Sometimes you read something, or you hear something, and it just makes you stop and say, “Seriously?!?”.

Often this is from a pitch selling a company’s products or services. It can be from the company directly, or it can be from their marketing or PR agency.

Note – there are many great PR and marketing agencies out there doing great work. This just makes the crappy ones stand out even more.

So it was when I heard about this pitch. Sent to Lani Rosales, Editor-in-Chief of AGBeat, it’s a great example of either crass stupidity or outright superiority. Here’s the full exchange:

On Fri, June 17, 2011 at 5:31 AM, Joseph Smith <josephsmith99over@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear Lani,

I would like to send you our press release but I will need you to personally sign a non disclosure agreement first.

Signed,

JS

On Fri, June 17, 2011 at 11:00 AM, Lani Rosales <lani.rosales@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Joseph, I didn’t catch the company name?

LR

On Fri, June 17, 2011 at 11:01 AM, Joseph Smith <josephsmith99over@gmail.com> wrote:

You are required to sign an NDA prior to any communication with me or my client.

On Fri, June 17, 2011 at 11:08 AM, Lani Rosales <lani.rosales@gmail.com> wrote:

Joseph,

I am happy to sign any NDA that we deem to have merit but cannot do so without knowing basic details like a company name. I’m sure you don’t mean to waste my time and I certainly don’t intend on wasting yours, so company name or it didn’t happen.

LR

On Fri, June 17, 2011 at 11:20 AM, Joseph Smith <josephsmith99over@gmail.com> wrote:

[blank email with NDA attached, naming company as "Company Name Withheld"]

On Fri, June 17, 2011 at 11:21 AM, Lani Rosales <lani.rosales@gmail.com> wrote:

Joseph,

I am not authorized to sign that as I have made clear and I feel that you are aware. When you are prepared to share your company name or any basic hints of information, you have my email, otherwise please do not waste any more of my time.

LR

On Fri, June 17, 2011 at 11:25 AM, Joseph Smith <josephsmith99over@gmail.com> wrote:

Lani, you will be missing out on an incredible opportonity [sic] as we have not approached any other news outlet. Perhaps your competitor would be more interested. We will not forget your lack of kindness.

Most sincerely,

Joseph

I have to admit, when I read it, I thought Lani was extremely professional in her patience – I would have really been tempted to have some fun. Something about Joseph signing my NDA about his mom and girlfriend, and the polaroids from Stripper Joe’s…

Seriously, though, is this what we’ve now come to? Asking people to sign a non-disclosure agreement before they even know what they’re signing up for? And then ignoring the person you want to write about you, and sending the NDA anyway? Then, just to top it off, basically using a threat as a closing statement?

No wonder the PR industry gets such a tough time (though, to be honest, I’m wary of this even coming from a PR agency, but it’s not impossible).

Unfortunately, “Joseph Smith” is the John Doe of the communications industry, as a reverse email search doesn’t bring up any information about him. Probably just as well – it’d be pretty embarrassing to find he’s a member of your PR team or business.

So, some simple tips when looking to get people and publications to write about you.

• Respect their time and intelligence.
• Don’t be bolshy.
• Don’t come across as asshat-ish as Joseph Smith.
• NDA’s are all well and good, but you need to let us know who we’re being approached about first.
• Did I mention don’t be an asshat?

Honestly, it’s not all that hard. And you’re more than likely to get the kind of promotion you’re after…

image: Lh3

The Art of Being an Asshat originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

The campaign (run by Audi of America) is based around a new creation called the Green Police, who will spearhead a social media program to build interest in Audi’s ad at this year’s football showcase. The Green Police enforce ways to protect the environment, and encourage people to a better understanding of environmental issues. There’s currently a series of YouTube mock education videos as part of the program, as well as a Green Police Twitter account.

The problem is, there’s already been a Green Police enforcement organization, but not one that you’d want to be associated with. This Green Police was part of the Nazi persecution and execution of millions of Jews in the Holocaust of the Second World War.

The implications of Audi’s choice of name for their campaign could be huge, especially since Audi is a German company. The first question is obvious – didn’t anyone at Audi’s PR or advertising arm/agency do any research?

It’ll be interesting to see how this unfolds and what Audi’s response will be as the connections to an unwanted history become clear, especially as today marks the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

What’s your take on what Audi should do next?

• Update February 01 2010: Audi of America has issued a response to the post, which you can find here. While their response is sound, they may also wish to look at this resource from the Jewish Virtual Library vaults (if they haven’t already), or this report for further correlation. Additionally, Audi state that they researched and tested the ads prior to running them, and sought input from the Jewish community. Curiosity begs the question: if the research prior to the ad being run didn’t return any “red flags” about possible connotations to the term Green Police, why the need to seek input from the Jewish community about an environmentally friendly product?
  

Audi and the Super Bowl Social Media Shit Storm originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

I was watching a conversation unfold on Twitter the other evening about public relations, and why a lot of the PR industry is in disarray.

While the “bloggers and journalists don’t like us” line was shared a few times, one of the points that came up a lot was that the industry is still seen by many as being one full of shillers.

Heck, the only industry that seems to get less favorable attention is that of social media consultants…

But to be fair, much of PR only has itself to blame (and I say this as someone with a PR background). I’ve come across way too many agency and corporate PR owners who think the sun shines out their arse. If something goes wrong, it’s often a case of blaming the intern or junior account executive. Then there are the senior executives that take the great ideas of the juniors, or interns, and pass it off as their own so they can climb the corporate ladder.

And don’t even get me started on the PR folk that still think spam is a cold meat for sandwiches, and it’s okay to throw regular regurgitated dross into your Inbox and try and pass it off as a pitch or contact. Seriously guys, I’m tempted to gather a month’s worth of junk mail and stuff it through your letterbox – it’s a similar effect.

Of course, not everyone is like this. You have great folks like Dave Fleet, Rachel Kay, Dave Mullen, Heather Whaling, Matt Batt , Arik Hanson and many more doing brilliant stuff for the PR industry. And then you have a generation-in-waiting with Sasha Muradali, Ryan Stephens, Lauren Fernandez, Stuart Foster and others leading the way for Gen Y.

But still the great work that these guys do is being diluted by the craptastic approach of others. So here’s an idea.

The next time you see a crappy PR pitch or email, challenge the sender. Ask why they sent it, and do they really think that passes as good PR. Same goes for a tweet, or blog post – question people. Don’t be aggressive about it; simply ask why they feel that approach works. Have alternative suggestions as well (nothing worse than criticizing and not having some kind of alternative).

Ask if they have any idea why you weren’t taken with the pitch. If they say, “Wrong subject matter” or similar, at least you know they’ve done their job a little bit when it comes to researching the target (you). If they have no idea why you’re disappointed, explain why and see if they can understand why your way might be better.

If it’s a junior or intern that’s sending out the various pieces of communication, find out who’s above them and challenge them – let’s not attach blame to innocent targets.

It might not change the PR industry immediately – heck, it might not change it at all. After all, like the post title mentions, shit is still shit no matter how you dress it up. And some folk just don’t take to new dress codes.

But if we can collectively change just one mindset and then work from there… Well, that’s got to be worth our time, no?

photo credit: Christopher Chan

Shit is Still Shit No Matter How You Dress It originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

For some reason, I’ve suddenly started to get a few pitches from PR agencies and companies regarding business and marketing books. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but as I like to read I’ll take it as a nice bonus.

Going through the pitches, though, I’m beginning to wonder if the authors themselves should start composing the pitches to go with them.

Maybe that would stop some of the less-than-impressive ones getting through. Here are two examples – see if you can spot the difference.

Example One:
“Hi Danny,
I thought you might be interested to hear about a book by one of my clients [insert book title here].” There’s then a slew of recommendations of the book from other business book authors, as well as what looks like standard press release copy. The PR person then signs off the email with the closing comment, “I’ve attached a PDF version of his new book. Have a look and if you enjoy the book would you consider a blog post? Best,”. No name, signature, or where the email came from (except in the email address bar).

Example Two:
“Hi Danny,
I’ve been reading your blog for a while now and really enjoy it. I particularly found (Post A), (Post B) and (Post C) refreshing as I’d actually left a comment on another blog about the topics raised in these connected posts. I hope you don’t mind me reaching out to you, but I represent an author whose book touches on these subjects and more. I don’t want to send you a long introduction that may not interest you or catch you at a good time. Therefore, if you’re curious about learning more, feel free to reply to this email and I’ll call when convenient. Thanks again, and keep up the great topics, James.”

Whose book do you think I’d be interested in looking at?

photo credit: CarbonNYC

Maybe Some Authors Should Do Their Own PR originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

As you might know, my wife Jacki and I moved house this weekend. While this can be stressful enough, it becomes even more so when you get a moving firm that seem hell-bent on making it more stressful than dining with Hannibal Lecter.

Step forward Toronto-based Logan Movers.

It’s Rude to Whisper

I guess the first warning sign should have been when I called them up prior to the move to confirm their arrival time on the Saturday morning. A guy called Alex answered and couldn’t find us.

I gave him all contact numbers it may have been booked under as well as our confirmation number. I could hear him whispering to a colleague “Why can’t I find them?”, to which I was tempted to whisper back, “I can still hear you.” Eventually he found our details and confirmed the time. Except he had the wrong pick-up address.

Which I tried to correct. Several times. Only to have Alex continuously talk over me. So, I let him finish and then corrected him. Score one to Logan Movers Toronto for poor customer service.

Lies, Lies, Damn Lies

Come moving day, I went on ahead to the new house with my wife’s mother Traci, to start getting the place ready for my wife and the moving firm. Over at the old house, the fun was beginning.

Jacki was told that the movers wanted half payment before they would put anything on the truck. In cash. And they brought over a contract to sign that had $60 per hour for moving. Okay, fine – upfront cash was never mentioned, but if that’s how you want to play, we’ll do it. Since our quote had been $420 (or seven hours work), Jacki went to the bank, withdrew the money and paid them.

She was then told that the movers hadn’t brought wardrobe boxes. Despite us asking for them. Despite the Logan Movers Toronto website stating that all their trucks are equipped daily with wardrobe boxes and that they are given to every move for free.

The two moving guys then tell Jacki that wardrobe boxes need to be ordered and are extra. This is quite clearly BS – score two to Logan Movers Toronto for poor customer service.

Inflation and Hostage Situations

Now that Logan Movers have received their deposit, they eventually load the truck and make their way over to the new home. Here the fun really begins.

Before they unload, they tell us that the cost is now $847.50. Say what?!? This is double the quote that we received. The movers inform us that it’s nothing to do with them and that the cost is $847.50, broken down as follows:

• Labour – $540
• Travel time – $120
• Stairs – $90
• Tax – $97.50

To compound matters, they won’t open the doors of their truck to start unloading until the balance is paid in full. In cash or certified check. Which basically means cash, since banks are closed on Saturday afternoons.

Traci calls the owner of Logan Movers Toronto to ask him what’s going on and why we’re being charged double our quote. He hangs up on her. The movers refuse to call him back. We’re now at the mercy of two people who couldn’t care less about our stuff on their truck, and a dick in an office who won’t pick up the phone.

We get the police involved, but they can’t really do anything in a civil matter. So, the only thing left to do is pay the movers and get the move over with.

This is when they get abusive toward my wife’s mother Traci, who is understandably upset. She says the whole situation is BS, which the movers take for abusive language so they retort with their own. Except it’s much worse.

So I tell them to quit swearing at Traci, then advise them that they’re representing their company so they should be trying to resolve this situation. They simply say, “Nothing to do with us.” Score three to Logan Movers Toronto for poor customer service.

Epilogue and Where Next

The movers then milk the unloading for what it’s worth. They bring in stupid little bits of furniture at a time. Then have rests and smoke breaks because they obviously deserve it, with the hard work they’ve put in fleecing us of cash.

Eventually, the truck is unloaded and they leave. No doubt laughing at another rip-off. In the meantime, my wife, her mother and I are left with what to do next. My money (if Logan Movers never took it all, that is!) would be on legal action. I think we have a case:

1. Their contract said $60 per hour. Their website states there are no hidden costs. Our quote was $420. Their actual day lasted from 9.00am until 5.00pm approximately (it was actually a little less). So, 8 hours x $60 per hour = $480. Not $847.50. Hey, maybe they got the 8 and the 4 mixed up…
2. Their website states “free wardrobe boxes on every truck”. Not so. At least, not on ours. We still never got any.
3. Their website also states that they will wrap HD-TV’s – they must have forgotten about ours.

Conveniently, Alex (the dick in the office of Logan Movers that doesn’t know proper phone etiquette) took the copy of our contract away when he dropped off some more blankets at our old place, in lieu of the wardrobe boxes they never gave us.

The copy we received from the movers at the new address was simply a generic one. So, we’re also owed our proper contract which will also show that Logan Movers Toronto took us for a ride. If they haven’t already ripped it up.

One of the things I always emphasize to clients is the need to put themselves in the customer’s shoes at all times. Customers are your best (and most inexpensive) form of marketing, advertising, PR and much more. Get it right with your customers and you’ll get a lot of it right with your sales targets.

I’m guessing Logan Movers Toronto must have skipped this part of business school. Why else would they treat customers the way they did my wife, her mother and I?

So congratulations, Logan Movers Toronto – the award for Piss Poor Customer Service and PR is all yours.

photo credit: yewenyi

Logan Movers Toronto and Adventures in Piss Poor Customer Service and PR originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

From lazy pitches to not knowing names and audience, there’s a veritable mish-mash of scorn poured on us PR nuisances from a lot of bloggers.

And, yes, some of it is warranted and trust me, I’m the first to call out bad PR practices.

But you know that just like anything, there’s always a flip side. Here’s an example.

I was speaking with a very good friend of mine who runs her own PR agency. She’s established a terrific reputation as one of the best PR people around and has deservedly won awards for her approach. Simply put, she’s a role model for great PR.

We were talking about the relationship between bloggers and PR and how we can improve it (“we” being both the blogosphere and the PR industry). This was when my friend shared one of her examples as to why that improvement might be further off than hoped.

She was working with a client whose core audience were “mommy bloggers”. The client’s product was ideally suited to the thousands of moms that have families of their own and blog about products in that niche. So, it would make sense for the PR campaign to connect with the blogging audience it’s suited to. So far, so good.

When my friend approached some of the key bloggers in this field, she had this response: “It’s $75 for a positive review, $100 if there’s an image attached.” When my friend queried this, she was told, “Get your client to splash the cash. If you’re getting paid, we want paid too.”

Say what?

Now, I understand about paid blogging and I have no qualms with it, as long as the blogger is upfront that it’s a sponsored post and that the review remains unbiased. Heck, we all need to make a living, but if you can’t offer full disclosure and non-bias then don’t take the money.

But this isn’t paid blogging – it’s simply a company asking (through their PR agency) if you’d be interested in product testing. You get first shot at the new line and you get to use and keep the product.

But you’re saying that if I pay $75, I’ll get a “positive review”? Isn’t this false advertising, or marketing, or whatever you wish to call it?

What happens if the product is crap? Will you still tell your readers that it’s great, because you’ve agreed to offer a positive review? How do you think your readers would feel about that? After all, aren’t they your most important audience?

Or is this just another point in your one-upmanship game with the PR industry?

Now, I’m not saying all bloggers (mommy or otherwise) are like this, either when it comes to product reviews or in the relationship they have with PR. I have some fantastic relationships with many bloggers and I couldn’t do a lot of my work without them.

But to those bloggers that my friend had the misfortune of dealing with?

A blog is your personal voice. Your readers are your community. Is both your voice and community something you’d happily sell down the river for a few bucks?

Because if they are, then that’s the real bad PR.

photo credit: rick

Tipping the Scales originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

Recently, I wrote about Melrose Jewelers and a press release they had issued. The release discussed actor Owen Wilson’s suicide attempt and said that his Rolex watch had played a major part in the actor being alive today.

At the time, I personally found the release to be crass and in poor taste – it smacked of taking advantage of someone’s personal problems for gain (in this case, to sell more watches by Melrose Jewelers).

The comments in the post seemed to agree, as did numerous other views of the same press release. To get you up to speed, I’ll wait while you read the post, if that’s okay.

Last week, I received a Cease and Desist letter from the Law Offices of Peter D. Cole, who is based in Los Angeles and represents Melrose Jewelers. The letter made a number of claims against my post and requested that I remove it. Failure to do so would result in Melrose Jewelers “pursuing other alternatives to mitigate any damages”.

To save time, I’ve scanned the attorney’s letter and transferred it to a PDF file, which you can read here. Again, I’ll wait until you’ve read it so you can compare it to the post in question, if you like. The letter is “as is” – there is no letterhead or registered business numbers on it (which I had to request from Peter D. Cole for clarification). I’ll let you read the letter before continuing.

The attorney for Melrose Jewelers is ultimately saying that I’m causing his client loss of business; that my post is “inciteful rhetoric”; that I’m associated with another Internet watch sales business; and that I wasn’t stating facts. I find that a slight on my character and transparency. Additionally, the request to Cease and Desist under threat of further legal action is never pleasant.

Therefore, obviously, I felt a need to respond. This is it (taken from my emailed response to Peter D. Cole today, and with Cole’s points in bold).

Hi there Peter,

Thanks for you response, appreciate it.

With regards your client’s “claims”, I would respond with the following:

1. “You had conversations with unnamed Rolex executives, to incite Rolex to take actions and/or make comments about my client’s advertising.” There is nothing in the comments that says this. I mentioned I was, and I quote, “speaking to someone today about Rolex’s awareness. He’s in the jewelry industry and was at a big meeting last night where the CEO of Rolex was also attending.” That’s a big difference from knowing Rolex executives. FYI, the person I was speaking to is a director of a pearl company – quite the different market from your client.

2. “…If you yourself are somehow associated with an Internet watch sales business, as my client is informed and believes”. As I mentioned, my “relationship” is with a pearl company – hardly a competitor. Your client’s statement also seems bizarre. I’m guessing if he knows someone that owns a fast food restaurant, he can’t say that he doesn’t like McDonald’s, as that would be seen as “unfair business practices”?

3. “You describe my client as little more than a second hand watch shop”. By your own words, you say that people who “cannot afford to purchase them new, to obtain them pre-owned at a significant discount in price”. So, they’re not new? Which makes them second-hand.

My whole post was about whether or not the press release was crass (by taking advantage of someone’s personal situation for gain), as well as the editorial process that allowed it to be published. The comments that followed from my readers bore this out. Additionally, there are many more sites and blogs that offer a far more disparaging account of your client’s release than I do.

My post was not to “incite Rolex to take actions” – more, it was to question what passes as acceptable PR and why it’s important for brands to be aware of what’s being said in the name of their company.

I have some questions for your client. Did Rolex authorize this release? Did Owen Wilson authorize this release? Can it be factually proven that Owen Wilson’s watch turned him back from the precipice of despair?

Unless your client can answer “Yes” categorically to these questions, then the release (and the original blog post it stemmed from) are merely opinion, and not fact. Something which separates a news release from an opinion piece. Which is exactly what my blog referred to.

Therefore, I will be leaving the post as is.

Best,

Danny.

There are a lot of things wrong with the PR industry. There are a lot of things good about it as well. Like any industry, there are good people and not-so-good people.

One thing that is apparent is that releases like the ones Melrose Jewelers issued don’t help to repair the view that PR professionals are uncaring and will say anything for a fast buck. If there is no concrete proof that Owen Wilson’s watch helped him during some dark times, then saying that it did suggests sensationalism in order to sell more watches.

In my original post, I shared my view of that, and of using PR in this way. I also asked the question what it would do for a company’s reputation that was happy to use PR in this way.

The Cease and Desist letter from Melrose Jewelers gives me their answer. I feel it’s only fair to offer them mine. Which is why the original post will remain.

Thanks for reading. I’d be interested in your take. Is there more than PR and brand awareness being questioned here?

photo credit: narek781

Melrose Jewelers, Rolex and Owen Wilson – The Sequel originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

Let me ask you a question – what’s your view of the PR industry? It doesn’t matter if you’re involved in it professionally, someone that uses its services or just an average person on the street – is it a positive or negative view?

I’m guessing that the majority of views about the industry I love and work in are fairly negative. There’s the belief that we’re charlatans who are just after a client’s money, we don’t tell the truth and we have an over-inflated opinion of ourselves.

Sadly, all of that and more is true of some of the “professionals” in the PR industry.

Yet for every one bad egg, I can pretty safely say that there are many more good and ethical PR professionals who are trying desperately to rid the industry of the individuals who give it a bad name.

By working differently; having our practices transparent and open for anyone to see; and encouraging the new breed of PR professionals and interns coming through to have more say in our industry. It’s a slow process, but it is happening.

Which is why this press release from Melrose Jeweler’s disgusts me so much.

According to the release, Hollywood actor Owen Wilson was contemplating suicide until he realized that the quality of his own life must be good because of the quality of his Rolex watch. That’s right – his watch proved to him the value of his life.

What. The. F**k?!?

Now, I don’t know how serious Owen Wilson’s issues are, or his state of mind – I’ve never been a big follower of celebrity news. But whatever his problems (or anyone else that feels so desperate in their situation that they consider taking their own life), I’m pretty sure a piece of jewelry isn’t going to mean a whole lot to them, no matter how luxurious.

At first, I (like many others) thought that the blame for the morally-lacking release laid at Rolex’s feet. But when you actually take a little time to look into the story and the background of it, you realize that it originates from the blog of Melrose Jewelers. Dig a little further still, and you see that Melrose Jewelers are only selling pre-owned Rolex watches – which kind of makes them little more than a second-hand watch shop.

Taking all that into context, and the sheer crassness of the blog post and subsequent press release, I wonder if Rolex are even aware of the statements being made by Melrose Jewelers on behalf of their brand? Since the original blog post was published on December 15 2008, and I can’t find any rebuttal online from Rolex, it looks like they’re not aware of the release. Which then has me asking more questions:

• If one of the most well-known companies in the world for luxury watches isn’t aware of something as bad as this story, what does it say about their brand monitoring strategy?

• Are the owners of Melrose Jewelers so insensitive they’ll resort to measures such as using someone’s suffering to try and boost profits? Didn’t they learn anything from the Back-Up Shotgun Rack fiasco?

• Does the editorial process of newswire sites need looking at if they think this kind of release is acceptable? Or are our morals no longer part of approval?

There’s a lot wrong with this story and I’m sure there’s a lot more to come, particularly if Rolex is still to find out about it. (And I’m hoping that’s the case and that they’re not part of the whole mess). On early viewing, it does look like it’s a horrible PR stunt taking advantage of someone’s suffering and that only helps confirm people’s negative views of the industry.

Looking at it more, though, it’s clear that it’s the jeweler that’s at fault – even the media contact on the press release is a “Mike D.” from the Melrose sales team. Which makes me question whether there was any PR guidance given at all – personally, I doubt it. No PR professional – no good one, that is – would have touched this with a barge pole. Additionally, there are no direct quotes from either Rolex or Owen Wilson – another sign that the press release lacks any authoritative backing.

Lessons learned? Know how your brand is being represented online. Monitor your name at all times. Your reputation depends on it, and that’s your most valuable asset.

As for Melrose Jewelers? I ask you this – what do you think this does for your reputation?

• Update. Following this post, I received a Cease and Desist letter from an attorney representing Melrose Jewelers. You can read all about it and my response here.

When Does Embellishing End and Lying Begin? originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

It comes after the furore over the poorly thought out press release issued by the BackUp Shotgun Rack company that took advantage of the Jennifer Hudson tragedy. These two events and others like them make it clear that some companies are still not getting the power of social media. Get something wrong online and boy you better be prepared for the backlash.

In Motrin’s case, the company has removed the ad from their website, although there are other versions that have made it to print so the damage could be long-running. In the BackUp example, the jury is still out on whether lessons have been learned.

Yet it’s also obvious in both cases that there have been some major lapses of co-ordinated and cohesive thinking. But who’s to blame for this – the agency that came up with these ideas, or the client that offered final approval?

Going by some of the comments doing the rounds on Twitter and the blogosphere, much of the thinking seems to be aimed at the marketing or advertising agency responsible for the Motrin campaign. After all, they’re the ones that came up with the idea in the first place, right?

So where does the final responsibility stand? Is it with the agency or the client? Someone must have approved the advert to go out, and that wouldn’t have been a decision that lay with the agency in question. It would have been one of the main decision-makers at Motrin.

And therein lies the quandary. Does the final decision really lie with the client? If I’m a pharmaceutical business owner that employs a marketing, PR or advertising agency to run a campaign for me, it’s because I trust them to do a job that I know nothing about. I’ll stick to making pills because that’s what I know. You’re my agency, you’re my specialist – you guide me.

But is that really true? I’m not so sure. Speaking from personal experience, when I’m putting together a PR campaign for a client, I’m there right up until the final decision. At that stage, I’ve offered all my recommendations, all my strategies and subsequent follow-ups. Now it’s up to my client to decide how he or she wants to move forward.

After all, this is their company that’s going to be out in the firing line if things go wrong, so they need to be 100% sure they’re happy with what they’re doing, and have the confidence to see it through. If they have any qualms at all, they don’t go ahead with the suggestions and we either start again or go our separate ways.

It’s a tough one to call. Company decision or agency recommendation.

What do you think? Should Motrin or businesses in the same situation be the ones that take responsibility? Or is it an agency problem?

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When to Blame the Agency and When to Blame the Client originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.