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Usually ships in 1 business days | | | | | | This fun and friendly book looks at real-life PR stunts that will blow your mind and inspire you to develop innovative and creative ways to get your company noticed. PR guru Peter Shankman chronicles the most ridiculous, outrageous, and possibly crazy PR stunts of all time—explaining why some work and others don’t. This is a funny, insightful guide to winning the PR game. | | | |
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| | Product Details | | Author: | Peter Shankman | | Paperback: | 211 pages | | Publisher: | Wiley | | Publication Date: | December 05, 2006 | | Language: | English | | ISBN: | 047004392X | | Product Length: | 6.12 inches | | Product Width: | 0.63 inches | | Product Height: | 9.02 inches | | Product Weight: | 0.61 pounds | | Package Length: | 8.9 inches | | Package Width: | 5.98 inches | | Package Height: | 0.87 inches | | Package Weight: | 0.57 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 25 reviews |
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| | Customer Reviews | Average Customer Review: ( 25 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
175 of 187 found the following review helpful:
 Other reviewers must be GOOD friends of the author Aug 30, 2007
By Nunja Bidnet
A piece of "advice" from the author (pg. 54):
"PR for the sake of PR is a waste of time."
Writing a book just for the sake of writing a book is a waste of time for readers seeking ROI on their valuable time spent.
For readers seeking any insight on effective communication campaign operations, look elsewhere.
The content of this book ranged from the banal ("Everything should be a potential media opportunity...as a chance to get more media and more exposure for your client.") to the narcissistic ("...I am known. The media knows me...they know my clients.") with not that much of value for anyone -- industry beginners or salty veterans. At times the author's advice drifted toward the ridiculous. He suggests, for instance, that if you are suffering from a creativity block, take a trip down to the local animal shelter and hang out with stray dogs (no kidding!).
Without fail, his anecdotes cast him as the Maharaja of "out-of-the-box" thinking. I would agree with this self-characterization if the phrase "out-of-the-box" meant mass-produced Bratz dolls from the Walmart shelves after Christmas. His pomposity truly shines through when he describes situations at his firm -- he rarely mentions another name, opting instead to refer to most collaborators as his "employees." OK, it may be true that all of those with whom he's had these experiences happened to be his employees, but the facelessness and anonimity with which he veils others SCREAMS of a self-absorbed man who guards his "turf" at all costs and rarely offers credit and praise to others. Don't mean to play junior therapist, but it is an important note that highlights one of the more annoying aspects of this diary.
The author advises the reader to keep pitches short and to the point (more "original thinking"), yet provides samples of his own pitches that were, to be generous, neither.
His advice on effective headline writing is atrocious. It seemed as though he is hoping all of his competitors read his book and take his advice so he is the only on left in the PR industry!
The following is actually a suggested headline:
ACME COMPANY OFFERS A "DAY OF THANKS" TO LOCAL COMMUNITY FOR RECORD GROWTH AND PROFITS, SIGNS MULTI-YEAR DEAL ON NEW SPACE AND WILL GIVE BACK TO CENTERVILLE'S LESS FORTUNATE ON MARCH 15TH
Yes, I said this is a suggested headline. I'm assuming that the text appearing after "PROFITS" was meant as the deck, but it is not presented as such. Either way, it's a mess. And no, I'm not saying that because it's "different." I'm saying that because it is garbled and just plain awful.
More from the sage:
"Don't be afraid to be different." (Pg. 2)
"If it's not important, it's not worth talking about." (pg. 14)
"If you have something to say, find an intersting way to say it." (pg. 18)
"Don't bore people." (pg. 18)
"Learn to craft a press release that doesn't put people to sleep." (pg. 31)
"To be creative, you have to do different things than you are doing right now." (pg. 50)
"...brainstorming will produce the most insane ideas when you least expect them." (Pg. 86)
"You get one chance to make a first impression." (pg. 89)
"Don't expect. Plan." (pg. 97)
"Whatever you do, don't give up. Don't rest on your laurels." (pg. 103)
"Don't make promises you can't keep." (pg. 168)
Really, it doesn't get any better than this...and I don't mean that in the sippin' Mojitos on a white sand beach sort of way.
66 of 71 found the following review helpful:
Overhyped May 16, 2008
By Dan Cooley
"Dan"
Hi there, after reading some of these positive reviews, I bought the book and I was extremely disapointed. I think was irritates me the most is that these reviews are clearly fake or written by PR friends of the author. I guess working the amazon system is what you'd expect to find from a pr person. Save your money.
73 of 81 found the following review helpful:
Reviews are not to be trusted Mar 23, 2008
By Lo
I feel duty-bound to note that sadly, as seems to be the case more and more frequently on amazon, there is review "fixing" going on for this product. The favorable reviews are featured and presented as "most helpful." However, the only one-star review actually has the most helpful votes AND the most actual information about the book. This review may not have useful information about the book, but neither do the "most helpful." I don't consider "beg, borrow, steal, just get this book!" to be very illuminating as to its contents. Presumably there were other one-star reviews that have been removed. Be aware that the rating is probably not accurate before you purchase.
20 of 21 found the following review helpful:
Shameless Self-promotion Nov 18, 2008
By Toes
Very disappointing. I had hoped for something out of the norm that would make me think in different ways about PR. What I got was page after page of the author's self-promotion. Before buying and reading the book, I had read a number of reviews on Amazon and was convinced enough to buy it. I now agree with a recent reviewer that many of the reviews have to either be from Mr. Shankman's extended family or written by him and filed by his minions. I read this on vacation and will not carry the book home with me. It is not worth the weight.
25 of 28 found the following review helpful:
Can You Buy This Book ?!- Yes, But I Wouldn't (Again) Aug 23, 2008
By Brendon Sinclair
Reading the other reviews I have to think that Amazon sent me a different book!
Absolutely minimal advice, even less takeaways, bordering on banal and tedious.
The writing style is disjointed, ideas are bare or nonsensical and anecdotes are often just plain stupid (3 pages story about a guy who ate too much wasabi???!!).
Incomprehensible to me that it could get decent reviews.
See all 25 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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