The Bad Casual Pitch: What You *Never* Want To Be Caught Doing

PR people can be really bad at their jobs. That’s the simple truth. But sometimes they are so horrible that they make us all look bad. At BPB we get a lot of crapitches (my word) sent for our edification and bewilderment. I was fairly taken aback, however, to see someone actually texting a pitch to a well-respected freelancer who laughed all the way to my inbox.

Thought I’d share it with you because this is the lowest of the pitches I have seen all year. Why? To send this thinking you might get a response besides “Go away, you illiterate chump” proves this dude has no right to her gig. I won’t use her name but you know who you are - and your employer will recognize you—and maybe put you on notice: Go back to selling shoes quickly--not that there's anything wrong with that. Do it for our industry and your conscience (no, wait, you don’t have one)!

Anyway, for your reading pleasure, witness this 100% casual text pitch – with a few ideas, but a real epic fail nonetheless. It's written in a frenzy of "I don't want to take the time to edit or think," sent to a freelance journalist for a major news org, who not only ignored the crux but shared the text with friends in the biz:



i work with florida international university (FIU) school of
hospitality in miami,
a leading business school in the country specializing in the
hospitality and tourism industry
(with graduates living & working all over the world as business owners
- everything
from hotels, resorts, restaurants, catering operations, to special
events logistics companies
to department heads in major hospitality corporations- marriott, hilton, W- as
front and concierge desks, human resources, accounting, housekeeping,
beverage & revenue management departments, etc.)


and was hoping we could work together on a story
about what happens after graduation-


as you know, high schools & colleges are graduating a lot of students
come this april and may, and i would love to work with you on a story
that would
answer one of these 2 questions:


a). does an internship lead to a job? is it worth working for free?
b). what's next- how to look for a job.


as you know, i work with FIU School of Hospitality in Miami,
a leading hospitality school in the country,


a)
and i can introduce you to students who are interning,
and students who have gotten jobs as a result from their internship,


as well as employers who work with interns as well as with employers who
have hired their interns.


and one more option:
an interview with someone who got a job with another employer
as a result of a recommendation from the employer they interned for.


b). and if you wanted to work on the 2nd idea,
i can connect you with graduating seniors and academic advisor at
school about tips
she would have to land a job in this economy.


let me know your thoughts,
and we'll get it done!


thanks much,
and i'll speak w/u soon,


Oh yeah? “We’ll get it done!” Let's doubt that.

Notice the funny use of the capitalization for one word – W - instead of the other hotels mentioned. That must the chain she stays at.

Such a personalized, petty pitch proves PR (or in her case, “pr”) people push improper punctuation to perhaps too many peeps.

With that poetic note, I got to take a prolonged shower.

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