Today I received an email from The Tyee, an independent news blog here in Vancouver, BC.

It was a pitch of sorts, asking me to check out their new video, and spread the word. It must have worked, because here I am posting about it, just minutes later. Watch the video, then check below for my postmortem of the campaign and pitch:

Pretty entertaining video, especially to those of us in Canada who recognize the antagonists depicted in the short, among them Izzy Asper and Conrad Black. Both are famous for making big bucks while doling out little or no credit (or pay!) to the dedicated folks creating their content. I didn’t laugh while watching the video, but I smiled and nodded up and down several times.

Breaking down the campaign and pitch

The Pitch: Although it was a form letter, the email alerting me to this campaign was addressed to me, and acknowledged the fact that I have commented at the Tyee in the past. The letter also indicated that there was incentive for forwarding it along; a number of different prizes, all in conjunction with the “green” theme, including carbon-neutral goodies and a pair of flip-flops made from recycled tire rubber.

Lastly, since this is to get the word out about The Tyee, the fact that the page containing the video also has a full explanation of The Tyee, its people and its message, one only has to follow this one link to find out everything they need to know.

Ideas for Improvement: A shorter post slug on the campaign page, so it looks cleaner. Plus, I suggest a more personal letter of approach for “blogger outreach,” even though the letter from Editor David Beers was quite good. While I’m at it…The Tyee could afford to cut the word count of most of their posts in half, and increase the number of characters that appear in one’s reader via the feed.

The Verdict

Whoever is responsible for the campaign should be proud of themselves.

Reader, If you’re an American, and the unabashed Canadian sensibility of both the video, the campaign and The Tyee itself has escaped you, then just trust me when I say that this is exactly what our country’s media landscape needed. Tyee, you are indeed “A Feisty One Online.”

*For the uninitiated: “Tyee” (wikipedia entry) is a reference to a large salmon, usually a Chinook, and doubles as a cry when said fish finds itself at the end of a lucky angler’s line. “Tyee! One on!”

While I was in Korea, things seemed to change at a mile-a-minute. Google bought Feedburner, David Meerman Scott shipped the first review copies of “The New Rules of Marketing and PR,” (thanks, I got mine David) and some guy built a Flickr slideshow app that lets you embed a Flickr slideshow, just to name a few.

And while I was still groggy from the jet lag, etc. I made a few changes of my own. For starters, I test-drove the aforementioned slideshow app, see the result here, using some of my Seoul pics:

Created with Paul’s flickrSLiDR.

Also, I’m quietly launching a new site dedicated to my way-too-big ego, using Wordpress, and mapped it to www.jordanbehan.com. The amazing thing is that the whole site cost a mere $18 USD/yr. And it would have been cheaper (package deal for domain and mapping) if I had bought the domain from Wordpress and not Yomamma. I mean, Godaddy. Today’s lesson: for just $15 USD, you can have your own Wordpress blog, including your own domain name. What are you waiting for, world?

That new site will be home to some video podcasts, and all of the rants that I hold back from here. I felt like I couldn’t goof off on the company site as much as I do in general, so the more personal, reflective and downright silly side of me will be published on the new site. I will continue to publish marketing and PR news and tips here, hopefully at a steadier pace than I have of late.

And if I don’t publish a newsletter soon, I might as well board up the shop; I get an average of four or five subscribers a week, and I have neglected them for months. Bad me!

Greetings! Just a quick hello:

I’ll get a chance to upload a lot more photos to the Flickr account (they’ll appear in the feed) upon my return; for now there’s just too much fun to be had, and too many sites to see.

Talk to you again soon!

This is short notice, but I had to inform the world that my wife and I are going to Korea this Sunday, to attend the wedding of my brother-in-law Dan. It should be a lot of fun, but it will mean that I will have limited connectivity until our return two weeks from now.

(Kolorful Korea by Stuck in Customs)

I’ll return with tons of great photos, and a continuation of my Media Training Series, which is being sidelined for the time being in favor of getting work caught up. As promised, a newsletter shouldn’t be far behind that, especially since the news is piling up, and it’s high time I shared it with my database, which still grows in numbers every week.

Anybody in Seoul want to meet for a coffee or some kim bap?

Just a quick post to inform those readers who were curious about the status of our marathon training…my sister Janis and I completed the Vancouver Marathon this Sunday in a time of 3:53:49, over 6 minutes faster than our goal of four hours.

We had been chronicling our progress over at our marathon blog, which is where you can go for the full story. Also, we have already uploaded several photos of the day; if you like you can watch a Flickr slideshow of them (new Flickr slideshow interface!).

Thank you very much for all of the support; the short little posts that I have written about this quest have always received the most comments of any of my posts on any of my blogs. Special thanks to Shane Spargo in Australia, who followed our story from all the way across the world.

Without getting into the specifics of a good press release, PR strategies and all that jazz, let’s skip ahead to the part where you’re about to ring that reporter back for the interview you have scheduled.

Just reminder, we’re addressing a “soft news” approach here, where a member of the print media has agreed to do a profile or article on your company or service, or you’re being cited as an expert in your industry on a topic that is making news. Damage control and strategy are lessons for another day, and should probably come from someone more qualified, like Joe Thornley.

To craft a good story, the writer will need plenty of info to cover the who, what, when, where, why and how. Be prepared for this, and make your responses both factual and forthright. They’ll also be on the lookout for a dynamite quote or two, and it wouldn’t hurt if you thought about that ahead of time. Just make sure that you sound natural and sincere, and there’s a better-than-good chance that you’ll see those words immortalized on the printed page. Believe it or don’t, most writers are looking for exactly that; the perfectly crafted pull-quote to build a story around. Call me opportunistic, but I don’t see any harm in having a few ready, and delivering them at the first opportunity. After all, you’re a professional, and you are prepared.

I should have included this in part one, but here will have to do: If you don’t like a question that you are asked, don’t ever say “No comment.” This applies to radio and television as well. If you can’t talk about it, explain that you can’t and if possible explain why. “No comment” gives the media nothing to work with but speculation, and that’s not going to help you any.

-Bend your mind around this image: a screenshot of Flickr, as seen in a scan of Vancouver’s Metro, in a story about Flickr, borrowed from striatic from…you guessed it, Flickr. 10 points if you can count the number of media involved in this one

Additionally, when it comes to the print media, visuals help a lot. Have a flattering profile shot of you at the ready should someone request one, and if it happens to be for a magazine, make sure it is of decent quality. 200 or 300 dpi will be fine for most.

If they want to arrange to send a photographer, don’t resist but rather be very cooperative. And don’t feel guilty about getting a haircut, wearing your best shirt or mopping the office floor on picture day, either. Be mindful of their (often tight) schedule, too. Arrive on time and be ready to say cheese, or help to stage photos of your shop/product, or whatever is needed.

There’s no need to write pages and pages about this stuff; it really boils down to common sense. The overall theme of this series is simple; the media have a job to do, and if you are cooperative and help to make it easier for them, they are more likely to keep calling you in the future.

Next up is radio. Stay tuned…