The Tyee: Great Video, Decent Pitch
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!”
