PR head-honcho spills the beans...

Well, not really. Yet.

We'd like to introduce an (ir)regular feature here at Oh! What's Occuring? Every month we're looking for a big-hitter from the PR industry in Wales - whether agency or in-house - to take part in an informal and irreverent (or should that be irrelevant?) interview, which we will post here for all to see.

The interview will take place via email, so it could take bloody ages, but hey, it should be fun.

So, if you fit the bill (that is, you are a big-hitter), or would like to nominate someone that is, simply email ohwhatisoccurring@gmail.com and we'll do the rest.

Same quote, different spokesperson...

One of our avid readers (no, not you, the other guy) has made an earth-shattering revelation: sometimes PR bods are lazy! Not shocked? Nor were we.

Said reader was skimming over this story in Wednesday's Western Mail; another doom-and-gloom piece about how some survey has established that the UK is still in the doldrums. Suddenly, our reader was overcome by a sense of deja vu as he realised that he had read this article, or at least part of it, somewhere else. He had, and it was here.

Nothing unusual about that. But when you look closer you realise that Simon Jones, quoted in the Western Mail article, and Malcolm Edge, quoted on the BBC website, share a brain!

The quote in the press release, drafted by the central PRO, was used to a fuller extent by the Western Mail, but it is still pretty clear that the same release was sent out nationally and regionally with all but the name of the spokesperson remaining identical.

Now this isn't as bad when you are doing international stuff, pitching some release from the US head office to the media in the UK, but even that's still lazy. Seriously, how hard is it to ask your local 'specialist' to come up with some original comment?

Assuming that readers of the Western Mail don't get their news fix from any other media outlet is lazy and misguided. Plain and simple.

PR tripe...

There are certain words that are threadbare due to over-zealous and lazy use by PRs.

These poor, whimpering words include, but are by no means limited to:

• Solution(s) - what does this actually mean? Answer: absolutely nothing, that's what.
• Leading - surely there is only one leader in any given industry, and not every PR is fortunate enough to represent a true leader - are they? Also, how are we determining who the leaders are - is it by turnover, number of staff, prevalence of board members with a full head of hair?
• Innovative - wasn't the last true example of innovation the humble fax machine? Pretty much everything is referred to as innovative now - even using energy-saving light bulbs in the office toilets.
• Specalist/Expert - well, we hope that your spokespeople are experts, but surely that should be a given?
• Offering - as in 'sacrificial'? 'Peace'?...

If you spoke to your mates the way you speak in press releases you'd end up a very lonely person. And rightly so.

Rant over.

Where's Wilkinson? (updated)

John Wilkinson has been in touch to clear things up. Here's what he has to say:

Rumours of my demise are exaggerated. Yes, I have left Freshwater via a painful and unwelcome redundancy. No, I am not yet with another agency. Yes, I am still the CIPR Treasurer (thank you to the swift commentator who gave everyone my new email address). No, I have not (yet) set up on my own as I am technically still employed by Freshwater until 5 May. Yes, I am available for hire (preferably in a comms role because I am a rubbish mobile DJ and don’t want to drive a cab!). Like Kristian before me, I can’t believe I made the news.
I’ll be back.
JW

Where's Wilkinson?

We've heard that John Wilkinson, CIPR Cymru Wales Treasurer, has left Freshwater UK. Can anyone confirm this? His profile isn't on the website anymore...

Anyone know if John's decided to move on to another agency? One thing's for certain: he hasn't crossed-over to journalism - we all know that's a one-way street.

Off with our heads!

Alas, it pains us to report that one of our more fastidious readers has exposed a gut-wrenching error on our blog.

We almost don't want to bring your attention to it, but we'd rather tell you before you notice it yourselves. After all; you may not be as kind as the aforementioned reader who politely notified us via email.

So, here for all to see (or not, as it transpires), is the hideous omission of the crucial second 'r' in 'occurring'. Cast your eyes up and look at our URL. Pathetic.

We could pretend that this was intentional and that there is a prize winging its way to the eagle-eyed reader who spotted the mistake. But that would be a lie. And, even if we did have a prize, it would be something crap like a dried-out highlighter pen, or an unused desk calendar from 2006.

It has crossed our minds to change the URL, but this would mean that any links to this blog (which admittedly are few and far between) would get lost in the ether, and our two regular readers may never find us again.

So instead we have decided to embrace our spelling faux pas. For now at least.

Another one bites the dust (updated)...

This afternoon's Insider Weekly from Wales Business Insider has confirmed our suspicions that Swansea Bay Business Life had gone into administartion.

What is more, the publisher, Avagio, has gone into liquidation, so we suppose that's the whole stable gone then.