Jon Fine has been covering consumer magazines and newspapers for
Advertising Age since the summer of 2000. His pieces usually run in
the first few pages of Ad Age -- considered choice real estate for
the Crain Communications' weekly -- and also appear frequently on
the publication's front page. Fine covers the heavyweight consumer
publishing groups, from Condé Nast to Wenner Media, as well
as the major newspaper lords like Dow Jones Co., Gannett Co. and
The New York Times Co. Although Ad Age is one of the most widely-
read trade titles covering the marketing and advertising fields,
Fine says he still gets his share of inquiries from PR executives
who just don't get it.
Fine's bugaboos with PR pitches:
- When you're clearly unfamiliar with Fine's beat, bent or
publication. Fine covers the waterfront concerning magazines and
newspapers. But between the pages, space is finite. "If someone is
reading Ad Age, they should know that I generally cover the big
consumer magazines titles and on occasion I'll cover regional
titles...But space is tight." If there's a unique hook, Fine is all
ears, but beware of pitching any titles that may be too marginal
for his beat. - Telephone calls asking -- ad nauseam -- if Fine has seen the
e-mail or received the fax with a PR pitch. "It's not unusual for
me to get 20 unsolicited telephone calls a day from PR people," he
says. "There are only so many hours a day, and if I responded to
every [inquiry] it would easily cut an hour out of my reporting
time." A piece of advice: After the initial pitch, give Fine at
least half a day to respond. - A pain in the neck. "Trying to steer me into the swivel seat -
that is, between PR pro and executive, thus requiring me to whip my
head in Direction A or Direction B when spoken to at breakfasts and
lunches." In this situation, Fine feels as if he's a ping-pong
ball. He would rather the pitch come directly from just one person,
which makes for much better use of his time.
What works: Access, Access, Access. Fine understands that in the
self-absorbed universe of consumer magazine publishing he may have
to go through a couple of gatekeepers to get the top publishing and
marketing executives. But don't make him jump through 17 hoops to
nail down the right source. If he's sent from PR pillar to PR post,
he's less inclined to speak to the person, he says, "and there's
less room [in the story] for color and texture."
Contact: Jon Fine at [email protected]