I absolutely love this post as it rings SO TRUE to me. I worked in fashion journalism for seven years, before swapping over to beauty. I had many, many conversations like the above - including the "I'm busy, can you email me?" which made me want to throw the phone on the floor.
When I moved to beauty, I was so shocked about how much friendlier the beauty PRs and other jounalists were (i was used to shooting evils across the catwalk, not socialising with one another!)
(nb: I do have some lovely PR friends from my fashion days so this doesn't apply to everybody!)
I worked for a big national and my rule was that if people were rude, they got blacklisted for a while. They always came back to me - I guess when their manager asked why they weren't getting coverage.
Methinks Anonymous is one of those PRs. *chuckle* Even if he/she does have a tiny point. Very tiny mind. No excuse for being rude. Buuuuut, that's the fashion industry. Get yourself a titanium camisole to repel the slings and arrows.
so true,reminds me of my very brief foray in the world of fashion PR and why i very quickly side stepped into beauty. As a 21 year old i was terrified of colleagues (and journalists!). Beauty peeps are so much nicer. :-) @veritycash
Hi British Beauty Blogger, I love your blog...Its their loss, they don't realise how much influence online bloggers have. People through away glossy magazines and newspapers but the net is here day and night with billions searching for trends.
With so much competition out there and less advertising budgets they should jump at the chance to have some publicity.
This is so true, I work in fashion journalism and I've had many of these exchanges in my time! My favourite is when they say they're too busy to speak to you, so you email, then they never reply, so you call to chase said email up, only to get "I'm really busy, can you just forward the email again?"....Great. We should really name names, it might eb the wake up call they need.
You're insane.. these Fashion PR people are not being rude. Those are legitimate answers. I agree with ANONYMOUS.. do your research before contacting these people. I would be upset, too.. if someone called asking for an item I didn't even represent... why would you waste anyone's time like that?
You are correct in your misunderstanding Anon...what I should have added to the post is that in fact, the agency is still listed in our industry 'address book', The Diary Directory as representing the brand which is why I phoned them in the first place. Generally I would expect an answer such as 'sorry, we're not looking after X brand anymore, but we can give you the number of the brand to find out who is'. Or even, 'we aren't looking after X brand BUT we do look after Y so can we help you that way?'. I think a phone slam isn't really any kind of way to represent yourself, your agency or your brands and isn't at all what PR - that's 'public relations' is about. Anyhow, hope that's cleared it up.
I think it depends on the manor in which they are useing it for example the "Ill give yur our agency addres........." may have been spoken in a polite tone, with the PR genuinly thinking they have been helpfull.
12 comments:
This is terrible!
I second beauty PR folks are angels by far!
Oh my gosh! They're so rude! O_O
I absolutely love this post as it rings SO TRUE to me. I worked in fashion journalism for seven years, before swapping over to beauty. I had many, many conversations like the above - including the "I'm busy, can you email me?" which made me want to throw the phone on the floor.
When I moved to beauty, I was so shocked about how much friendlier the beauty PRs and other jounalists were (i was used to shooting evils across the catwalk, not socialising with one another!)
(nb: I do have some lovely PR friends from my fashion days so this doesn't apply to everybody!)
I worked for a big national and my rule was that if people were rude, they got blacklisted for a while. They always came back to me - I guess when their manager asked why they weren't getting coverage.
Too funny. And sadly true.
It sounds like you need to do a little more research before calling them. Old season stock, wrong PR company, not knowing clients etc.
Methinks Anonymous is one of those PRs. *chuckle* Even if he/she does have a tiny point. Very tiny mind. No excuse for being rude. Buuuuut, that's the fashion industry. Get yourself a titanium camisole to repel the slings and arrows.
so true,reminds me of my very brief foray in the world of fashion PR and why i very quickly side stepped into beauty. As a 21 year old i was terrified of colleagues (and journalists!). Beauty peeps are so much nicer. :-) @veritycash
Hi British Beauty Blogger, I love your blog...Its their loss, they don't realise how much influence online bloggers have. People through away glossy magazines and newspapers but the net is here day and night with billions searching for trends.
With so much competition out there and less advertising budgets they should jump at the chance to have some publicity.
Keep up the great work!!
Keep naming and shaming.
Natasha
The Trusted Beauty Guide
This is so true, I work in fashion journalism and I've had many of these exchanges in my time! My favourite is when they say they're too busy to speak to you, so you email, then they never reply, so you call to chase said email up, only to get "I'm really busy, can you just forward the email again?"....Great. We should really name names, it might eb the wake up call they need.
You're insane.. these Fashion PR people are not being rude. Those are legitimate answers. I agree with ANONYMOUS.. do your research before contacting these people. I would be upset, too.. if someone called asking for an item I didn't even represent... why would you waste anyone's time like that?
You are correct in your misunderstanding Anon...what I should have added to the post is that in fact, the agency is still listed in our industry 'address book', The Diary Directory as representing the brand which is why I phoned them in the first place. Generally I would expect an answer such as 'sorry, we're not looking after X brand anymore, but we can give you the number of the brand to find out who is'. Or even, 'we aren't looking after X brand BUT we do look after Y so can we help you that way?'. I think a phone slam isn't really any kind of way to represent yourself, your agency or your brands and isn't at all what PR - that's 'public relations' is about.
Anyhow, hope that's cleared it up.
I think it depends on the manor in which they are useing it for example the "Ill give yur our agency addres........." may have been spoken in a polite tone, with the PR genuinly thinking they have been helpfull.
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