Let’s start with an un-Zen koan: If the public relations industry has poor relations with the public, what is the sound of irony?
We heard from lots of P.R. people in response to my last post, The Problem with Public Relations. Thank you one and all. Quite enlightening. I thought we would take this opportunity to respond. Most commenters fell into two camps: critical of the client (me) or critical of their fellow agents. A few suggested that a P.R. firm got me this blog. Not true. For good or ill, a Times editor is responsible.
The 78 comments (so far) tended to be longer than usual, many coming from professional writers and totaling 14,696 words. Which means the average comment was 188.4 words — not characters, words. So as not to incur the further wrath of P.R. people by truncating their comments, I have selected one comment that encapsulates most of the issues and questions. (Any complimentary comments are dearly appreciated, but there is no need to flash them here.)
The writer of the winning comment goes by the handle of PRGuy, East Coast. (I wonder if PRGuy recommends that his clients who are proud of their messages follow his lead and hide behind an anonymous name in an undisclosed location.) I have inserted my responses along the way.
PRGuy
East Coast
February 24th, 2011
9:26 pm
As a longtime corporate P.R. executive, I’ve seen this story many times before and both sides may be at fault. It’s hard to tell how much either agency is responsible, but it is not unusual for agencies to run up big bills and small results if they’re not properly managed.
Managed by whom? I feel confident you do not mean by the client.
With that said, clients sometimes have oversized opinions of their operation (with egos to match) and don’t understand how they fit into the marketplace and will be perceived by the media.
I’m taking a wild guess here, but by clients with oversize egos, you may be referring to this humble blogger. I may not qualify as an expert, but I am not an innocent. Our proposed status in the marketplace was discussed with and arrived at in concert with our P.R. firms. They told us where we would fit in, not the other way round. They told us how they would accomplish this, not the other way round. Whatever expectations we had came from the agencies, not fantasies.
Worse yet, the clients think they know how to do P.R. themselves. It’s up to the P.R. people to (diplomatically) run interference in these situations. For example, you wanted some stories done before the opening, but did you realize that these stories could have cannabalized your opening day buzz?
Cannibalize my buzz, please. Opening days are overrated and over quickly. Good press lives on indefinitely. Cyberspace has no expiration dates.
Did you also understand that getting such stories too soon before an undetermined launch date could turn into a negative?
You think it might frustrate people? Or tease them? I’d like to take that risk. I just saw a move trailer for a movie coming out next Christmas. I have seen restaurants create a buzz months in advance of opening, and it tends to ignite an anticipation, start a slow build. How could a nice feature be a negative? Content trumps timing.
Did you realize that by doing this blog, you were probably turning off some writers who didn’t want to appear to be glomming information from The Times?
You mean to say that if The New York Times says a restaurant is opening, no one else writes about it? Geez, PRGuy, I see the opposite happening. Besides, what can I do about writers who are afraid to write? Stop writing myself? If most reporters thought that a blog post obliterated all tangential or in-depth or critical articles, an awful lot of stories would never be written. A new restaurant should be reported on. That’s what news outlets do. Report the news. Often in clever and creative ways. I think I think more highly of journalists than you do, PRGuy. And, for the record, the blog preceded the engagement of the P.R. firm. They knew what they were walking into.
And by your tone, you seem to think that your local food concept is somehow unique to the East End of Long Island, when it is not. The food writers all know that and you look naïve if you present your restaurant as something truly new.
You intuit all that from my tone? Big ups, PRGuy, for big ears. I am aware that we are doing nothing revolutionary at Southfork Kitchen. We are just trying to catch up to restaurants in Portland, Ore., and Savannah, Ga. — serve fresh fish caught locally by sustainable methods. What is unique is Long Island, once the bread basket of New York City and still rich in potatoes and clams and corn and wild fish caught off Montauk. Though the East End is dotted with farms and vineyards and bodies of water, surprisingly few restaurants take advantage of this natural abundance. All we ever wanted the P.R. people to do was pass along the facts. The rest is up to us.
As to the name? Well, from the menu, your place looks fairly upscale. Trouble is, there’s a Jamesport Country Kitchen out east that serves great sandwiches and other entrees in a nice, homey atmosphere. There’s a Love Lane Kitchen in Mattituck that’s a notch up from there, but still below the level of your place. I couldn’t agree more about the name. “Kitchen” sounds kind of lowbrow for the prices you’re charging.
One of the best restaurants in Connecticut is called the Schoolhouse at Cannondale. What does that tell you? They serve milk and cookies? We celebrate the high and the low at our restaurant. In New York, there is Bar Boulud and Bar 13 — one upscale, one less so. The Corner Bistro has burgers and Aquavit Bistro has Marcus Samuelsson. Gotham Bar & Grill is a culinary institution and Rudy’s Bar and Grill is a Hell’s Kitchen hang out. Would a rosé by any other name…
Finally (and I could go on and on), why would you expect the P.R. people to go out there and rave about your food before tasting it?
I would not expect that. I would be depressed by that. Please leave the ranting and/or raving to the critics and the public. No one trusts the opinions of P.R. agents when it comes to food — especially the food of their clients. We hire a public relations firm to promote the restaurant, not judge it. Just pass along the indisputable facts. We have to take care of the quality.
There’s an awful lot of good food to be had in the metropolitan area.
True that. I don’t think that stops other restaurants from opening. It might actually inspire more to follow suit. We are 100 miles and one lightyear away from all of that good food in the metro area. The Hamptons is famously not drowning in haute cuisine.
I’d want to taste yours to: 1) see if it matches the wonderful adjectives I’m going to use to describe it, and 2) see if it does have any special attributes that separate it from the competition and which could generate additional stories.
Please do not use adjectives. And please do not pitch us during construction if you need to taste the food first. And please do not tell us that preopening P.R. will make or break us. If your standards are that high, wait until after we open, wait to taste the food, wait until we have a reputation. Of course, you best not promote the next Stephen Sondheim musical until after it opens and receives rave reviews. (Even Sondheim has had some clinkers.) And you cannot plug the next Clint Eastwood movie before you view it and consider it Oscar-worthy. But by then, you will have lost the business. Kind of a Catch-22, huh? Just curious: would you have promoted that book by a first-time novelist before you read it and loved it?
All in all, you sound like a client who needs a good P.R. person desperately, but isn’t prepared to let him/her do the job. You don’t seem to want to listen to what they have to say and you think you know better yourself.
I need P.R., PRGuy. I really do. P.R. can be very helpful. I want to listen. Honestly. I don’t know squat about squadoosh. Except the illogic of saying you are unable to promote the opening of a restaurant before tasting its food — while collecting fees along the way.
I Googled your place and am still not clear on what it’s known for other than seafood (which you can get in so many places on Long Island), a delayed opening and a “stately, dull” name, according to one local news outlet.
Nine months of P.R. and blogging and Web site updating and you are still not clear on what we’re known for? Two conclusions leap to mind: Our P.R. hasn’t been that great and your computer skills are suspect. But more important, maybe being known as a sustainable seafood restaurant is quite enough.
The Newsday writeup on your October launch (a ridiculous time of the year to open a Hamptons restaurant) didn’t even offer an opinion on the place and notes your “me too” position in the local food movement. You do need a PR adviser. The question is: Can you appreciate one?
Our opening was delayed, but it gave us six months to work out the kinks and get everything under control before taking on the spring and summer traffic. As for the brief, uncritical Newsday item, it was lovely P.R. I quote: “Southfork Kitchen … emphasizes local ingredients, from Peconic Bay scallops and Napeague harbor oysters to L.I. sea trout and Lake Montauk clams. The wine list boasts almost two dozen L.I. wines.” Clean, concise, accurate. And you found it.
Wait — here’s another comment from PRGuy.
PRGuy
East Coast
February 26th, 2011
9:05 pm
I’m sorry for butting in here again, folks, but when I see P.R. people being attacked, I have to jump in. The more research I do, the more I’m sympathizing with the P.R. agencies on this one …
When PRGuy sees a P.R. agency in trouble, he takes off his gloves, puts on his cape and turns into … SpinMan! More powerful than a fax machine, able to release tall tales in a single tweet. Look, up in the sky, it’s a word, it’s a campaign, no, it’s SpinMan!
Gives me an idea. Restaurateurs are attacked in public forums every day of the week, and no one is there to rescue them from cruel critics and bloggers with bones to pick. Thanks for the idea, PRGuy. You really are good at this stuff.
And all the more reason to feel blue about cutting off our delightful give-and-take — so essential to good P.R. — but I have to interview some new digital media firms so I can figure out the next best moves, the topic of my next post.
I look forward to hearing from you again.
Bruce Buschel owns Southfork Kitchen, a restaurant in Bridgehampton, N.Y