PR Pitching

I invite you to take a look at the public relations pitch at the link below:

http://executivesuite.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/14/pr-pitch-of-the-month-or-maybe-the-decade/

My guess is that anyone with half a brain will be able to see why this is a poor pitch. It's not necessarily that the PR person makes controversial connections between societal trends and issues and her client's product, although their validity certainly is debatable. It's more about the fact she could have used simpler language and edited out at least 100 words and still said the same exact thing. And this was written by a VP-level practitioner who's supposed to know how to write and how the media work. Not good at all.

In PR terms, this is a bad pitch because the reporter could read this three times and still not understand what the news is and why it's important - and the media simply don't have the time to figure it out. There's a myth in PR today that longer and "hipper" is better. But the "pros" who operate this way fail to recognize that what media truly want - and need - is a concise, relevant and unbiased news hook, with supplemental materials available upon request. This pitch clearly doesn't fit that description, and in fact works against the ultimate objective of placing a client or idea placement in the media. Said another way, it doesn't serve the best interests of the client. If I paid this person for this work, I'd demand my money back.

I'm out like Jesse Ventura.