Imagine doing PR for this?

Those of us who do PR for a living have good days and bad days.  But on those bad days, it provides great perspective to think about the tough PR assignments that could be on your plate, "but for the grace of God."

My colleague Don Jennings pointed out two last week that gave me a chuckle and reminded me how great it is to represent technology, health care and clean tech organizations.

The first was last month's  Ig Nobel Prizes, which are organized by the magazine the "Annals of Improbable Research" and co-sponsored by the Harvard-Radcliffe Society of Physics Students, the Harvard-Radcliffe Science Fiction Association and the Harvard Computer Society.  Take a look at the great slide show NetWorkWorld put together to showcase the 2012 winners for the silliest research projects, which were actually presented to the researchers at Harvard's Sanders Theater on Sept. 20. 

As Don said, "Imagine having to do PR around any of these?"  His personal favorite, which I agree with, is the literature prize which went to the U.S. Government Accountability Office for a report about reports.  Although, I almost chose the Dutch team's psychology prize for the study that determined that when leaning to the left the Eiffel Tower appears smaller.  That would be a fun finding to pitch, huh?  When they stopped laughing, do you think the reporters would just hang up?

The second is one of my favorite targets (Full Disclosure: I live with Arsenal fans) that I'm glad I'm not doing PR for this week, Liverpool FC.  Imagine this one:  a Liverpool fan who has been a journalist created a fake Twitter feed from a fake character and, of course, spouted off on Twitter about the club and moves it was making.  The communications director (read: PR person) for Liverpool FC got angry about what were perceived as leaks of inside information through this person's Twitter feed and demanded a meeting.  The Twitter author met with the PR person and the latter proceeded to threaten bodily harm if the tweets did not stop. 

So what is a former journalist English football fan to do?  Well, of course, have fun with it and get the word out about the threats.  And the managing director of Liverpool FC was forced to issue an apology.  Fun times in that front office, don't you think?

Well, this has been fun, but I must happily return to the world of cloud computing, virtualization, mobility, unified communication and meaningful use.  More next time.