Are You Kidding Me, GSN?

Thanks for sending me a fully-inflated vinyl chair to promote your new Saturday Evening game shows. Oh, and the matching 32 oz. cup with witty ingredients showing how fun your shows will be. Oh, and the DVD and the press release.

And I’m sure the confused FedEx guy is happy with you, too. Wait till he finds out you sent this to one reporter (me) who doesn’t cover television or entertainment (or work for a publication called “Multichannel News,” or spell his last name with an “e,” but hey, you got the street address right). Or for that matter, that you sent a second one to someone who is no longer with the company!

So how much money did you spend to FedEx these things to us, and will it generate any sort of ROI? Or will it just cause business writers to live with a vinyl stench in their cubes and nod their heads in disbelief?

Let this be a lesson, public relations gurus. If you’re going to try to create excitement within the media by sending big, silly packages to the press, do your homework. Update your contacts first. Don’t waste precious promotional dollars sending these things to people who no longer cover your industry, or don’t even work there any more.

Now excuse me while I go back to opening all these books written by marketing gurus that I’m never going to read or review, but were sent to me by some hopeful public relations folks hoping to hit one bulls eye in the world of business reporters (and probably spent a lot less mailing them via media mail through the USPS)…