Videoage International March 2018

3 March 2018 My 2¢ While many executives swear by their PR agents, there are always those who feel the need to show their clients how hard they’re working. T raditionally, Public Relations (or PR) professionals are a great asset to any publication — especially for dailies like VideoAge Daily — at international TV markets around the globe. Knowing both time and space limitations, experienced PR execs know to send press releases that are succinct and don’t have to be extensively rewritten because they understand that if any given release requires too much work on the part of the journalist working on the Daily, it will probably be pushed aside in favor of another release that’s less time-consuming. At trade shows, good PR agents are also fantastic at setting up quick photo ops for their clients (and/or their bosses) with photographers, knowing that neither of them have time to waste in such a time-demanding environment. Yet while many execs swear by their PR agents, there are always those who feel the need to show their clients (or their superiors) how hard they’re working, resulting in several unnecessary communications simply to set up a brief interview or a fleeting photo op. Still, they ultimately manage to get the story done and published. However, these agents are nothing compared to those who think and act like lawyers — billing for their time. (Indeed, never invite a lawyer to lunch. You’ll end up paying for both lunch and his/her time spent eating said lunch.) One example occurred at NATPE in Miami Beach this past January. Among the several conferences, seminars, and keynote presentations, VideoAge spotted an interesting session that, unfortunately, was going to take place on the last day of the market — not a publication day. In an attempt to remedy this, VideoAge Daily contacted the executive scheduled to be at the podium that day to see if we could set up a short interview — as usual, no more than 15 to 20 minutes — anytime in the days prior to the conference. The executive then instructed his outside PR firm to arrange for a meeting at NATPE. Communications with his company’s PR agent began on December 8, and ended on January 5 (just 10 days before the trade show started), with a final question paraphrased as: “Is anyone else featured in the story [of the executive’s] keynote presentation?” But let’s start from the beginning to demonstrate how PR agents with the clock-up time mentality can kill a story, thus doing a disservice to their clients. The first thing to understand is that an executive decides to speak at a conference, not because he or she likes divulging his or her company’s secrets, but for brand or personal exposure. So when the first approach from a designated PR firm is to ask if the picture VideoAge intends to take on the floor is “just a headshot,” we all know where the conversation is going to end up. And indeed, six days later, came the first request, here p a r a p h r a s e d : “Could the floor photo be replaced with a provided headshot?” Of course we said no, because the concept of a daily is to convey the immediacy of the news. The reply was not swift, coming 20 days later on January 3: “We will let you know if it is possible to take a photo on site.... Do you have a special room set up [for the interview]?” Now, over the years VideoAge has interviewed hundreds of top-level executives face-to-face at industry events — including Rupert Murdoch, Silvio Berlusconi, Roberto Marinho, Emilio Azcarraga Jean, and Ricardo Salinas Pliego, just to name a few — but that was the first time, in our 37-year existence, that a special room set-up was necessary. Of course, there is always a first time for everything. And there are always PR reps who can kill a story. But ultimately, VideoAge decided to drop that article and instead go after a similarly interesting and less time-consuming story. Dom Serafini PR professionals can make or kill a story. Here’s a minute- by-minute account of how a story was killed by one clock-timing PR agent. MAIN OFFICES 216 EAST 75TH STREET NEW YORK, NY 10021 TEL: (212) 288-3933 FAX: (212) 288-3424 WWW.VIDEOAGE.ORG WWW.VIDEOAGELATINO.COM WWW.VIDEOAGE.IT P.O. BOX 25282 LOS ANGELES, CA 90025 VIALE ABRUZZI 30 20123 MILAN, ITALY EDITOR- in -CHIEF DOM SERAFINI EDITORIAL TEAM ISME BENNIE (CANADA) ENZO CHIARULLO (ITALY) CARLOS GUROVICH LEAH HOCHBAUM ROSNER SUSAN HORNIK GLENN HOULIHAN AKIKO KOBAYACHI (JAPAN) LUIS POLANCO DAVID SHORT (AFRICA) MARIA ZUPPELLO (BRAZIL) PUBLISHER MONICA GORGHETTO BUSINESS OFFICE LEN FINKEL LEGAL OFFICE ROBERT ACKERMANN, STEVE SCHIFFMAN WEB MANAGER BRUNO MARRACINO DESIGN / LAYOUT CLAUDIO MATTIONI, CARMINE RASPAOLO