the world they are ganging up on all the vaccines in the world. It''s really pretty wonderful. You get the feeling there is no spin there and from BPB to them, we say Mazel Tov. And even Mike Bloomberg''s announcement a few days later that he was giving a ton of his own leftover post-Mayoral capital to a building for philanthropic stuff, well, seemed like a moment in time, capturing the essence of the big day that Warren and Melinda and Bill made everyone go

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