another PR fail
Dear PR person,
You hunted down my email address and contacted me recently on behalf of a chocolate company. You generously offered me a goodie bag to give away to my readers and free tickets for a big foodie event.
Following the script for savvy PR companies who’ve done Social Marketing 101 you said nice things about a recipe I’d posted a couple of years ago on my blog.
When I promptly replied to your email with a query about the products, I never heard back from you. It was very polite and directly addressed a question I have for the company you represent.
Maybe you can clear up the confusion around the dairy content of your dark chocolate? With the change of packaging milk products are now listed in the ingredients. From memory this is neither the last in order, nor a case of "may contain traces of.." yet some (brand of chocolate) sources claim the recipe hasn't changed and there is no dairy in it? I'm confused.
But two weeks later I’ve not had a response.
I didn’t mention the event or the blog giveaway because as much as I once liked the brand you are promoting since the labeling changes I have stopped purchasing the chocolate. I have a dairy allergy and it’s just not worth risking the immune system crash that comes with it. But as there are Chinese whispers going on as to whether it contains milk products or mere “traces of” I’d love to clear it up.
So are you only interested in getting bums on seats (or more accurately product placements on blogs) regarding the event or are they genuinely trying to represent your client and promote the brand? I never expected you to be able to answer the question I posed but I did expect you to get back within 24 hours to say you’d forwarded on the email to the client. You might have even done another plug for the event you were promoting.
Surely the idea of using social networks to market a product is about creating a dialogue. You’ve picked up the ball, isn’t it time you learnt to run with it?
Regards,
AOF
You hunted down my email address and contacted me recently on behalf of a chocolate company. You generously offered me a goodie bag to give away to my readers and free tickets for a big foodie event.
Following the script for savvy PR companies who’ve done Social Marketing 101 you said nice things about a recipe I’d posted a couple of years ago on my blog.
When I promptly replied to your email with a query about the products, I never heard back from you. It was very polite and directly addressed a question I have for the company you represent.
Maybe you can clear up the confusion around the dairy content of your dark chocolate? With the change of packaging milk products are now listed in the ingredients. From memory this is neither the last in order, nor a case of "may contain traces of.." yet some (brand of chocolate) sources claim the recipe hasn't changed and there is no dairy in it? I'm confused.
But two weeks later I’ve not had a response.
I didn’t mention the event or the blog giveaway because as much as I once liked the brand you are promoting since the labeling changes I have stopped purchasing the chocolate. I have a dairy allergy and it’s just not worth risking the immune system crash that comes with it. But as there are Chinese whispers going on as to whether it contains milk products or mere “traces of” I’d love to clear it up.
So are you only interested in getting bums on seats (or more accurately product placements on blogs) regarding the event or are they genuinely trying to represent your client and promote the brand? I never expected you to be able to answer the question I posed but I did expect you to get back within 24 hours to say you’d forwarded on the email to the client. You might have even done another plug for the event you were promoting.
Surely the idea of using social networks to market a product is about creating a dialogue. You’ve picked up the ball, isn’t it time you learnt to run with it?
Regards,
AOF
Labels: chocolate, pr fail, social media
posted by GS at 8:10 am
3 Comments:
Noice. No response? Hardly surprising. For every one who asks a question there'd be lots more who'd just jump right on board, no questions asked. Sigh.
Yes, well. I am rawther over being approached to flog shit for free (can I swear here?).
Even the offer of Taste of Melbourne tickets in return for tweeting/blogging about the day irritated the hell out of me a few weeks ago. I mean, it's my personal web log people...sheesh.
Hey, did you get the pineapple one? With the added 'bonus' of the promotion being supported by a - wait for it - Masterchef contestant! I mean, who-hoo!!
(Not.)
Yeah, I hear ya. There's plenty of broadcasting yet almost no capacity to engage/respond, even from the few who have bothered to get our names right.
Lucy you'll have to fill me in on the pineapple fiasco. Most requests go into the trash without reading through to the end.
Cindy LOL what is it about the name confusion? Yup it happens all the time.
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