PR News Stuck in Abacus Land

Your blueprint for executing high-return digital communications initiatives and managing reputation online. - boasts the lead in the PR News pitch for its first ever Digital PR Guidebook (pdf).  Since PR News does not supply review copies, as is customary in publishing, and they are charging an outrageous $399 for a book that can probably be trumped by a web-savvy junior account exec, I have decided to offer absolutely free PRBlogNews Digital Communications For PRummies (PR Dummies).

It’s ‘digital’ PRummy - Printing a hard copy book on ‘digital’ anything is obviously ludicrous to anybody studying or practicing ‘digital’ communications. Digital strategy changes so often that a hard bound book is obsolete by the time you buy it. PR News does not even offer a digital alternative to the hard bound book - how many trees die for this digital ‘intelligence’?

We’re in a recession PRummy - $399? You can probably find better examples of digital communication strategies and tactics free on the web in one afternoon. You don’t deserve bailout funds if you waste your money like this.

It’s the conversation PRummy - Three days ago PR News sent me an email pitching its $399 paper tome. I emailed the PR News “Marketing Assistant” asking about review copies and an available digital edition. She forwarded me via email to a fellow at PR News “Client Services Department” who emailed back:  “Thank you for your message. For complete information about this publication, including an online order form, please visit http://www.prnewsonline.com/store/7.html.”  No answer there, I emailed back “Client Services Department” for clarification - they still have not responded.

I would like to submit this post to the next edition of the Digital PR Guidebook - slot it in the section on ”How to Pitch a Blog.”

You can’t blame PR News for trying to co-opt ‘digital.’  They just don’t get it - witness the PR News TV video series on its web site, proving incontrovertibly that PR about PR will be always be boring, hedged, and virtually, if not totally irrelevant.

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Dying in the Digital Age

My father-in-law died last week. He was 92 and lived near Brinnon in Washington State. He mostly lived on the same land with his wife Marilyn for more than 50 years, secluded, surrounded by pristine forests, an abundance of wildlife and the magical waters of Hood Canal, part of Puget Sound. 

John Pedersen did not have a computer, he could not comprehend email or the Internet. In his final days he tended his garden, read Tolstoy and The New Yorker and visited with his wife, who also enjoyed nature and shared his mistrust and suspicion of technology.

Now that John has passed, technology keeps his memory alive to those who could not make the trip to his memorial, and far flung family members who lost touch. The days of the simple obituary are gone. John Pedersen’s obituary online in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (P-I) includes a Guest Book, and links to send a gift, share a photo, or leave an audio message.

The obituary service at the P-I is through Legacy.com , specializing in Memorial Websites ”Where life stories live on.” This is a valuable service and a brilliant business. Obituaries are the ‘most read’ section of a newspaper. We are naturally drawn to people’s stories. Self-described as “the Web’s dominant obituary resource and the leader in online memorialization,” the Legacy.com people are also obviously adept at ‘digital public relations.’  Their site includes bios and photos of luminaries who recently died and they create permanent memorial sites for notables such as Bettie Page .