I wouldn’t say that people underestimate PR, at the rate PR agencies are paying and nicking individuals with natural PR skills to said industry. In fact, i wholly respect those who have the ability to sweet talk and assert themselves as friends in the first ten minutes upon meeting anybody when it’s not an easy task.
Moving on, the reason for the title of the post was ignited by a small incident that happened last week at an event. A fellow blogger came up to say hi, that they’re coming for CGYT and, hey, by the way, could you take a picture with this phone?
I replied, “Urm, yeah, sure,” till i saw the brand of the phone.
Now. I wouldn’t have petty beef with the brand unless it was something that really ticked me off. And when i say really, i say it with memory of the profound annoyance i felt at the time.
This was sometime mid-2007 when particular mobile phone brand approached me for blog advertising and viral blog marketing. I readily agreed and we went through the pipeline to get the project through.
Countless emails.
Meetings.
Phonecalls.
Drafts of ideas.
You get my drift.
When push came to shove, my finance consultant and i sat down to work out the quotation. Emailed it in. Never got a reply.
I thoroughly respect how it works when it comes to pitches.
You pitch, it doesn’t work out, hey no problem, thanks for trying, move on.
What pushed my our buttons was that after chasing me for this and that, you disappeared out of thin air.
I called. Left a voicemail. Emailed you, so what’s happening?
No reply.
Wow. Can chase me day and night, tiba-tiba no reply?
To think the PR people in your company have no, well, PR courtesy (and common sense) to merely email, “Hey, we don’t think this is working out, but thank you very much for your effort and time,” didn’t go down well.
And you think, hey, this will blow by, bla bla bla.
Pfft. You think by foregoing a small email, it’ll blow away but the toes you stepped on remember.
Ever since then, i swore never to buy a phone from your brand.
Not because i hate your brand. But because i disrespect the PR people you hired.
I’m not one to hold grudges easily, but the amount of hours that was required to pitch for the project minus a singular line of rejection is unacceptable.
When i was hunting for a new phone to buy early this year, someone pointed out your brand, “Hey, what about this one? Slim, something you want right?”
Glancing at it, i said firmly, “No. I will never buy that brand. Show me any other phone except that.”
And i will never buy your brand. It’s funny cos i used to think it’s quite cool. Now every time i look at it on a phone, i can’t help but scoff inwardly.
And that. Is why. PR is so important.
heh heh heh. It has happened to me oh sooooo many times.
I think a lot of agencies have this misconception that we’d just blindly promote their products for free since everything on the internet is *supposedly* free.
Hello? The time to get a project up and running costs money. The creative input into the project costs money. The time to draft and change drafts to suit your liking costs money. The loss of opportunity costs cost money. It may be a lot cheaper than traditional media, but it’s certainly not free.
And… which brand/PR firm was this?
realli no courtesy to inform back…i hope its not branded.
I understand what you are going through.
As annoying as it is, I wished more agency holds the responsibility to at least courteously decline your offer/ quotation.
I hate waiting into nothing.
*cough*soundslikesamsung*cough*
yeah, i thought it sounded like samsung too!
hehehehe.
I think you are trying to get a FREE handphone from this particular phone brand with your this post, right? That’s why PR is so important.
You will be hearing from Samsung very soon, with a brand new samsung phone. Good job! That’s why PR is so important.
you would think it is common courtesy to just say it isnt working out with a few clicks of the mouse or pick up a phone. and now it is the mobile company’s loss for you may be one person but strength in quantities will affect them. hah
Hello. Been reading of your great buys in Bangkok. I’m going to Bangkok soon. Any recommendations to shop all your cheap buys. Thanks.
kenny: yeah, time ain’t free ๐
nicholas: i really didn’t want to state the brand but i guess it’s out now.
jessbabe: yeah it’s the ‘waiting for nothing’!
samsung: wth, i didn’t write that post to get a free phone -_- i already have one, and two spares to boot. i don’t need a free phone. i can buy one myself thank you very much.
su: will be writing a post on bkk soon…check ok
Hey Joyce, I was one of the bloggers selected for this program which I realised only midway that it was more benefiting to the brand than us as bloggers. I was rather peeved.
I didn’t show up for the closing event after many emails between me and the organizer of the event. That was my stand.
In my opinion, bloggers review products and should get monetary benefits in return. For the program, we were asked to join competitions to win the phone. In other words, if we didn’t win anything, we’d basically be doing it for free.
But to give them some credit, what they offered was a 50% discount on the phone at the end of the competition. But lol, not everyone wants to buy the phone right? They later on gave out three consolation prizes worth Rm200 plus a headset or something. I don’t really know.
It’s my fault, I should have assessed the situation before anything.
if I was dealing with an individual, I would not pick a fight over the payment if I’m to do some advertising. But this is a corporation, and a big one at that. Thus I felt shortchanged.
I don’t care if I’ve got a tainted reputation for being a diva but this is my stand.
You? Being a diva..? Cannot imagine.
Read the documents you sent me. I guess they’re rethinking what they did wrong since so many bloggers are unhappy eh.
Samsung IS notorious for chasing like a monkey on fire and being slow to revert.