Comments on: Brodygate: The Great PR flub of 2009? Hardly. http://cometbranding.com/blog/brodygate-the-great-pr-flub-of-2009-hardly/ Comet Branding Blog is dedicated to being a platform for progressive branding, marketing, public relations and social media. Milwaukee Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:48:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: A Week in Bad PR: Object Lessons from the Dark Side | Marketing and Public Relations Blog http://cometbranding.com/blog/brodygate-the-great-pr-flub-of-2009-hardly/comment-page-1/#comment-2077 A Week in Bad PR: Object Lessons from the Dark Side | Marketing and Public Relations Blog Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:25:40 +0000 http://cometbranding.com/blog/?p=1823#comment-2077 [...] parts Bad and Galactically Stupid. A PR Agency gets caught in SpamGate, blasting everyone the same pitch. The error compounds as the email basics of CC, BCC and Reply All [...] [...] parts Bad and Galactically Stupid. A PR Agency gets caught in SpamGate, blasting everyone the same pitch. The error compounds as the email basics of CC, BCC and Reply All [...]

]]> By: Charlie http://cometbranding.com/blog/brodygate-the-great-pr-flub-of-2009-hardly/comment-page-1/#comment-2071 Charlie Sun, 23 Aug 2009 15:43:18 +0000 http://cometbranding.com/blog/?p=1823#comment-2071 Couldn't this all have been avoided had Beth just ADMITTED her mistake as soon as she realized it (which would've had to have been very early in this process)? I'm sorry but anyone worth their weight in PR knows that if you don't handle a scandal quick enough, it will handle you. I now have a lack of respect for this Beth person (though I don't judge her character on the whole, necessarily) because she sounds like a coward who is willing to allow an entire ship to sink to avoid being called out. It sounds like Beth sucks at PR. If you can't handle your own PR, what the hell are you doing charging other people to handle theirs? Couldn’t this all have been avoided had Beth just ADMITTED her mistake as soon as she realized it (which would’ve had to have been very early in this process)? I’m sorry but anyone worth their weight in PR knows that if you don’t handle a scandal quick enough, it will handle you. I now have a lack of respect for this Beth person (though I don’t judge her character on the whole, necessarily) because she sounds like a coward who is willing to allow an entire ship to sink to avoid being called out.

It sounds like Beth sucks at PR. If you can’t handle your own PR, what the hell are you doing charging other people to handle theirs?

]]> By: Could humor have saved Brody PR? http://cometbranding.com/blog/brodygate-the-great-pr-flub-of-2009-hardly/comment-page-1/#comment-2067 Could humor have saved Brody PR? Fri, 21 Aug 2009 22:41:16 +0000 http://cometbranding.com/blog/?p=1823#comment-2067 [...] Brody PR opted for a weak apology which they posted verbatim in the comment sections of several blogs. All it did was further [...] [...] Brody PR opted for a weak apology which they posted verbatim in the comment sections of several blogs. All it did was further [...]

]]> By: Beth Brody http://cometbranding.com/blog/brodygate-the-great-pr-flub-of-2009-hardly/comment-page-1/#comment-2066 Beth Brody Fri, 21 Aug 2009 21:17:10 +0000 http://cometbranding.com/blog/?p=1823#comment-2066 Hi Al, Thanks for encouraging me to have a social media presence. I have compiled all the valuable advice I was given and posted it here so that others can learn from my mistake, http://brodypr.blogspot.com/ Regards, Beth Brody Hi Al,
Thanks for encouraging me to have a social media presence. I have compiled all the valuable advice I was given and posted it here so that others can learn from my mistake, http://brodypr.blogspot.com/
Regards,
Beth Brody

]]> By: David Spark http://cometbranding.com/blog/brodygate-the-great-pr-flub-of-2009-hardly/comment-page-1/#comment-2065 David Spark Fri, 21 Aug 2009 16:09:22 +0000 http://cometbranding.com/blog/?p=1823#comment-2065 Yep Al, you hit all the issues I hit as well. I think it comes down to the fact and this hasn't changed in a while that people feel more comfortable attacking people via email then they do in a face to face conversation. For all the people who said negative things in "Reply to All" and also via blogs and Twitter, I'd be interested if they'd have the cojones to say it to her face. Here's my full take on Brodygate. Social media "gurus" and bloggers are egotistical jerks http://www.sparkminute.com/?p=915 Also, if you want a real PR fail story, read this one. It's a two parter where the client comes in with a completely obtuse move at the end. Hey PR, bloggers are not tools to be used http://www.sparkminute.com/?p=497 UPDATE: Bad PR experience story. PR firm’s client is obtuse. http://www.sparkminute.com/?p=514 Yep Al, you hit all the issues I hit as well. I think it comes down to the fact and this hasn’t changed in a while that people feel more comfortable attacking people via email then they do in a face to face conversation. For all the people who said negative things in “Reply to All” and also via blogs and Twitter, I’d be interested if they’d have the cojones to say it to her face. Here’s my full take on Brodygate.

Social media “gurus” and bloggers are egotistical jerks
http://www.sparkminute.com/?p=915

Also, if you want a real PR fail story, read this one. It’s a two parter where the client comes in with a completely obtuse move at the end.

Hey PR, bloggers are not tools to be used
http://www.sparkminute.com/?p=497

UPDATE: Bad PR experience story. PR firm’s client is obtuse.
http://www.sparkminute.com/?p=514

]]> By: Al Krueger http://cometbranding.com/blog/brodygate-the-great-pr-flub-of-2009-hardly/comment-page-1/#comment-2064 Al Krueger Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:16:15 +0000 http://cometbranding.com/blog/?p=1823#comment-2064 Jacob, more great points. Thank you. It is interesting to consider what the big brand implications would have been (or could be). I wonder though, if people would have been more of less accepting if it was a big brand. Do bloggers/journalists put up with bad pr if it's from a big important brand? Do they allow the ends to justify the means? Out of all of this, it is clear that the industry is changing and fewer of us are willing to let people get away with doing bad pr. In the same way, maybe we should all take a moment to highlight good pr when we see it or experience it. We learn from the bad...and the good right? Thanks again for your contributions. Be well. Jacob, more great points. Thank you. It is interesting to consider what the big brand implications would have been (or could be). I wonder though, if people would have been more of less accepting if it was a big brand. Do bloggers/journalists put up with bad pr if it’s from a big important brand? Do they allow the ends to justify the means? Out of all of this, it is clear that the industry is changing and fewer of us are willing to let people get away with doing bad pr. In the same way, maybe we should all take a moment to highlight good pr when we see it or experience it. We learn from the bad…and the good right? Thanks again for your contributions. Be well.

]]> By: Jacob Morgan http://cometbranding.com/blog/brodygate-the-great-pr-flub-of-2009-hardly/comment-page-1/#comment-2063 Jacob Morgan Fri, 21 Aug 2009 01:16:33 +0000 http://cometbranding.com/blog/?p=1823#comment-2063 Can you imagine if the client would have been a large brand such as Dell or Best Buy? I feel bad enough for the poor author that is now being bundled in with this horrible mess but it's still small scale compared to what would have happened to a large brand. Above all I think the industry needs to realize that it's changing, which I think it's still trying to figure out. I have to step up and get angry about this because people are robbing me of my time. That and it's just how I am :) Thanks for including my blog in yours Can you imagine if the client would have been a large brand such as Dell or Best Buy? I feel bad enough for the poor author that is now being bundled in with this horrible mess but it’s still small scale compared to what would have happened to a large brand. Above all I think the industry needs to realize that it’s changing, which I think it’s still trying to figure out. I have to step up and get angry about this because people are robbing me of my time. That and it’s just how I am :)

Thanks for including my blog in yours

]]> By: @sternalpr http://cometbranding.com/blog/brodygate-the-great-pr-flub-of-2009-hardly/comment-page-1/#comment-2060 @sternalpr Thu, 20 Aug 2009 20:13:04 +0000 http://cometbranding.com/blog/?p=1823#comment-2060 Hi Al, I certainly appreciate your thoughts on this. No doubt it's a tough one, and one I honestly do struggle with since I'm a PR professional and try to defend the practice as much as possible. That being said, my blog is all about helping small businesses understand the right (and wrong) ways of doing their own PR and marketing. 98 percent of the time my posts are of a positive nature educating the small business person the right way to do something. On a rare occasion I also feel it can be an equally educating experience to illustrate how we should not go about doing something. Understand that my audience WANTS to do PR but most likely does not know how. By showing the right and wrong ways I'm hopefully increasing that entrepreneur's chances of getting good media coverage. That being said, although I did not reach out to Ms. Brody I also made sure to avoid "blasting" her, too. I even went as far as saying she may very well be a wonderful PR professional who happened to use poor judgment on one particular day. It certainly happens to all of us at some point (yes, all of us). Nonetheless I certainly wanted to take the opportunity to help people learn from it, not blast Ms. Brody. John Sternal http://UnderstandingMarketing.com Hi Al, I certainly appreciate your thoughts on this. No doubt it’s a tough one, and one I honestly do struggle with since I’m a PR professional and try to defend the practice as much as possible. That being said, my blog is all about helping small businesses understand the right (and wrong) ways of doing their own PR and marketing. 98 percent of the time my posts are of a positive nature educating the small business person the right way to do something. On a rare occasion I also feel it can be an equally educating experience to illustrate how we should not go about doing something. Understand that my audience WANTS to do PR but most likely does not know how. By showing the right and wrong ways I’m hopefully increasing that entrepreneur’s chances of getting good media coverage. That being said, although I did not reach out to Ms. Brody I also made sure to avoid “blasting” her, too. I even went as far as saying she may very well be a wonderful PR professional who happened to use poor judgment on one particular day. It certainly happens to all of us at some point (yes, all of us). Nonetheless I certainly wanted to take the opportunity to help people learn from it, not blast Ms. Brody.

John Sternal
http://UnderstandingMarketing.com

]]> By: Al Krueger http://cometbranding.com/blog/brodygate-the-great-pr-flub-of-2009-hardly/comment-page-1/#comment-2059 Al Krueger Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:15:44 +0000 http://cometbranding.com/blog/?p=1823#comment-2059 Jacob, thank you for coming by and expanding on your point of view. I have to say, I agree with you. I've tried to have a balanced view of the situation, but you are right. I have also wondered what the impact has been and will be on the book their client is promoting. Sadly, this isn't a singular event. I mentioned in a earlier reply-comment that I looked back in my email history and found two other emails from Brody PR....neither of which was addressed to me. So, I'm going to hazard a guess that we all received that pitch as well. I guess she didn't mix up the CC/BCC fields that week. Beyond these points, I do admire how you stepped up and got angry about this situation. Maybe our industry needs more self-policing and exposure of the shops that are dragging us into the muck. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Jacob, thank you for coming by and expanding on your point of view. I have to say, I agree with you. I’ve tried to have a balanced view of the situation, but you are right.

I have also wondered what the impact has been and will be on the book their client is promoting. Sadly, this isn’t a singular event. I mentioned in a earlier reply-comment that I looked back in my email history and found two other emails from Brody PR….neither of which was addressed to me. So, I’m going to hazard a guess that we all received that pitch as well. I guess she didn’t mix up the CC/BCC fields that week.

Beyond these points, I do admire how you stepped up and got angry about this situation. Maybe our industry needs more self-policing and exposure of the shops that are dragging us into the muck.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

]]> By: The PR snafu heard round Twitter | ID Tags http://cometbranding.com/blog/brodygate-the-great-pr-flub-of-2009-hardly/comment-page-1/#comment-2058 The PR snafu heard round Twitter | ID Tags Thu, 20 Aug 2009 18:46:52 +0000 http://cometbranding.com/blog/?p=1823#comment-2058 [...] over twitter and the Web today we’re hearing the tale of a PR Pro that made the mistake of cc-ing several bloggers and journalists instead of bcc-ing [...] [...] over twitter and the Web today we’re hearing the tale of a PR Pro that made the mistake of cc-ing several bloggers and journalists instead of bcc-ing [...]

]]>