PR Grouch: PR things that make you smile, even though they shouldn’t

 10th September 2013    PR Guru 

I have just heard that the new agency our ex-client has appointed is doing a rubbish job and has created a campaign that has bombed. That really cheered me up.

Here are other events that may bring a smile to your face, although you know they really shouldn’t:

1. The nightmare boss you had that once made your life a misery has been fired. And they don’t want him to hang around for the notice period.

2. A trade magazine whose journalists are always insufferably rude has folded. Let’s see how their attitude changes now!

3. Your biggest rival in business is having to announce cutbacks. Oh dear …

4. That full-of-themself celebrity who always refused to give interviews is now being interviewed against their will. By the police. I can think of several Bollywood stars who fit this profile.

5. You run into an ex-colleague who landed the dream job you were after. And they have got horribly fat.

6. Your ex-wife’s new husband is poorer, shorter, balder and much less charming than you (so you hear). Although, that does beg the slightly uncomfortable question – what has he got that you haven’t?

7. You go into a pitch and catch your potentially new client having a laugh about the “ridiculous” people who pitched just before you. That's a shame.

8. You go to a party with a friend from school and one tactless guest keeps going on about how they can’t believe you were in the same year. Apparently you look so much younger.