What, Me Blog?

I'm a little wistful.

A year ago Kevin Dugan called me and said let’s try to fight the laziness of people in PR and make us all work harder to improve. I thought, yeah let’s. I’ve never looked back on my decision—this is why:

1. The two billion blogs that feature talking heads blathering on about themselves are useless. Kevin is smart, I’m not dumb, and we both figured we’d use our brain-pair to connect readers to a bigger picture, rather than make it all about ourselves (though we were tempted to always say this is our story…but didn’t!).

2. Even though I’ve been toiling in PR for 18 years this is the first time folks got in touch with me JUST to say “Thanks for teaching me something.” Yes, I know, I got people who work for me –but they’re paid to say that. These are volunteer thanks and for that I’m grateful. Even when I go out and lecture people say “We’re paying him so whatever.” This I obviously do for nothing but the pleasure of “reading people’s beads,” as my Southern pals say.

3. Hilarious, too, were the amount of journalists who wrote or called to say Egad, look – someone wrote me, a political writer, to see if I’m busy and it’s freaking Election Day. I loved that. Sometimes people would just write me to say STOP THE MADNESS. Good use of e-mail, finally.

4. Learning from Kevin D. is cool because he, like many of my other pals, can see through the bullshit many of us call PR. That was a benefit I didn’t see coming. As some of you know Kevin interviewed me on Strategic PR when Full Frontal PR came on the scene and I imparted, “I’d never do a blog.” What a never say never type fib. Blame the about-face on El Dugan.

5. Outrageous emotions sent our way. The way people responded to our “outing” them for being bad at pitching was shocking. I mean, why get mad at us? It wasn’t like I went to your offices and pulled the pitch from your pile, dude. I’m a bad man? What kind of ridiculousness is that? Why wouldn’t we print the self-serving ruckus you served to the media?!

6. The few times someone wrote me privately to say “Don’t please print this” but that a friend of theirs made the ultimate boo-boo in PR and they needed someone to tell. These always included names and they gave me impetus to do more. Why send to me? I guess I’m trustworthy. Thanks, Mom.

7. The way some of my employees have said “I am so afraid to put out a bad pitch now.” Gee, what other boss (Kevin doesn’t do agencies, the lucky bastard) can call up the boogeyman with their charges? [I also have had to work hard to be sure nothing gets put out - not wholly successful here - that really stinks.]

8. The fact that we got participants to take our petition seriously so early on. I heard Steve R. of MicroPersuasion say that the PR community is more networked than most, but the speed in which everyone flocked to say No not me I won’t be a bad PR person was fantastic…really surprising.

9. I loved some of the things that have come across my desk from people I have never met but wanted to, in order to share with me the badness they see in their peer’s pitches …Slowly people realized that being bad in PR is endemic. Yes—sorry—true—admit it.

10. And the good pitches we’ve seen, due to someone thinking, I am not going to be accused of doing something half-assed now that the blog-o-sphere is taking a granular look at everything I, and my colleagues, do.

11. And Kevin. Ok, this is an anniversary and I can be schmaltzy. I got to say, publicly, that this man is a mensch who works ceaselessly to find stuff to enliven the space. I’m proud to be sharing this page with him. Long live BPB. Thanks to everyone who read, participated, and said to others they know and sometimes love: You gotta check this shit out.

Happy Bad Pitch Blog Day to one and all--January 26 from here on end. Oh and thank you, too, to the readers who called me on that ridiculous post I did about “Snakes on a Plane” being seen as a savior when it was merely a formula flick. I have no idea what that was about either; but I’ve since learned to calm myself down before pushing PUBLISH THIS.

We promise next year will be bigger, uncut, expanded, and other dirty words.

Onward!