Anant's blog: Of PR and PR disasters

I have a number of close friends in the PR industry and I keep hearing of how difficult the business is becoming. Margins are at rock bottom, especially since the last few years have witnessed a mushrooming in the number of PR “agencies”. Amazingly, large brands, too, look only at price rather than on the quality of the delivery, making life difficult for the ‘good’ agencies.

I have a number of peeves against the PR industry in India – and let me list my pet ones:

1. They have no clue about the client they handle
2. They have no clue about the category the client’s business is in
3. They have no clue about my magazine
4. They have no clue on basic etiquette
5. They have no letter-writing skills
6. They have no clue about English grammar, spellings, capitalisation, punctuation and parsing and clauses

I must underline that my sweeping generalisation is not intended to cover all the agencies and consultancies – but it does cover most agencies and consultancies.

I received a gem of a release last evening, and, for reasons best known to the sender, I received it six times. I’m reproducing the entire mail (without the name of the sender) and the entire release. It’s worth a read because it’s almost a microcosm of all that can go wrong in the PR business. I must underline that not a single word has been deleted, not a single spelling corrected, etc. It’s reproduced verbatim – except for the name and contact details of the worthy who sent it to me - so that you might extract the maximum pleasure out of the masterpiece:

First, the mail:

Hi Sir/Ma'am

Greetings for the day!

Please find here enclosed a press release on  Cocoberry introducing Taste Green ice tea in the flavor of strawberry and green apple with New Food Menu at Cocoberry outlets.

We shall be in touch with you to take things further.

Please feel free to call me at my mobile no + XXXXXXXXXX or email at:  XXXXXXXXXXX for any QUERY.

With thanks & regards

And now for the release itself:

Taste Green ice tea in the flavor of strawberry and green apple with New Food Menu at Cocoberry

With the introduction of high quality healthy food & Yogurts, Cocoberry—India’s first premium frozen yogurt chain is all set to offer its guests choice of Ice tea as a new option from this month onwards with their New Food Menu. In addition to its popular frozen yogurts, Cocoberry announced the introduction of delicious and wholesome Green Ice teas in flavor of strawberry & green apple on their outlets. The new menu is introduced at all its locations.

“Our traditional offering—frozen yogurt has served us well for a long time. However, we need to keep on adding menus to reflect today's market and customer preferences and needs. The introduction of the new menu is a step in that direction,” informed Mr. GS Bhalla , Managing Director, Cocoberry Retail Pvt.Ltd.

The New Food Menu includes Grilled Jambo Sandwich, Grilled Pita Sandwich, Apple & Feta, Ensalada, Tomato & Basil soup, Mediterraian Veggi, Roasted Chicken Sandwich, Paneer Tikka Wrap, Chiken Tikka Wrap, Tofu & Veggie burger, Chicken Burger, Penne Arabitta and Shish Touk Roll. With the introduction of the new menu, Cocoberry is looking at serving those customers, who are looking for new choices to keep them going without compromising on price, convenience, taste or quality.

Apart from frozen selections, Cocoberry has delicious and wholesome veg and non veg sandwiches in their menu with pita and brown bread sandwiches. You can also enjoy Cocoberry combos with sandwiches and smoothies in most affordable prices. And for all you health freaks, Cocoberry has recently opened up a 'healthy breakfast' option on customers' demand which opens by 9 am and has so far received a great response. Don’t miss your chance to take part in this Health Revolution.

In addition to the new flavor, Cocoberry has now added fruit purees in exotic toppings. You can choose from Peach, Mango, Banana, Mix Berries, Raspberry, Passion Fruit and Strawberry. Other than this Cocoberry will introduce Dark Chocolate Sauce, White chocolate Sauce and Caramel Sauce. Relish the taste of yogurt with these delectable sauces.

Cocoberry is India’s first premium frozen yogurt chain. It offers a mouth watering palette of all natural fruit flavoured frozen yogurt. You can select from fresh fruit toppings like Blackberries, Raspberries, Blueberries, Dragon Fruit, Strawberries, Cocoberry, Pineapple, Pomegranate, and Kiwi or from a wide array of dry toppings like Mini Oreos, Almonds, Gummi Bears, Marshmallows, Captain Crunch, White and dark Choco-Chips, Snickers, and Dark Chocolate Sprinkles. What’s more is that you can even put your creativity to work and create your own work of art, customized to your liking! 

EnjoyCocoberry!Come Show Your Love!!! Cocoberry Outlets: