10 Things Brand Link Communications Could Do That Would Be Better Than Whining on Twitter
Background: first, go read Jenny the Bloggess’s post and laugh. Unless you’re one of the 2 million people who has already read it.
Now check this tweet from the PR agency involved:
Waaah! Poor them! My black little blogger heart is bleeding!
They should learn basic damage control 101 – the only way you’re going to get people to forgive your BIG mistake is to 1) Apologize profusely 2) Say you’ll never do anything so stupid again 3) Tell us what you’re going to do to ensure it never happens again and 4) Show us you’re human.
I have some suggestions to address point #4 above. (Most of these will make sense only if you read Jenny regularly. Otherwise, as you were).
1. Post a photo of a large metal chicken at their door, with them cowering, peeping out a window.
2. Post a photo of a large metal chicken at their door, with them coming out with their hands up.
3. Make t-shirts that say “Bloggers are relevant” on the front. “Very, very relevant” on the back, with their PR company logo underneath.
4. Fire Jose (wait, did I say that out loud?)
5. Make Jose come to BlogHer and parade around in a pair of Daisy Dukes with the Karhashian’s (sic) favorite nylons on.
6. Post Jose’s new business cards with the title “PantyJose” on them (h/t MochaMomma).
7. Post photos of themselves collating paper. And holding string.
8. Make a trophy with the inscription “Most Relevant of Them All” and send it to Jenny.
9. Make a large faux-stone sculpture of the word RELEVANT and photograph Jose crushed underneath it.
10. Do anything besides whine about bullying.
PS I got a very nice note from Carol Bell, who runs the agency. Apparently the bullying has gone beyond fooling around on twitter and has included death threats and other idiocy. I’m sorry for that (wasn’t me!). I love fooling around on the internets and making jokes and carrying memes to their most absurd extreme, but I hate that it can turn ugly.
I’m not going to take this post down, though, both because Carol said it made her laugh and because I still hold out hope for seeing Jose in a pair of Daisy Dukes at the next BlogHer.
But be nice, people. Don’t make me turn this car around.
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Suebob's Red Stapler 
The LESSONS THAT NEED TO BE LEARNED? Like NOT calling someone a “fucking bitch” in an email? Because that person replied to an email with a link that was intended to be humorous? Has BrandLink said anything about the repercussions for Jose? Like, was he fired? Or is “fucking bitch” part of their relevant message to bloggers? I know, so many rhetorical questions, but BrandLink needs to shut it and take the lumps they have coming to them.
I do think they have mangled this thing pretty badly, including misuse of commas in every single tweet.
I think the only “repercussions” seem to be #PantyJose losing his company twitter account. According to BrandLink Partner Carol Bell, “Jose is a very well respected publicist and beloved by so many in the media”. via their FB page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/BrandLink-Communications/148743778492300
This cannot be Jose’s calling. Maybe something in law.
The thing is Suebob — you are bright and you have a great sense of humor. Those two things are lacking by those in power at BrandLink
Blushing and waving my fan: oh, goodness, you are TOO kind.
“Bullying” are they serious? Their PR rep circulates a email addressing Jenny using profanities & they’re in open stream crying about being bullied? Unreal!
“Bullying” is the new catchall term for whenever someone annoys you.
BrandLink calling anybody out for bullying is like the pot calling the shiny, polished gold ring “black”.
BGTW, I’m a fan of Option #2.
~EdT.
It sounds like they are just sorely, sorely lacking in humor. If they would have laughed off a photo of Wil Wheaton collating, NONE of this would have happened. Basically, it sounds like they are spammers who spam bloggers with press releases and expect the bloggers to be grateful for it.
Jose needs not to be in PR
And I thought that I wasn’t a people person! He takes the cake!
Carol Bell said Jose Martinez has apologized to Jenny but he posted a comment on her blog saying “I just got calls from 4 clients praising my defense of their brand. Ill be fine. But thanks for making me so important. Xoxo”
Doesn’t sound like he’s sorry at all.
And the fact he has had a similar email run in with a blogger (Perez Hilton) before makes me think this will not be the last time.
Brandlink Communications is now calling people bullies. I feel bad for their clients. It can’t be easy to realize they are retaining a PR firm that doesn’t quite get it.
A good PR firm should be better at, well…public relations, no?
This is the best response I’ve seen to this fiasco. These would have turned them into a hero, especially the chicken ideas. Every time my wife sees a metal chicken she says, “Knock knock mother ………”.
Brilliant post, they need to hire you!
Carol did say in her email that she thought some of the ideas were great. Maybe giant metal chicken billboards are in the future.