How PR really works
It’s always unfortunate when a PR agency accidentally emails its client work in progress document to a journalist by mistake. Even more so when they pass it along to Mumbrella.
Not least when the client is Woolworths Insurance and the story being promoted by the agency – in this case Fuel Communications – is “three in a bed”. Dr Mumbo’s guess is that this will turn out to be some sort of PR-friendly survey for Woolworth’s Petsure brand that demonstrates how many people share a bed with their dog.
In truth, the document makes Dr Mumbo feel a little sad about the soul-crushing elements of working in PR. For instance:
“Brisbane Times: Fuel spoke to relationship columnist and urban lifestyle reporter Katharine Feeney, sounding out her interest in our three in a bed story. Katharine was enthusiatic (sic) about the story theme, however was not sure if it was a column piece or a short news brief item. She is going to review her upcoming column topics and get back to us later this week.”
I am not sure you can publish private emails obtained by accident so publicly. How would mumbrella like it if its private business dealings were made public on a trade website with the sole goal to mock.
It’s a bit sad that AEV is the measurement standard detailed in their KPIs. Globally AVEs have been discredited and are no longer considered a valid measurement standard
Hi Nic – this is really petty article and is just damaging for Fuel’s brand. No, I don’t work for Fuel. I am just someone who has respect for people in my industry. This is a new low for you guys.
I’ve read this article twice now and still can’t seem to see the point. Is your point that we shouldn’t pitch? That no journalist could ever be genuine when expressing interest in a story? That junior PR staff are laughable?
That you have lots of time on your hands and nothing constructive to say??
Why would you publish this? What good does it do for Mumbrella to shame the agency like this?
This article is outright cruel. I feel so sorry for the poor junior who has probably lost her job… and her dignity. mUmBRELLA does this far too often.
Ouch Dr Mumbo!
What I find very intriguing is that they didn’t offer the journos’ a couple of already complete case studies and media talent to go with it.
Good, for us, that they didn’t.
Very polite client reporting though.
Louise Lees
Four Paws PR
I have to agree with Sarah. I don’t comment very often on Mumbrella but this annoyed me. Why use an honest mistake to persecute? Most journalists would have deleted this but not Mumbrella. Always need your pound of flesh! And I also don’t work for Fuel.
Feel sorry for the agency, just trying to do its job, but trying to flog Woolies’ insurance offer is a big ask. Coles tried this 10 years ago and failed miserably They really should stick to their knotting.
I think it’s a brilliant article. PR is a soul crushing industry, you are exactly right.
The best agencies just make these WIPs up. Better to spend more time doing real work, than 90 per cent of time doctoring up pretty reports.
Tim – I only read Mumbrella because I enjoy it when you highlight the absurdity of it all. Quite frankly, it’s a worry if people don’t find the work soul crushing.
Looks like three wins to me – not sure what you do Dr Mumbo, but the journalist’s I pitch to just say ‘no’ when they’re not interested.
This is really a very poor piece. What exactly is the point? All of the feedback in the report is entirely consistent with the feedback PR’s get everyday from journalists and is no doubt a very fair and accurate reflection of that to their client.
I find this whole piece incredibly childish, pointless and ill considered, the fact that it has been published I think it is far more embarrassing than the story itself.
Kudos to you if you have spent an entire career not sending an errant email.
What a pathetic story. Where is the news value or learning in this?? A leaked document with something mildly interesting or newsworthy might warrant bothering to write a story. But this is just really, well, mean and sad and pointless. Another example of how Mumbrella loves to trash PR and is becoming not worth reading. No I don’t work for Fuel or any other PR agency.
Ouch. Why was this even necessary?
Pleasantly surprised to see common sense has prevailed here. A simple mistake was made, no need to type it up into a ‘news’ story. I’m sure the PR professional involved was already embarrassed and has learnt a valuable lesson – makes me sad that Mumbrella feels the need to constantly try and bring people down like this.
Poor form.
Agree with the comments- silly mistake by the agency but again Mumbrella you let your bias against the PR industry cloud your articles.
I don’t see anything wrong with that WIP. It is an agency trying to do the job that they have been hired to do for their client. They made an honest mistake.
So what?
That was just plain mean and pointless.
It tells usa lot more about Mumbo than it does the kid who made a mistake.
It’s quite sad to stoop this low. Stories like this have an impact on people. Perhaps you should consider that before taking a cheap shot at a junior learning the ropes.
Get off your high horse Mumbrella. As a junior PR this makes me fearful of ever making a mistake for the chance of being publicly mocked. As one of the key PR and media reporters, it would be better for the industry as a whole if you were more supportive.
Well our dog sleeps in our bed and I’ve been neglecting getting pet insurance (assuming that’s what it is about) because i’m really not sure who to choose. Ideally I would have liked this story.
A different school of thought!
This used to be my worst fear – accidentally sending sensitive information straight into the wrong hands! I do think it’s a little unnecessary to flag the error and deliberately embarrass the agency – end of the day everyone has had that ‘oh shit’ outlook moment!!
Real classy Mumbrella. You going to start publishing eavesdropped phone conversations? Pretty sure it’s common knowledge/courtesy you don’t recirculate emails received in error, let alone publish them in the frame of some tacky and snide smear piece.
The WIP provides an account of journalists and a PR agency simply doing their job
As for Mumbrella and the journlist who passed this story on … karma’s a bitch.
It’s cruel, pathetic and unwarranted. You should be ashamed of yourselves.
Who in their right mind would get joy out of this young woman’s misfortune?
This is not the kind of story that communication professionals want out of a portal such as this.
Tim – Don’t let these comments deter you. Keep making fools of the stupid people that work in PR. The industry is rife with them. Too many of them. They give the industry a bad name.
Hi Tim/Mumbrella,
When you received this email, I’d be curious to know did you consider the embarrassment and distress you might cause the sender? Did you think, I can just delete this email and get on with my work or I can relish in one (probably quite junior) individuals misfortune and write a story about it.
This wasn’t a scoop, or some piece of industry gossip it was just some poor sod who sent the wrong email. I notice in your community guidelines you encourage people to be constructive and reasonable. What elements of this story are either constructive or reasonable?
As a non Pr, I didn’t know this was how it worked. It was interesting.
Also, I can see the agency has been named, but not the individual.
We have all done the mistake of sending the wrong thing to the wrong person. It’s not a junior error, I’ve actually seen more seasoned people do it than juniors.
The real test of class and ethics is what is done with it by the person who receives it.
And on this test, Mumbo fails.
I thought journalists were way too busy to trawl through every email sent by a PR person…….
Jeez, I guess Dr Mumbo had better hope that he never gets any of his emails used against him. This just seems mean.
Why would people want to attend Mumbrella events knowing that with the slip of a keystroke they risk being mocked by this publication for cheap page clicks?
Not journalism.
Not even close.
Lift your game.
PRs take a pill and lighten up a tad. Both side of the fence have their absurdities and games. I can confidently say that Dr Mumbo isn’t taking the piss too hard. Nice insight into the machine. It is what it is.
This article was just plain mean, exploiting a simple mistake as click bait. I couldn’t find any fault in her email. Don’t we all have soul destroying aspects to our job at times? Too far…
What David said.
As journalists, every day we tend to ask ourselves, just because we can, does it mean we should?
This is one such post. It’s attracted far more negative reaction than anticipated.
One thing to point out: we chose not to name the individual involved. We haven’t mentioned their gender, although a few commenters do seem to have assumed it was a woman.
Also, this was not an email sent to us. It was passed along to us by a journalist who believed it to be worthy of comment.
That said, I’d like to reflect on this overnight and respond more fully in the morning.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
Find this really disappointing to read, get off the high
horse. I’m sure there are soulless moments in building a business
like yours as well..
I think this is cruel and completely unnecessary. As
someone who has worked in PR for over 10 years (and never for Fuel
I might add), I understand the importance of pitching and then
reporting progress and results to your client. Dr Mumbo you are
meant to be a thought leader within the marketing industry. Instead
you are ridiculing those who are having a crack…you were junior
too once. This actually turns me off reading mUmbrella.
Wonderful howls of protest from the PR and journalism
ranks. Such black pots, such black kettles.
Tim, what on earth did you think the reaction was going to
be?
Mumbrella does seem to have veered off into fairly
negative, mean-spirited territory of late, but this ‘story’ really
does go too far. Those notes seem pretty reasonable, not to mention
polite, and the fact that you’d publish them with such horrible
commentary only does your site a discredit 🙁
I have to echo the sentiments of others who found this
article to be in bad taste. Everyone makes mistakes. Sending an
email to the wrong recipient is not a reflection of someone’s
intelligence and is not necessarily a reflection on their general
competence, either. It’s a run of the mill, everyday mistake. Apart
from mocking the sender for a relatively easily made mistake – what
was the point of the article? Hardly an expose. Not newsworthy –
just snide and smug. Bottom line – publishing sensitive material
that was not intended for you is incredibly poor form.
I found this quite interesting. Perhaps if Dr Mumbo had retracted the PR company and client from this post there would be less howling.
Oh come on, Mumbrella is the tabloid of the trade mags, if you don’t like it, don’t come here.
What great feedback for her pitch! I hope her managers are proud of her, seems to me she had three pieces lined up. Of course, Mumbrella has seen to it that they won’t ever appear. Shocked at the delight a grown man has taken in destroying the confidence of what seems to be a very promising young PR professional. If Dr Mumbo has kids, I hope this doesn’t ever happen to them in their first job.
Why didn’t you remove the identifying info (agency and client names) then mock to your heart’s content?
Ouch,
are you happy in yourself that this is the best direction you could take your conscience actions in!!!
You should be hoping, for your sake, there is no balancing of good and bad karma.
do unto others …….
As promised, I’ve given it some thought overnight.
To begin with, I should correct a few wrong assumptions.
First, many of the commentators here appear unhappy because they believe the person who sent this email was a junior PR, “in her first job” etc,
While the person who makes the phone calls to journalists is often junior, in this case, the person who sent the WIP to a journalist is a senior account manager.
We’ve chosen not to name them, so I’ll keep it slightly vague, but they are in at least their third agency role; they are no junior.
Second, as I mentioned before, a number of people have suggested the person who made the mistake is a woman. We didn’t – and won’t – mention gender as it’s not really relevant here.
I note that some of the division of comments appears to split between journalists and PRs.
While this WIP document may be something seen every day inside PR agencies, to journalists – who also read Mumbrella – it’s a glimpse of the making of the sausage.
Many journos who take those daily “Did you see the press release?” phone calls have probably never realised that their reply is going to be put into a spreadsheet. It’s an insight into how that side of things works.
Third, another misunderstanding: this wasn’t a document sent in error to us. It was sent to a journalist on a well known masthead who passed it along precisely because they believed it to be comment worthy.
As we mentioned in the piece it was forwarded to us by that journalist with the words: ”Nice to see all the journos listed seemed to be treating the stories with skepticism.”
It’s an insight into the fact that many stories that end up in the press are spoonfed to the journalists.
So no, it’s not an example of anti-PR bias. Many do a very good job for their clients.
But it is a snapshot of how PR really works.
And fourth, no it’s not a news story. Dr Mumbo is our diary column.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
There is nothing scandalous about this story. There was one email sent to a journalist by mistake. Where is the news in that? I’m also interested as to where Mumbo got his credentials in order to be able to analyse the journalist feedback. Why interpret the responses in this way? Why wouldn’t the journalists have been interested? If they weren’t the whole industry would not be in a growth phase whilst traditional advertising flounders. This is a cheap act by someone with a personal vendetta against public relations. If you don’t like the industry Mumbo then dont include public relations and let someone else create a more balanced and supporting publication.
Not good enough Tim. It doesn’t matter they aren’t a junior- publishing this still has ramifications for that person, and the agency. It may be an insight into the pr world, but you are still making a mockery of that world – and in the unkindest, unfair way possible
Oooooh!
Colour-blocking is the new black.
Tim is the new Kyle!
Everybody so supportive of the assumptive junior girlie who made a mistake – but so harsh on Dr Mumbo who ALSO might have made a mistake.
PR is also a Medical Term.
What ‘insight into PR’ are you referring to? You didn’t know that PR people write proposals to journalists, that PR people give clients feedback or that journalists receive story ideas from PR people?
You post a nasty little piece of tabloid crap, get heavily criticized for it and your response is to point out how stupid we all are for not realising the real value in it?
Keep digging that hole, son.
Tim, good on you for holding your ground.
The outrage brigade is in full swing here, mainly led, by what looks like, mostly the PR industry.
Well, it’s nice to see some attempt to explain what exactly you were trying to achieve with this piece. Unfortunately, I don’t think you succeeded, because I don’t think this piece offered anything of value. That’s the issue I have with it.
If I had sent that email, I wouldn’t feel embarrassed or demoralised, because it is firmly in the category of No Big Deal.
It didn’t include anything very sensitive or scandalous or interesting. And that’s why I can’t help wondering why it deserved any kind of public airing.
We all receive emails in error from time to time, and we just delete them because they’re just not very interesting!
The crux of this article was supposedly that it illustrated the ‘soul crushing’ nature of PR. All it really did was illustrate a ho-hum daily element of the job that is completely uninteresting.
So, I still say, where was the point??
I think the journalist in question who thought this was worthy of commentary is the one we should be directing more criticism at! what a dibber dobber.
What would be really interesting is to hear a little more from PRs about the mistakes journalists sometimes make (for example, simple concepts being misunderstood and hence, misreported … I see it all the time!) and the rude and arrogant manner in which they often speak to PR people, no matter their level of experience.
This faux outrage by PR’s here is very funny.
And also ironic. WHo would have thought PR’s would never be happy unless they got the lst word.
And a quick one to Nik who seems to think that the fact that the PR industry is succesful while the ad industry flounders ipso facto Journalists are interested in pet insurance.
The fact is journalists have less resources, and PR practioners are moving further into “content creation” with an enthusiasm I haven’t seen since the dot com boom of the late 90’s.
So if your business model is “let’s use the space created by traditional media to seed PR stories, value them as advertising dollars and present a report to the client impying how much they have saved on advertising”.
And that’s fine. But it’s a balancing act. Traditional media businesses need advertising to exist. PR organisations know this. They just don’t give a shit (nor frankly, should they, it’s not their problem).
This is why PR is looking to a future without the traditional medai. Meanwhile the traditional media sits in a pot like a frog, while we deal with the shrill “how dare you’s” from the spin industry.
You were selling the idea of “Pet Insurance”.
Seriously.
Bolterinehart, do you have any idea how expensive vets can be?
I agree with Clive. Mumbrella is the Jerry Springer of trade rags. The editor response is so predictable. The whole ‘she was not a junior’, ‘it wasn’t sent to us’, ‘we didn’t mention gender” is all a bit beside the point. Bottom line is that there was nothing interesting about the subject of the ‘diary column’ (vs ‘news story’) and it offered bugger all insight. Any half-wit (whether they work in PR or not) could work out that an agency reports on what you do for a client. And if Mumbrella really wanted to give some insight into how PR really works, there are about a thousand better ways to do it than a sarcasm-laced ‘diary’ column. But hey, Jerry Springer has a very big audience for mean-spirited, pointless content. Me, I think I’ll start looking for journalism, or even diary entries with some semblance of quality.
The reaction this story has garnered is not surprising. PRs are intensely opinionated, frustratingly single-minded and have a habit of getting their way.
Tim – well done on standing your ground. Keep sharing the secrets of the industry. There should be a column dedicated to outing PR fools. There’s too many of them.
Wow! Lots of sensitivity and defensiveness. Why shouldn’t agencies be open and transparent?
What’s everyone so upset about? We all know that this is what happens in the industry.
Maybe we should all be looking at how to improve rather than carrying on at Mumbrella?
Louise Lees
I think both sides benefit from experience gained on the other – PRs can understand just how frustrating it is to be constantly harassed about often inappropriate story ideas and journos can understand the pressure being placed on PRs to produce results.
You were selling pet insurance people. Lighten up.
It’s neither Gods work, nor is it the dream job for any uni graduate.
Stop reading it as an attack on the PR industry. Have a laugh at the lather you have worked yourself into over pet insurance.
And for anyone not involved in the PR or marketing industry (and guess what, a lot of business owners and managers read Mumbrella) this is actually interesting.
It is interesting because it exposes the science, measureability and KPI’s that PR organisations use even when forced to sell something as boringly first world as pet insurance. And those comments actually expose how mind numbingly banal the job of selling pet insurance stories to bored journo’s actually is.
Forgive us for mistakenly assuming the error was made by a junior PR practitioner.
It was Dr. Mumbo that originally made the assumption that a junior PR person made the calls to journalists….
Translation: “Katharine politely listened to our junior PR and didn’t openly laugh at the idea.”
We just carried on with assumptions that you guys started.
All this article did was potentially put stress on a relationship between a client and an agency for the sake of lifting the curtain on how a PR agency operates. By accurately reporting on the work being done. I heard jaws dropping around the country.
Can’t we talk about Miley/Syria/the Election instead ?!?!?!?!?!?
comment 49 Corrie Sanders +1
Seeing as you published the name of the client and the consultancy, are you going to publish the publication name and section the journalist who forwarded this to you works in so people know to be careful around them in future? Seems only fair and balanced to me. And you’re all about the fair and the balance, aren’t you?
I actually thought it was a good pitch.
pets in bed. quirky enough no?
The comments here show just how messed up PR has become.
They seem outraged that somebody has published an (accidentally) leaked document.
That’s what journalism is. Not waiting for somebody to ring up with a press release about pet insurance.
What I’m surprised at most is the number of anonymous comments. If you’re in PR, why be afraid to put your name on a comment in defence of or attacking an article?
Second, mumbrella, your ‘translations’ are inaccurate – they’re the thing of ridicule.
Third, PR person gets what they deserve for sending a WIP document to a journalist (although we have all made mistakes sending emails to the wrong person and most don’t get castigated publicly).
As for the story itself, we would all have had a bit of a giggle if we say the ‘three in a bed’ headline and would want to know more. Which speaks to the creativity of the PR person.
So we all saw the inner workings of PR – big deal. Are you suggesting this is new or unknown?
Geez Tim, did a PR Manager beat you up in high school or something!
As a journalist at a mainstream newspaper besieged by petty PR pitches every day – I loved this article and believe it definitely deserved publication.
It is an insight into the ”other side” that I did not know about before, therefore it is news to me!
It has made me even more determined not to write articles just because a PR agent is persistent. I will write stories if they are NEWSWORTHY. If you want to get your client into the paper, take out an ad, that’s what advertisements are for.
The outcry from the PR industry reflects their need to feel loved, and dare I say it, respected. It’s a big chip on those tanned shoulders that they carry…
I’ve worked in it. Found it light-weight. The solid practitioners were few and far between. Jumped the fence and sold my soul to advertising instead. Ironically, launched a pet insurance product for a major insurer!
Go Katie,
Couldn’t agree more. The whole PR industry is becoming more and more relentless. And the number of calls is increasing each year.
There’s nothing more fun than a “did you get my press release about pet insurance” phone call when you are on deadline.
Hey OR’s. Get your clients to buy an ad. After all you ARE measuring the “value” of your PR in advertising dollars.
That’s why god gave us ads, and gave us ad agency to create them.
Poor form mumbrella, I hope the person who sent it isn’t coping too much flack for this.
Andrew Bolt and Gina Rineharts Lovechild, why don’t you get your advertising clients to do PR instead?
I mean aren’t ads just the pages of the paper that consumers put their morning coffee on while they are reading articles that have been generated by PRs?
I haven’t seen a television ad in years, and no-one recalls newspaper ads, readers are just indifferent to them. And online ads, are just annoying.
What people remember, is content, which is what PR generates.
As silly as it sounds, someone is more likely to read a story about how pet insurance stopped so and so from having to fork out thousands of dollars when her puppy got cancer, than a full page ad about pet insurance.
If you think that a newspaper is unlikely to print something that I described above, or some of the pitches in the PR WIP in this article, pick up any issue of the Herald Sun from this year and try and find one that doesn’t contain an animal story……. try page 4, 13, 17 today
And yes I was being flippant about advertising, I do see the value in it too. I just think there’s a big enough marketplace and a need for both advertising AND PR.
Enough of this ad vs PR bullsh!t, it does nothing to support our industry.
The PR flack reaction here is just awful. Just make better ads, buy space in the newspaper so they can afford to make better newspapers. Use your comms degrees to make better media, not to bypass and kill it.
Comment #70 sums it up perfectly. No one in the game respects PR – and they know it – so this sort of trivial sniping hurts more than it should.
I’ve worked on both sides as a print journo and in PR (for two major media companies), now I’m in marketing/advertising for a media company (working with clients/agencies). Never worked for or with Fuel fyi.
Not sure what the point is about this article. WIPs are standard in most jobs and media outlets certainly have their equivalent ie daily news conferences etc (the contents of which – including stories currently chasing and sources used – I’m certain most journos would not want published en masse). Work email faux pas are pretty commonplace these days regardless of seniority – in fact, I’ve known very senior editorial staff to make larger email blunders than this one.
I have great respect for what journos do – I also have great respect for PR people. There’s pros and cons for each job. Not sure what this naming and shaming was meant to do, Mumbrella, but came off very petty.
What Dave and Angus said. PR has its place and it’s hard yakka – I for one am sick of Mumbrella constantly trash PRs’. I think its a great story angle and what’s wrong with the reporting? I just don’t get it. In highlighting a simple mistaken email, Mumbrella has shown yet again how cruel and horrible this site and its readers are. Slow news day in advertising huh?
Oh and Katie 69, what is your name and publication so the PR’s all know not to pitch to you. Take the opportunity NOW. God knows you’d do them a favour in pitching to arsehole journalists and they can avoid reading your shitful articles too. Everybody wins…
Can people stop using PR’s as an abbreviation. I thought youse were all about good grammar and shit.
Woolworths insurance you say?
First ive heard of this, good work PR company. 🙂
There are often 4 in my bed. Outrageous idea for a PR story for UNO? Everyone knows pugs don’t take up much foot room.
Why all the assumption that this publicist was a woman?
Good on you for defending your actions Tim. I completely agree with your decision to publish. It just shows that the truth hurts. Those who are complaining the loudest are most likely the very same people who at the end of each week when they have been peddling this sort of rubbish as news every day find a little bit of their core has shrivelled up and died. It’s work and someone has to do it and this article, however snarky, shows others what some people have to do in order to earn a crust.
Hold the front page, agencies record media feedback in a spreadsheet. How revealing. A more interesting way of dealing with this story would have been to give your journalistic impression of the pitch. We might have learnt something but poking cheap holes in a WIP report gives the impression that you’re actually the one with a crushed soul.
It’s surprising the seeming lack of insight some journalists have into the world of PR. The ad sales guys make lists of who they’ve tried to sell to and the feedback they received, so too do PR agencies.
PR students learn about journalism and many practitioners attend events where journalists tell of their preferences on formats of pitches and follow-up protocol. If a WIP report on pitches is something new, perhaps journalists could do something similar to learn about the PR process? There’s a sugestion for mUmBRELLA360 – a “How PR really works” session.
Meh. Mumbo bashes the news/trade media all the time and no-one seems to complain. Obv not too many journos in this crowd… or maybe they’re made of slightly tougher stuff 😉
I actually agree with many commenters in not liking Mumbo’s oft snarky and mean spirited side tho. I know the column is meant to be a bit of a joke, but it often doesn’t come across that way cause it’s not fair comment/criticism.