I thought I had read somewhere that Virtual Press Offices (VPOs) had ceased to be popular? I only ask as I have just encountered one… and boy, was it unpleasant.
I wanted to get some library shots from John Lewis Partnership for a client’s newsletter that I’m writing.
When I eventually found their press office contact details via Google, nothing was accessible without registering for their VPO and being vetted as a bonafide journalist. Try it!
Even though I’m not a card carrying member of the NUJ I still registered and then put in a phonecall to request some pics.
Now I thought that in the world of journalism ‘putting a call in’ was a tried and tested method of communication… only, after I had explained to the press officer what I needed and why I needed it, she paused and then asked if I could put all that down in an email. Slightly defeated I wondered: ‘doesn’t this defeat the point of phoning in my request…?’
Anyway, pics duly arrived yesterday afternoon and this morning I receive an email re. my VPO registration telling they are “having a few problems finding the publication” for which I work. I email back saying that is probably because it is a member’s newsletter and all I wanted were some library pics of John Lewis stores to illustrate a short piece about a forthcoming conference.
They offered me short-term authorisation to the VPO. I said fine, but that would of course mean I wouldn’t have ongoing access to good John Lewis stories which I could then write about in the newsletter. End of correspondence (so far).
The reason for my rant is that blogging is a tool to simplify communication, allow/encourage feedback, and enhances transparency.
Nothing like that can be said about John Lewis’s VPO. It gave nothing away publicly until they had verified by email or VPO registration who I was and the publication for which I worked.
This, I think is slightly ironic. John Lewis are using the internet as a key PR tool when in fact all the communication benefits of doing so are completely ignored.
No wonder VPOs are dying out….. Thank goodness!
I had thought registration had died out in the 1990s (very web 1.0) but evidently not. First, journalists won’t bother. Second, who’s a journalist? (your experience).