Commentary

New York's SIX 22 Wins This Month's Idiotic Press Release Award

When a press release about an ad agency launching a blog opens with the question, "Why is there no healthcare marketing specific blog?" what do you think a good reporter does first? He heads to Google and searches for "healthcare marketing blog" because every good reporter knows there is no longer such a thing as first, best or only. And what does a good reporter find when he heads to Google and searches for "healthcare marketing blog"? A healthcare marketing blog with a post containing...wait for it...a list  of 25 top healthcare marketing blogs. The reporter then scratches his head and asks, "WTF is this press release all about? Didn't the PR whiz perform this simple search prior to writing a press release for New York based healthcare marketing firm, SIX22, which leads off by asking the aforementioned question?
    Making matters worse the PR hack cobbles together a quote from agency CEO Jason Newman which reads, “Our blog brings a totally new dimension to the blogosphere and gives us the opportunity to get important information out to doctors, nursing home administrators and others in the medical world." A totally new dimension? Oh really? Perhaps SIX22 ought to head over to that list of 25 healthcare marketing blogs and doing a little reading before making such a bold statement. 
     Actually, we probably shouldn't be surprised by this press release at all. It's the same agency who sent out a press release last week to let the ad world know that Thanksgiving and Hanukkah fell on the same day this year as an excuse to prattle on about the agency's "leading team of marketers" who "work around the clock" with "a strong focus on referral generation, business development and reimbursement maximization."
     Please stop. No, wait. Don't. We love writing about buffoonish behavior!

Layoffs are not a thing we hear much about these days. And that's a very, very good thing. After all, we certainly don't want another economic nosedive. But alas, layoffs do happen. Sometimes we hear about them. Sometimes we don't. And sometimes they're not called layoffs at all. Rather they are given fancy names like restructuring and right sizing. As if we all don't know that's just code for people getting fired. Anyway, Hill Holliday has cut a few staffers affecting less than 2% of the agency's Boston-based office. The layoffs are being dubbed a strategic restructuring.

We love TBWA\Chiat\Day but have always despised their use of the "backwards" slash. I mean, come on. I understand that every agency wants to be different but having to type that "\" every time we write about the agency is, well, a pain in the ass. So if you don't mind, we're going to do a bit of lazy cutting and pasting for this item. TBWA\Chiat\Day LA has hired Rohit Thawani as the head of digital strategy. Rohit will work with TBWA\Chiat\Day LA and DAN LA clients including Pepsi, Nissan, adidas, Google and the Grammy’s. Rohit will report to Chief Strategy Officer, Nick Barham. Prior to joining TBWA, Rohit was a lead strategist at 72andSunny where he worked on Google Ad Arts. Before moving to LA, Rohit was a lifetime New Yorker. He spent three years at BBDO NY as Digital Strategy Director working with clients such as FedEx, Mars Chocolate and Lowe’s Home Improvement. Rohit also worked in digital media for five years at MediaVest, where he championed creativity in the digital space and led digital efforts for Coca-Cola’s strategic properties including the Super Bowl, American Idol, NASCAR, NBA, NCAA and the Olympics. The dude is a rock star!


In a recent Avidan Strategiessurvey of 1,850 CMO's, Wieden + Kennedy was named the top agency with 66% of voters dubbing the agency their favorite. W+K was followed by Droga5 with 36% of the vote and Grey was third with 34% of the vote. Rounding out the top 10 were BBDO, Ogilvy, The Martin Agency, Leo Burnett, CP+B, Goodby Silverstein & Partners and Publicis.

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