Tag Archives: humor

Flack Wanted – Department of Winter

Over the past few months, you may have noticed that the weather outside has become increasingly colder. While it might seem alarming, it is actually one of the year’s four seasons, albeit one that comes with some detractors.

Unfortunately, the season has been hit by a lot of bad press lately and has not done a great job marketing or branding itself. For every great story, ad or video on a ski resort or some outdoor hockey game, there are three or four negative mentions. These range from a NYC plowing fiasco to newscasts reporting accidents and the Twitteratti claiming the end of humanity as we know it with hashtags for #Snopacolypse, #snoloko or #snowmaggedeon.

Reading the paper during the latest storm in the Boston area, I came across an interesting job listing for a PR person in the Department of Winter that read: Continue reading

Your Copy Sucks: The Press Release Mad-Lib

Pen poised above dotted signature lineDon’t have time to write a press release? Just fill out this mad-lib and send that sucker in.

(name of company) Announces New (product or service) For (current season)

(Major city, state) (date) — Executives at (name of company) have unveiled plans for a new (product or service) just in time for (season, holiday, or major event). Such an (adjective) achievement is yet another indicator of economic recovery and (other good thing). Experts praised the new initiative as (adjective) and ground-breaking. Continue reading

The Official PRBC Guide to Summer Fridays

CalendarSummer Fridays are a tradition unique to New York City, I believe, but maybe some of you in DC and Chicago have the same experience. Some PR firms (or publishing houses, or tech companies, or marketing and ad firms, or doctors’ offices, or almost anything) take half days on the Fridays between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Some offices close on Summer Fridays at noon, some at three in the afternoon; some offices make up the lost time during the rest of the week, some are more lax.

The point is, Summer Fridays are a chance for you to use your precious downtime to enjoy the beautiful weather and cultural delights the city has to offer in the summertime. Here is how Summer Fridays usually go down: Continue reading

Bizarro Social Media Land

Man holding elephant (Digital Composite)Imagine for a moment Bizarro Social Media land.  If the folks who dreamt up Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. had taken that alluring left turn instead of going straight on with their vision and concocted (or Cogcocted) something entirely different than the fertile playgrounds, erm – rather platforms, we’ve got today.

Under these horribly delicious and highly inconceivable conditions we might have ended up with sites like…

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URGENT e-mails – Please stop abusing the ! notification

sign post with exclamation markI have one MAJOR pet peeve.

Who am I kidding? I have a lot of pet peeves.

Ok, well one of the things that I’d like to vent about today is the High Importance E-mail Indicator ! ! !

One day last week, POP goes an e-mail right into my inbox. This e-mail was from a lovely young lady I had spoken to about internship opportunities with my firm. A routine e-mail at best. But definitely NOT of high importance. Lucky girl . . . she marked that e-mail with that little red exclamation point. Continue reading

Guys…we’re scarce, use it to your advantage

Two women touching a businessmanOk, so to address this first…maybe there is something to the whole women’s intuition thing…(touché Kate).

As many of you know, earlier this week my colleague and PRBC founding blogger Kate Ottavio posted a great article addressing the male:female ratio in our industry, noting it’s a great chance to meet a girl.

While undoubtedly true (have you seen the Male:Female ratio of the PRBC family and of our get togethers (and yes @dannybrown — it is sheer coincidence)) there is a definite chance to use this to our advantage gents. Continue reading

Is That a Press Release in Your Pocket…

Why is it so many PR people can’t find love? We’re just like everyone else, so what makes it difficult for all of us flacks? My assumption is because we are all workaholics and have a 24/7 commitment to our job.

There is also the fact that we spent so much time building relationships with media we forget how to act “normal” in our own personal lives. I guess the fact that most of us can talk nonstop for hours and a love interest can’t get a word in doesn’t help either. . . .

Continue reading