By Jaideep Shergill
One of my favourite pastimes as a long time practitioner of the craft is reading about how we as PR firms position ourselves and put ourselves “out†there. I am using “our†to describe us rather than “them†since I am still within the fringes of the profession even though it may only be the very outside fringes.
Somewhere deep down, we have been taught to couch facts and represent ourselves in such strange ways that being untruthful has become an art form deeply entrenches within our culture code and this manifests itself in the way we represent ourselves to the world outside.
Of course I understand the challenges. We are pretty much at the bottom of the food chain in the marketing system. At the very best we are remoras to the big sharks (our advertising brethren). But this shouldn’t allow us to demean ourselves and our profession.
Here are some of my pet peeves (in no particular order):
1. New business win releases/announcements:
– Most often the releases are sent out with very wide berth of latitude. Friends, including projects, and also including wins from the previous year do not and should not count unless I have something wrong. I recently saw a release of a PR firm which had more than half a dozen names repeated from a release the same firm had sent out a year prior
– Please do not send new win releases 6-7-8 months after the win as it sounds terribly posthumous and feels like an afterthought
Note to friends in the trade media: Please do your homework and ask intelligent questions rather than just print what comes into your mailboxes.
1. Representation of clients+senior talent in credentials decks and websites:
This is such a tragedy and has been a practice for time immemorial but needs to be called out as a blatant lie. So many firms misrepresent the clients they work for. Please, please do not put past clients on your current client roster. It’s shameful and eventually your lies will be caught out. Same goes for your talent. One of my funniest experiences at pitches was when we showed our client roster and the client would look at it and say “how many firms handle Brand X?†since the three firms before us had also shown the same client on their client roster. I would then have to explain that they may have worked with the client in the past but we do in the present!
Friends, please do segment your past clients from the present ones. It doesn’t make any of you look less competent. Trust me, clients would be more appreciative of the honesty.
One of the top five global networks still shows (even as of this morning) at least a dozen senior talent who have left the firm or aren’t on the rolls but merely consulting on their website under their talent section. Such a farce!
Of course, the easiest way out for most firms (when asked) is that the slides and websites need to be updated. Easy answer but we know it doesn’t really make us look good after all does it?
Friends, we really need to get our heads out of the ground a la ostriches and fly with our wings spread wide and heads held high. Remember, our time will come if it hasn’t already and that’s when we will need to tell the truth and nothing but the truth! Because only the truth will set us free.
Jaideep Shergill, Co-Founder, Pitchfork Partners Strategic Consulting LLP, is a PR and communications veteran and has always been contrarian about most things, drawing extraordinary amounts of irk and ire from industry peers. He can be reached on jaideep.shergill@pitchforkpartners.com.