Pitch and Make-up
Posted by Peter Himler on July 31st, 2006
Wow! A triple-espresso of a publicity coup! Steve Perlman and his team at Contour, the new digital effects company, must be celebrating today’s front page troika in The New York Times
“Business”, Wall Street Journal “Marketplace” (by sub. only) and San Jose Mercury News
Here’s the bad: I bet John Markoff, Nick Wingfield and Dean Takahashi, the premier SF-based tech reporters for The Times , Journal and Merc News, respectively, were none too happy to see each other scooped so prominently on the same story. Of course, I’m only speculating on whether the PR reps for Contour fully disclosed what other outlets intended to coronate the new company. (For their sake, I hope so.)
BTW - When disclosing what else is “in the works” editorially, I would advise against giving a reporter the exact name of the rival publication. Just as the reporter would not want you to disclose his or her editorial plans, you should not reveal the competitor’s. Instead, go with “a national daily newspaper,” or something that provides enough specificity to satisfactorily avoid any surprises.