Oh! What's Occurring?

PR head-honcho spills the beans...

2009-03-06T17:45:00.000Z

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...

2009-03-05T11:49:00.000Z

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...

2009-02-28T09:00:00.000Z

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)

2009-02-27T21:25:00.003Z

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?

2009-02-27T15:01:00.003Z

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!

2009-02-26T09:54:00.004Z

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)...

2009-02-24T12:49:00.003Z

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.

Another one bites the dust...

2009-02-23T12:27:00.005Z

Rumour has it that Swansea Bay Business Life has gone into administration. Can anyone second this?

Still, former Insider launch editor Wyn Jenkins will have Llanelli Life, Carmarthenshire Living and Cardiff Living to keep him busy won't he?

When Cadbury's sneezes, the world wide web catches a cold...

2009-02-20T08:35:00.006Z

There was a great piece on viral marketing during this morning's Today programme on BBC Radio 4.

Evan Davies was speaking to a guy from Rubber Republic about why advertisers are seeking to entertain their audiences rather than 'market at' them. The answer was simple: because people hate ads, and like laughing. And being shocked.

One viral legend; Matt, of Where the hell is Matt?, was keen to point out that manufactured humour can be less successful as a viral than stuff that just happens to be caught on film; and is produced without big budgets, or fancy editing.

Manufactured fun is fine by us. We literally laughed our arses off when we first saw the twitching eyebrows or those already odd-looking kids. And when the girl broke out the balloon, well, that was just absolute fucking genius.

P.S. How jealous are you of Matt? If, like us, you spend your days in an office, then seeing people who actually do real stuff like that makes a little part of you die doesn't it?

Wales Business Insider downsizing - updated...

2009-02-18T15:37:00.003Z

Further to our recent post Ubiquitous global calamity hits hacks in Wales... we can confirm the sad news that Kristian Dando has left the building (Eastgate House that is).

We can verify this due to the telling omission of young Mr. Dando's email address from the editorial synopsis Douglas Friedli has just sent out.

Perhaps this will see more work being fired in the direction of former Western Mail hack Duncan Higgitt, who penned a fine article in the February issue of Insider.

Incidentally, the deadline for the April issue of Wales Business Insider is Thursday 5 March 2009.

What an anti-climax...

2009-02-17T16:22:00.003Z

Did anyone else see the news today on WalesOnline announcing its 'makeover'?

"Well, there's exciting," we thought to ourselves. Yeah, right.

Seriously, take a look. Was that really worth a) the hype or b) the effort?

The site wasn't that bad before; now it just has more grey and the layout has been juggled a little. Wasting time and money for very little effect. What a very 'public sector' thing to do.

Blog review #1...

2009-02-17T15:30:00.003Z

In the first, and possibly last, instalment of this feature; we'd like to bring your attention to the personal blog of business ed Sion Barry.

As the head-honcho of the business desk at the Western Mail, Mr. Barry is probably one of the most wined and dined hacks in Wales. Bet he got a free ticket to the Wales vs. England match at the weekend...

With this in mind, you'd expect his blog to be a cesspool of narcissism and self-adulation. But not so.

Granted, it is a little left field, but it clearly serves a cathartic purpose for Sion. And this is so bloody refreshing.

Isn't it annoying when people use blogs to flex their (often underdeveloped) mental muscle? A blog should be fun and even a little bizarre, we say.

So thumbs up Sion. We'll give you a generous 8/10. Which puts you at the top of out leaderboard.

Woop, woop! It's da sound of da police...

2009-02-16T18:15:00.005Z

The punctuation police that is. Snazzy.

We're considering running a regular feature on here where we will spotlight some truly crud punctuation and grammar; whether peddled by PRs, journos or anyone for that matter.

To kick off we'd like to draw your attention to a series of abhorrent faux pas from Freshwater UK.

Back in January, Freshwater sent out a briefing paper authored by a 22 year old English student, which was supposed to give readers an insight into the ground-breaking Obama campaign.

One person that received this paper; which to be fair is a damn fine-looking piece of work; has been in touch and highlighted several errors that would cause any pedant to twitch with rage*.

Exhibit A

On page 7 of this report we learn that the text messaging service used by the Obama campaign, only managed to gather the contact details of one supporter! Lousy or what?

Don't believe us? Check out the scanned page on the left: "This organised a supporter's contact list..."

Well I hope they at least got his or her work and home contact details; you know, to cover all bases.

Never underestimate the power of the apostrophe.

Exhibit B

Now, this next mistake has been corrected in the report hosted on Freshwater's website; still, it is there for all to see in the printed version.

The fact that this outrageous mess-up was missed by those that proofread the copy is inexcusable to begin with; but that its ostentatious dim-wittedness was then highlighted in a pull-quote beggars belief.

'Costed' is one of those words that makes the user sound illiterate even when used correctly. In this case the tense is all wrong (i.e. costed being the future tense of cost); but the fact that a communications company would parade this abomination in a call-out is, frankly, depressing.

Exhibit C

In a final blow to anyone that reveres the English language, Freshwater encourage readers that have been suitably impressed by the briefing paper to 'Inquire' for further information.

Of course, the word they were looking for was 'enquire'; meaning to ask; not 'inquire' which suggests the reader should make a formal investigation.

On second thought, considering the mistakes that have peppered the report, perhaps an inquiry would be more apt.

Now, it is wholly unfair to pin the blame on the author. Aside from the errors we have listed above, the document was very insightful and informative, and the content was well constructed and easy to read.

The real fault must lie with all those that proofed the copy before it went to print. Shame on you.

Want to join in? You can be one of our 'Special Constables' too. If you spot any misplaced apostrophes or grammatical garbage that make you break out in a cold sweat - get in touch! Email ohwhatsoccuring@gmail.com and we'll expose the ne’er-do-wells.

*Most 'normos' wouldn't give a fuck of course, but why should the rest of us stand idly by as basic intelligence takes a beating?

PR big-boy grins and bears it...

2009-02-13T18:18:00.000Z

It seems that Freshwater UK, Wales's most acquisitive PR agency, has had to rein in its sales projections as a result of the 'reseshun'.

The story in today's Western Mail includes a transcript of Freshwater chief exec Steve Howell's address at yesterday's AGM, where the hack-turned-flack confirmed that the business services sector as a whole is being sucker-punched by the global economic crisis.

Freshwater is one of those agencies that will undoubtedly emerge in a very strong position post-economic apocalypse. By focusing on robust sectors such as defence and utilities the agency is putting in place a pretty resilient safety net.

Wales is full to the brim with PR agencies and consultants who are all vying for a slice, nay a crumb, of the pie. The ones that will succeed are those like Freshwater, who buy their way into vertical industries, or boutique agencies that are so specialist they a) knock out the competition due to their expertise and sector-specific knowledge or b) eventually get bought by Freshwater.

Ubiquitous global calamity hits hacks in Wales...

2009-02-12T19:22:00.000Z

Not-so-breaking-news!

It would appear that funky-haired Insider hack, Kristian Dando, is the latest casualty of the happiness-sapping credit crunch.

A recent post on his alter-ego blog - Napoleon Solo Media - indicates that he is about to be (or by now maybe has been) cut-loose from the Wales Business Insider payroll.

Can anyone confim this?

No doubt Mr. Friedli will be busier than usual without his word monkey to knock out stories in the future...

Welcome...

2009-02-10T21:57:00.004Z

This is 'Oh! What's Occurring?', the new blog for anyone involved with the PR industry in Wales*.

We'll be keeping you up to date with all the latest gossip from PR agencies, in-house practitioners and the press (both indisputable and unsubstantiated).

Got any juicy (or mundane) gossip from PR land? Yes? Then what are you waiting for? Send it to ohwhatsoccuring@gmail.com and we'll publish it for all to see (as long as it isn't libelous of course).

And don't worry, if you want to remain anonymous (and let's face it, all the best sources do) just say so. No informant of ours will have the finger of blame pointed at them, unless they want to of course!

Until next time...

*Well, everyone other than those that are purely focused on consumer PR. No thickos here, please!