Recently, Las Vegas restaurant "Dirt Dog" hosted a "Bluey" themed event that was open to the public. As expected, it yielded a strong turnout from families and kids that love Bluey. However, the guests were deeply underwhelmed by the whole event as the character itself wasn't authentic, long lines, slow service, and a myriad of other issues. This left many of the children incredibly unhappy/disappointed and the restaurant received strong condemnation from those who attended despite issuing an apology.
This is not different for PR/Marketing. Expectations are at an all time high for our industry and we are frequently asked from CEO's, executives and sales teams to issue a press release or pitch a story that they're excited about. However, (as i've seen many of my peers mention lately), reporters simply aren't going to cover something that's not news worthy and a press release could potentially cause unintended embarrassment or agitate customers, if press leading up to a product launch doesn't meet the mark.
So, when you're having discussions with the company you support or your leadership team, set realistic expectations and discuss the unintended consequences of moving forward with an announcement cement or pitch. Talk about tangible alternatives that can satisfy their requests until you're truly read to do a media campaign.
How do you handle this with your client or company? What are you best practices for this type of scenario?
#pr #communications #marketing #pressreleases #mediarelations #pitching #consumers #expectations #leadership #sales #bluey #vegas #restaurants #b2c #b2b