Zippy PR from Cold Calls
June 4, 2004
Cold calling is tough, and calling a journalist is even tougher, because we tend to hang up very fast when we hear a PR person on the line. But today I want to praise a PR person, because she has been so persistent--and cheerful--despite my footdragging.
Kristi Hlaing plugs a a me-too product. SnapZip compresses files and folders into Zip files, just like WinZip. SnapZip extracts stuff from Zip files, just like WinZip. SnapZip costs $39.95, marked down to $29.95, compared with a free trial version of WinZip, purchasable for $29, with a lot of different site licenses available. SnapZip is at Version 1.0 and WinZip has matured to 9.0. Against these odds, Kristi presses on, undeterred.
SnapZip does offer one interesting wrinkle. In compressing graphic files, it offers to shrink the resolution to 72dpi, reducing the size of the file even more, labeling the file "reduced" so you don't accidentally overwrite your much bigger original. Nice touch. But that little extra hardly counts as a Unique Selling Proposition, as Proctor and Gamble calls it.
The best thing the vendor, Winferno, has done is hire Kristi. Through her personality and conversation alone, she got them this mention.
She works for PR-Vantage, a glitzy high-tech PR firm. You know the kind. They have a black-on-black Flash intro, and all their menu items are black on grey--very fashionable, but not very usable.
Like a video game, the options only become visible when clicked--you have to explore to find out what kind of content is available.
Come to think of it, PR-Vantage is lucky to have a real human being working for them--someone who can actually talk to reporters.
10:10:01 AM 
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