On the Radar Screen
PR Agency Missteps On Size of E3
If you need help with your taxes, don't call on Bender, Goldman & Helper. In its June 1 press release on the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the firm stated that this year's event spanned 534,000 square feet, or 35 football fields. That's an impressive number, but there's one problem: it's wrong.
The firm failed to resend the press release, even after being notified that the comparison was wrong. Pam Kulik of Bender, Goldman & Helper told PR NEWS that the firm felt it was not necessary to send a corrected version, since the focus of the release was the 11 percent growth of the show.
"We didn't think it was the point of the release," she said. "We wanted people to look at the growth of the sales and attendance."
Kulik said that she did not know where that number came from, nor does she know who originated the number. Unfortunately, the firm realized the mistake after the release went out, she said. Instead of pulling the release, the firm decided to address any calls on the mistake and tell people the number of football fields is closer to nine, not 35.
Although the number is way off base, Kulik said she received only one other call on the issue, which was another reason the firm decided not to resend the press release.
If you didn't catch the mistake, don't feel bad: neither did Time magazine in its roundup article. It was equally impressed with how many football fields the event allegedly covered, which according to our calculations, is 11 - not nine. (BG&H, 310/473-4147)
Nike: Again, Not A Shoo-In for PR
Nike Inc., which has yet to recover from the image tailspin it took over allegations that it ran sweatshops in Asia, is making its way through another image snafu. But this one's not the company's fault.
A rumor that began over the Internet that the company would replace old tennis shoes with new ones if customers mailed them to Nike for its recycling program prompted a PR dilemma. And it's still going strong more than three months after it began.
The Net chain-letter message indicated that the shoes are recycled to produce a substance that's used for playgrounds.
That part's true and Nike grinds about 2 million tennis shoes a year for this community-based program. But it doesn't send you a new pair of sneaks if you donate your old ones for recycling. Sorry.
Since the rumor began in mid-February, the company has been shipped 3,500 cartons of old sneakers, including 400 pairs that came from a school in West Virginia that took on the project thinking it was contributing to a worthy cause.
Nike sends everyone who mails a pair of old tennis shoes a form letter explaining the situation and offers to return his/her shoes. Only about 60 people have taken Nike up on that offer.
Scott Reames, communications manager, says the mix-up has resulted in about 500 calls to Nike's headquarters in Beaverton, Ore., and approximately 50 media queries. To help squelch the rumor, PR staffers have posted a message on the company's Web site, http://www.nikebiz.com, and executives directed corporate receptionists to tell callers that the rumor isn't true. (Nike, 503/671-6453)
Business Moves
- Fisher Business Communications, Inc., Santa Ana, Calif., teams with Encore Marketing to form FBC/Encore. The office will open as an FBC division in Colorado Springs, with a focus on product distribution/channel strategies, market research and trade shows. (Fisher, 714/556-1313)
- News releases in French, German and Italian are available on "Today's News on the Net" on Business Wire's home page: http://www.businesswire.com. Earlier, Business Wire added press releases in Spanish and Portuguese to its archived news. (Business Wire, 212/752-9600)
- Lexis-Nexis has a new service, Lexis-Nexis Statistical Universe, which provides access to U.S. federal, state and organization statistics. (Lexis-Nexis, 937/865-1058)
Tool
MediaMap Releases Guidebook On WSJ Exclusively
If you're willing to shell out $249, you can find out everything you've ever wanted to know about pitching The Wall Street Journal through MediaMap's new "The Premier PR Pitching Guide," which was launched last week.
The guide has more than 400 editor profiles tucked in between 70-plus pages and is based on years of updated research, according to MediaMap's Paul McAleer. The report is an offshoot of the company's business and finance products. The book breaks down information according to the paper's major sections, such as the front section and Marketplace, and provides a laundry list of every one of its offices, even its address in Caracas. If you order by June 30, the guide is $199. Call 617/374-9300.
JobTracker
Don't forget that you may place a Job Tracker ad ($100, prepaid/$75 per listing in PR NEWS as well as sister publications Healthcare PR & Marketing News and Interactive PR & Marketing News. Contact Robert Gaither at 301/340-7778, ext. 2371; fax: 301/340-1451; e-mail: [email protected]. Deadline is 5 p.m. Wednesdays
Notice! PR NEWS will not publish on June 15. Our next issue on June 22 will feature our Salary Survey and Exclusive Guide to Executive Recruiters with an expanded editorial focus on managing your career.