Remember before mail merge?
The days before mail merge. Ah, it was all so simple then. Today, though, I get sent this sort of thing:
Dear Mrs Whittle
Please find below details of UK bridge teacher xxxx who is currently in Botswana teaching various parts of the game to the Botswana Bridge Federation. On xxx's return we would be interested in writing about his unique experience in Whittle, Sally, including some interesting facts/information on bridge.
Many thanks for your consideration and I look forward to hearing from you if this is of interest. Our press release is below.
Kind regards
xxxx
Communications Officer
Apparently, this one was sent out to lots of other well-known publications including Gordon, Olivia and Thomas, Kim...
SO BIZARRE, IT IS ALMOST ENCHANTING.
I think I am going to set up a Google alert for "Botswana Bridge Teacher" to see if this story ends up ANYWHERE on the planet earth.
Good one.
REG CROWDER
http://www.RegCrowder.com
Posted by: REG CROWDER | May 22, 2008 at 09:39 AM
Probably not mail merge... Vocus (or media disk).
The evil programme that allows 300 people to be mailed the exact same story with one minor change.
Because there's apparently not enough time to call 5 people the PRs send out 100 by mail and hope to get it on print-a-crappy-release.com.
Scattergun... don't you just love it.
Posted by: rob ashwell | May 22, 2008 at 11:06 AM
Shocking, but just think, it could have been worse. I still get emails with scores of addresses dumped in the 'to' box, lazy saps not even bothering to find the 'bcc' field!
Re: the story - clearly this is a case for Precious Ramotswe....
Posted by: Carole Scott | May 22, 2008 at 09:12 PM
Speaking as a journalist-turned-PR person, things like Media Disc can be hellish (odds are that's what was used for this) and the amount of times it's out of date - you would be as quick just going and phoning to find out who to contact.
Posted by: Craig McGill | May 28, 2008 at 11:17 PM
Thanks for commenting Craig - I'm totally in agreement. I think media databases are a useful starting point but automating media relations hasn't exactly gone hand in hand with an increase in quality...
Posted by: Sally Whittle | May 29, 2008 at 02:18 PM