of coz after every event, a PR practitioner (with extra time to follow-up with calls or emails instead of impatiently waiting for mentions and articles to come out somewhere) will spend the same amount of time “checking on/with” a journo (as much as a blogger) to report to the client on event coverage, even as a courtesy call. kenny and any other persons not used to the PR clogs on their backs will see this as pressure to deliver.

“new” or old media reps shld be treated the same: with respect and courtesy.

i believe it’s a mixture of how bloggers demand to be treated “the same/on par” with journos; how they mistake being invited to go to events as being “so cool”; journos being generally skeptical of self-appointed/publically well-received *writers* will be doing as professional a job as they do and how some clients dont place as much emphasis on bloggers etc.. throw a very hard situation for those involved to manoeuvre.

expecting and handing out money are typical habits of lazy ppl who believe in shortcuts in life, esply in PR. let’s leave that to the advertising ppl.

If you don’t entertain the bloggers, they may do the same. The bloggers are liable to show up for five minutes, eat the food, ask a few questions so they can fill in quotes for an article that they’ve already written, earn the bragging rights, and then leave.

If a member of the press does get special treatment, it usually isn’t the one that writes the article. It is the news director, the spouse of the advertising manager, or the GM. None of these people actually create the content that is broadcast.

I think it is kind of dumb when bloggers think they need to be treated like celebrities. Heck, I think it is dumb when celebrities think that they need to be treated like celebrities. But I imagine that stroking the ego of a certain type of blogger ego might help further the aims of the ad agencies. So what if the blog post focuses more on the “helicopter ride” than the product? The end result still made people think about the brand of the helicopter.

My team and I do not, and will not, talk shit about anyone who did not blog about our events. I don’t see why we should. The fundamental purpose of us inviting bloggers (aka the key influencers) to our events is to expose them to our brands and hopefully, affect them enough to want to talk about us, either on or offline. Anything else as a result is a bonus.

I do understand what you mean by PR agencies sometimes expecting free publicity with each invite. While we do not expect every blogger invited to talk about our event, I have to admit the blog posts do affect our KPI. For example “For every 10 bloggers, X blogged about the event“. We have reports like that to churn for each event. So yes, it does matter to us.

That is not to say that we demand blog posts. We certainly do not fancy forcing anyone to blog about us, especially if they don’t wish to. We’re sappy romantic mutts, in that sense. We don’t fancy arranged marriages. We like the idea of having someone fall in love with us.