We keep saying the PR industry needs serious therapy (a few of our articles are listed at the end of this post). Here’s another example of the near constant entertainment we get from PR professionals. We’re out of pithy titles. From now on we’ll just number them.
This one was a nice welcome email to our newest hire, Evelyn Rusli. It’s a normal pitch email from a normal PR firm. The funny part is the chain below the pitch, where the sender forgot to delete the internal discussion about how to pitch us.
They went with the “typical techcrunch email format” with a twist: “go with more of the social network aspect.” I often wonder if PR firms even test the products they shill. I’m pretty sure most of the time they don’t.
Thank you, PR Flack #1, for this brief moment of levity in an otherwise hectic day:
From: PR Flack #1
Date: Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 4:14 PM
Subject: Intro to [REMOVED]
To: Evelyn RusliEvelyn, I saw that you just moved to TechCrunch and wanted to introduce you to a startup with a focus on individual investors that already boasts a successful track record. You may have already heard of [REMOVED] since it was profiled in The Wall Street Journal and [REMOVED]. It is a first-of-its-kind social platform that enables individual shareholders to[REMOVED] all in one place. It gives individual shareholders a forum to make smart decisions on how to [REMOVED].
[REMOVED] has only been in existence since late November, but it has already played a substantive role in the [REMOVED] process. Google announced earlier this year it would raise its purchase price for On2 Technologies by [REMOVED].
At it’s core, [REMOVED] is all about engaging individual [REMOVED], which should be a welcomed service given the fact that currently 60 to 90 percent of individual [REMOVED]. And they have the power to influence decisions – about 30 percent of all [REMOVED]. If at any point you’d like to spend a few minutes with one of [REMOVED]’s founders about their short and long term goals just let me know. You can reach me at [REMOVED].
From: PR Flack #2
Sent: Tuesday, March 23, 2010 10:17 AM
To: PR Flack #1
Subject: RE: Maybe we pitch her on [REMOVED]Worth a shot. Keep it short and sweet and go with more of the social network aspect. I’m sure you can use the typical techcrunch email format.
From: PR Flack #1
Sent: Tuesday, March 23, 2010 10:11 AM
To: PR Flack #2
Subject: Maybe we pitch her on [REMOVED]I’ve been mulling how to get them on Tech Crunch for some time, and I’m guessing she’s a West Coaster so maybe [REMOVED] will do a video with her. She clearly gets the financial end of things coming from Forbes. Definitely worth a shot in my opinion.
[Attached copy of post announcing Evelyn joining TechCrunch]
Our other posts on this fascinating profession:
- On AOL PR, Truth And “On The Record”
- One PR Firm’s Lack Of Ethics: Reverb Caught Astroturfing The App Store
- The Reality Of PR: Smile, Dial, Name Drop, Pray.
- The PR Roadblock On The Road To Blissful Blogging
- Meet Lois Whitman, The Poster Child For Everything Wrong With PR
- Death To The Embargo
- The Last Has Fallen. The Embargo Is Dead.
- I Will Honor The Embargo
- Yahoo Breaks Their Own Embargo
- You’re Doing It Wrong Part 348: Complete And Utter PR FAIL