Rupert Goodwins' Diary

Friday 5/9/2003
OK - that's the end of Rupert's PR Masterclass! I hope you've enjoyed this brief refresher course, and are ready for that pre-Christmas push into the party season (and special thanks to Virgin Mobile for the first festive invite. Hey, doesn't that summer heatwave seem a long time ago?).

In no particular order, the companies concerned were: Microsoft, IBM, BT, Apple. Match them to their faux pas, email it in and the first right answer wins a rare and special gift -- I (the journo) buy you (the PR) a beer. Thrillingly perverse, eh?

Not to say that many other smaller companies and their PR agencies aren't capable of acts of genius -- we particularly like the press release from companies that the PR says lead their field but we've never heard of. It's even better when the release itself is five paragraphs of dense jargon that never mention what it is the company does, who it does it for or why we might care.

We also like press releases from research companies that say things like "enticed by increasing customer enthusiasm, vendors continue to overhype their capabilities", which we think means companies promise more than they can deliver in order to get the contract. Blazingly obvious and densely incomprehensible: both good.

Keep 'em coming!