Tag Archives: oprah

How to Avoid Pitching in Bizarro World

Suitcase near antique wooden doorway on beachUnless you grew up being too cool for school, you’ll remember the Superman comics where Supes stumbles into Bizarro World, where everything is backwards. Or at least really weird.

Bizarro World can occur at any moment in real life too, and it’s an affliction that especially affects flacks and their clients. Here’s what happens when a flack enters Bizarro World: every single news story, every possible current event starts to look like an angle for you and your pitch. It doesn’t matter how illogical or tenuous; you see your assigned product everywhere, important to everything, and necessary for everybody.

Don’t get me wrong; it’s great to love your client. But pitching in Bizarro World isn’t about being passionate or creative. More often than not, it’s a sign of desperation. And it inevitably leads to failure because a flack who’s been Bizarroed isn’t capable of making informed decisions about angles, pitches, and appropriate targets. Continue reading

Dear Twitter….

Dear Twitter,

I am writing you this letter because I have noticed our relationship has changed in the year plus we’ve been together. When we first met, it was exciting and fun getting to know each other. We shared jokes, discussed interesting topics, met mutual friends and even kept each other in the loop about music. Those were the days!

Then month by month, our relationship began to change. I know it’s not all you, some of it is me. I think it took a turn off the deep end when we started working together. Rather than see each other at night or during our lunchtime at work, now we are around each other every single day. It’s getting to be a bit much.

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