A Case of Trick-or-treat PR: TMG Strategies (Updated)



2009 November, 1st
Mihaela Lica
Mihaela Lica
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It’s no longer a secret that mommy bloggers across the USA have received new Chevy’s to “test-drive” for four weeks and blog about their experiences – for example as part of the Mid America Chevy Dealer’s “Mommy Madness” promotion – a campaign brilliantly conducted by Velocity Marketing.

Other Chevy “reviews” make the Google front page every day; undisclosed as “sponsored,” as you expected, but there, nevertheless.

Now TMG Strategies, one of the PR forces behind General Motors, is also in charge of some of the 2010 Chevy Equinox blogger outreach, but their job is not as easy as Velocity Marketing’s. TMG’s pitches are unprofessional at best. The following was addressed to popular bicycle activist Chris Baskind:

Because you are a green parent I thought you might be interested in an opportunity to experience one of General Motors’ green and family friendly vehicles, the Chevrolet Equinox.

Chris did not disclose the name of the PR who sent the pitch, but if I were the boss at TMG I would investigate and fire that person. Approaching a key influencer with a wrongful pitch is detrimental for the reputation of the PR company that does it, and for the reputation of the PR profession as a whole. Never mind that no car can possibly be green (maybe “greener”) – thus the pitch is misleading – but trying to “buy” a bicycle advocate?

This is a classical example of PR pitch gone wrong, and here are the points, summarized:

  • The PR consultant who wrote it never researched the background of the blogger she approached. Chris Baskind is indeed a “green parent” and sure, he could be interested in testing “greener” cars. But he is a bicycle advocate and the proof is all over his sites. Lesson number one: read a few articles by the blogger you want to approach before sending the pitch.
  • Do not use misleading statements in the pitch. Chevrolet Equinox cannot be green, as no car can ever be green, not even the hybrids. The correct term is “greener” or better “environmentally friendly” – but none applies to the 2010 Chevy Equinox anyway. Or were they talking about the color of the car? Clearly, the term “green” in the pitch was inserted to appeal to the blogger. A mommy blogger could fall for such a trick, not many women know much about direct-injection engines and emission levels.
  • A wrong pitch, sent to the wrong influencer is detrimental for both PR company and its client. General Motors never describes the Chevrolet Equinox as “green” in its literature, but TMG’s blunder gives the impression that GM is trying to sell the automobile as such.

Online PR is not an easy venture – it’s actually more difficult than traditional PR because it attempts to influence citizen journalists to carry on a publicity message. PR pitches gone wrong are one of the scariest trends of the industry. Chris is not the first A-list blogger to complain about unprofessional PR. Lois Whitman of HWH PR/New Media was called “out of touch” and “crazy” by the folks at TechCrunch, precisely for sending out wrong pitches and unprofessional messages. If you want to learn why journalists hate PRs, look no further than Forever Amber, and Blunt thinks that all PRs should die precisely because he received too many unsolicited pitches.

This story reveals precisely why PR is now, more than ever, regarded so negatively. Whether this is a sign of the desperation of a dieing company, or a combination of two “hurting” industries forced together in unprofessional and ultimately futile effort, or not, is only part of the story. It has never been appropriate to subversively engage – for the purposes of instigating collusion – so divergently opposed an entity (in this case a staunch environmentalist) with such a ploy. The issue in this case? Social outreach and “real time ” transparency being what it is, reveals even the most minuscule insinuation of impropriety. PR can not much longer ignore the potentially damaging effects of inappropriate outreach. In short, no viable PR company should endeavor to buy out the good guys.

Update: the first paragraph mentioned TrizCom as campaign manager for Mommy Madness. The article was updated with the correct information: the AOR for the brilliant “Mommy Madness” campaign is Velocity Marketing. TrizCom was in charge of media relations.

About the Author

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Mihaela Lica is senior partner at Pamil Visions PR and editor at Everything PR. She is a widely cited authority on search engine optimization and public relations issues (BBC News, Force for Good, Reuters and others), with an experience of over 7 years in online PR and SEO. Mihaela writes for SitePoint, Search Engine Journal, and other online publications. She also maintains a personal blog called eWritings. Follow Mig on Twitter or send her an email at mig [at] pamil-visions [dot] com.

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There Are 11 Responses So Far. »

  1. Comment by Kristen on 1 November 2009:

    I saw your post. The reason we reached out to Chris Baskind is because in the recent past he had written about vehicles.

    http://lighterfootstep.com/2008/11/green-up-your-car-before-holiday-driving/

    http://lighterfootstep.com/2009/03/weekend-project-get-a-tune-up-for-your-car/

    http://lighterfootstep.com/2009/03/are-you-changing-your-cars-oil-too-often/

    In response to our outreach he wrote us the following:

    “First: thank you. This is a cool offer … But I have to decline, and I’m going to write about turning the offer down. It won’t be a hostile piece. I’m obviously on a TMG influencer list of some sort, and that makes me feel good. Here’s why I can’t accept. I’m conducting a rather public experiment in carfree living. This has been going on about four months, and it’s a lot of fun. You’d be expecting a review of the Equinox on one of my sites, and that doesn’t work for me right now …”

    [Portions indicated by ellipses have been redacted by the Editor at the request of the original author.]

    I hope this sheds light on the topic. The intent was open and transparent. Our blog outreach strategy never includes blind or mass pitching. Did we not realize that on another site that he had started to write about this experiment? Yes. And for that we said this;

    “Thanks Chris and totally understand your reasoning. Good luck with the experiment. Look forward to reading your post.”

    We were simply hoping to spread the word about a product we believe in to someone who has written about vehicles – and “greener” vehicles in particular in the past. I hope all will understand there is no intent to do anything other than to openly share what we believe is an outstanding product that gets great fuel mileage. While his car free experiment may work for him, for most Americans a vehicle is a part of getting to work, caring for kids and loved ones.

    I hope you will reconsider your strong words.

    Kristen

  2. Comment by Mihaela Lica on 1 November 2009:

    Kristen, this article is based on the article Chris published about your pitch. His was not a hostile piece, indeed, but negative and in being so, it reflected upon TMG a different light than intended. Can you tell me, in all honesty, that he was the right blogger to approach? You didn’t address the “green” part about the Chevy either. It’s a small detail that makes all the difference.

    I don’t feel that I am using strong words in the article, although I am being emphatic. The reason is that I am tired of people calling PRs scam artists and propagandists because some of us pitch the wrong people at the wrong time. Did you read some of the articles I linked at? There is a general misconception about our profession and pieces like the one Chris made public don’t help. The way you addressed him was wrong too, and he caught you:

    “Ah, yes: Since I’m a green parent, they’d love to send a new car over for me to try. I’m thinking it has more to do with the fact that I run this site, and also Lighter Footstep.”

    I think the best approach is to first establish a relationship with the blogger and then to “pitch.” This is certainly very difficult and time consuming, but the rewards are amazing.

  3. Comment by Chris Baskind on 1 November 2009:

    Thanks for the mention, Mig.

    In fairness to TMG: I wasn’t offended by their pitch. It just doesn’t work for me, since my car (an aging Chevy) has been gathering dust in the driveway since spring, and I’m conducting what may end up being a permanent experiment in carfree living. The purpose of my article wasn’t to shame either TMG or Chevy, but to make the point that cars really aren’t green. The green thing is to have fewer cars on the road, and that’s going to require some substantial investment in multimode infrastructure here in the States. We’re way behind you folks in Europe on this count.

    I get *terrible* PR pitches: sometimes several a day. I totally agree that PR companies should spend some time carefully vetting bloggers before approaching them. The process takes less than 10 minutes.

    Start by searching for the blogger’s social media connections (Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, at the least). Make sure you know all the blogger’s active publications. Use the site search tools or Google and scan a few keywords closely related to your pitch. This would have knocked me out of consideration for the Equinox promotion, since I’ve recently blogged about being carfree. Do a general Google search for the blogger’s name and that of your client. See if they have expressed unduly hostile opinions about the brand or product you represent. These things should keep PR firms out of trouble most of the time.

    But as I said in my article, I was actually pleased TMG thought I was worth approaching. Though I disagree that any car is truly “green” (and I’d like to see more careful language in this respect), the pitch was polite and ethical. It just didn’t make sense for me right now, or for my readers.

  4. Comment by Mihaela Lica on 1 November 2009:

    Well Chris, since I am a long time reader, and I know everything about your car-free living, I personally felt that GM is trying to buy one of the good guys. :) I think many of your readers felt the same – and I know this is not the message you were trying to convey, but people are very cautious when PRs approach them. I am sure the pitch was polite and ethical, TMG is a respected company. However, it was not truthful. As you said, and Kristen pointed out in her comment, they chose you because you wrote about cars at Lighter Footstep and not because you are a green parent. As for the Chevy being green, or even “greener” I cannot agree at any point. Greener than what? The car just has direct-injection engines, with better fuel economy and reduced emission levels at low load. How low do you load a family car? Selling Chevy as a “greener” car is misleading in my opinion. I mentioned in the article that GM never labels this car as “green” or “greener” in its literature, and I strongly believe that for its PR company to do so is a mistake.

  5. Comment by Phil Butler on 1 November 2009:

    Hi Chris, Playing the devil’s advocate, or the devil one, perhaps this statement reveals “why” you got the offer to try the all new, spanking Equinox [from the Latin aequus (equal) and nox (night)]:

    “This would have knocked me out of consideration for the Equinox promotion, since I’ve recently blogged about being carfree.”

    Playing mean ole Phil here for sec. These people are not stupid, they may be evil, but they know how to target like a sniper. So, now I can go back to being Mr. Nice guy, just wanted to interject that.

    Always,

    Phil

    PS … why couldn’t they name the thing an Equidiem?

  6. Comment by Phil Butler on 1 November 2009:

    Hi Kristen,
    Thanks for stopping by. I took a look art the links you provided, taking note that they were all about oil changes? Did you guys run some kind of metric which filtered out all Green Bloggers with even the slightest inclination to write about something automotive? Or Google search for people who blogged about changing their oil? Or perhaps people who are involved in the green movement who might consider being a Mommy Blogger, or changing their oil? Sorry, a little tongue in cheek is necessary for me at the moment.

    I know there is no way anyone there even considered looking at a list like this http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top_35_environmental_blogs.php and shooting off a pitch to them? Hey! Chris is there! Hey, here is a list with some CAR people in it! http://www.doshdosh.com/environmental-blogs-you-can-read/

    I am just thinking of the audacity of approaching a green guy who gave up cars, perhaps expecting a PR bonus with a title like; “Bicycle Man Converted to the All New Chevy Equinox.” Any way, publishing the man’s email here in the comments is bad MOJO in my view. I know my colleagues out there are glad to good riddance that I do not publish theirs. Just some thoughts, maybe you could address them? :) I did not even use strong words either.

    Always,
    Phil

  7. Comment by Elodie on 2 November 2009:

    The case of PR reaching out to traditional media was about two businesses working together to make money. Even though there are some bloggers who simply want to make money, the vast majority of bloggers blog because they love the subject they’re writing about.

    Also, the individual’s reputation is on the line instead of an overhead company they work for. That leads to more knowledge and a higher standard for affiliating with companies and their products.

    Elodie
    Slim Girl Diary

  8. Comment by Matt Keegan on 3 November 2009:

    I’m afraid so much of what passes for PR today is just plain dumb.

    This entire “green” movement is irritating as it plays on environmental fears, nay of which are exaggerated or misplaced, to market a product. Certainly, the Equinox gets very good gas mileage & it has a cleaner burning engine, yet it still emits harmful emissions like virtually every car on the road.

  9. Comment by Lois Whitman on 5 November 2009:

    I liked your story that mentioned my name. I think you shed some light into the future PR but you didnt go far enough. I would be interested in your thoughts about the steps a company should take to get their name out or some message across. Like or love PR people, they are not going away. What are the new rules?

    Feel free to call or email me. I have no problem with a changing environment.

    Thank you

    Lois Whitman

  10. Comment by Mihaela Lica on 5 November 2009:

    Thank you so much for stopping by, Lois. To be frank, I didn’t like at all the article where the TC gods slandered you, calling you names – a low class blow! Are these the people trying to teach PRs a lesson? No, but unfortunately they are powerful influencers and it’s in our best interest not to feed them. You see, TMG’s was a small error – other PR companies get away with worse. What bothers me is that instead of acknowledging the mistake, they go on rambling about transparency and publish without permission correspondence with the blogger. Who are they trying to fool?

    The new rules? :) We do plan to release a whitepaper related to this subject next week. I’ll let you know when it’s out – send you a complimentary copy with the request not to distribute it to anyone else. (It will be available for a fee on this site – free copies will be sent to a limited number of colleagues.)

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