Sources, Make Sure You Have Something to Say

Here are two bits of advice to all you nice public relations folks who call in to The Station: 1) The Station prefers email. 2) When you have a client who wants to comment upon other news within a particular IT sector, please make sure the company spokesperson has something to say.

A competing e-discovery company called me this morning after Iron Mountain announced it was acquiring Stratify, an e-discovery software vendor, for $158 million, offering some industry perspective. The call went something like this:

The Station: “Well, how does this acquisition affect your company and the market in general?”

Marketing exec: “There is no immediate impact on our company, since we have different customer sets.”

The Station: “Oh well, then, that’s great. What’s the significance of this acquisition to the market?

Marketing exec: “We’re not sure. We know as much as you do about the news.”

The Station: “Um, fair enough. We’ve seen a trend in larger companies buying smaller companies in this space. Is that what you’re seeing?”

Marketing exec: “Yes.”

The Station [clearing throat]: “Hey, man, thanks for your time. We’re done here. Have a great day.”

Sheesh.

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Double sheesh on this next item. This doesn’t have to do with storage, but I couldn’t help passing this on, it’s so absolutely ridiculous.

A third-grade girl writes to Steve Jobs with some praise and an idea for improving the iPod. Three months later, she gets a response from Apple’s legal department, which gets all high and mighty with her: We don’t accept unsolicited ideas, don’t write to us again, and read the legal policy on our website if you have any more questions. Harrumph. The girl runs off to her room, and slams the door.

Her parents are miffed, saying that Apple tries to paint itself as the “educational” computer company, yet discourages kids from using their brains on a project. Who’s running the PR show there in Cupertino? Off with his/her head!

Even though Mark Aaker, Apple senior counsel, called the girl and apologized, Apple’s PR people still have a fire to put out here. Good luck, Apple Scruffs.

Here’s the story — including a short video — from the Sacramento, Calif., TV station website.