Instead I’ve got a plan.

More than 2 million children had a parent incarcerated in a state or federal prison in the United States last year, an increase of over 80% since 1991. The following groups could benefit greatly from the myamericanbenefits.com website, Information USA’s data, and Matthew Lesko’s insights on finding funding and free services from the government..  What other groups could use our database of government programs?  Post a link in my comment box. 

Below is a partial list of contacts and resource points.  If anyone can add more, please let me know. Together We Can Help. 

Children of Prisoners Library
http://www.fcnetwork.org/cpl/cplindex.html

“When Your Grandchild’s Parent is in Prison,” AARP
http://www.aarp.org/families/grandparents/raising_grandchild/a2004-09-07-granparents-prison.html

Women in Prison & Children of Imprisoned Mothers:  Recent Developments in the United Nations Human Rights System, Laurel Townhead, Quaker United Nations Office, 2006
http://www.whrnet.org/docs/WiP-Recent-UN-developments-200603.pdf

“Women, Prison and Children,” NOW, PBS
http://www.pbs.org/now/society/womenprisoners.html

“Dignity for Women Prisoners Campaign,” California Prison Focus
http://www.prisons.org/dignity/

Action Committee for Women in Prison
http://www.acwip.net/

All of Us or None
http://www.allofusornone.org/

So Gen Y is having a field day with one of his clients, getting placements and write-ups left and right. They’re crawling out of the woodwork. For what? A service that picks up your dog’s yard deposits. I sh*t you not.

He sends press releases to all of my contacts and they want more. It’s fun! It’s funny! It’s a lowest common denominator lead, with broad appeal and room for a lot of clever metaphors.   It’s like seventh grade out there sometimes as the media looks for more content for the masses, who are interested in… Well, for instance:

His client sells franchises of its poop scoop service, and they organized a clean up the National Mall because of all the complaints and letters to the editor of the Washington Post about the state of the nation’s first lawn -  All of my contacts picked up this story!  Every news affiliate in the DC area – with on air interviews – Washington Post Metro section – Front Page – AP picked it up – it went viral — 160 online news sources. HaHaHa …. What a story.

My release to the exact same contacts on a new government money program evaporated into thin air.  Why? Client overexposure? Too much Free Government Money spam? No one believes anyone any more? Obama’s throwing money at new businesses like it grows on trees – Invigorate the economy – Invest in America… etc. etc.

PR  is being relinquished to GenY without a struggle because they know Social Media! They not only understand blogging, they’re addicted to it. The average 17-year-old spends an average of nine hours each day interacting electronically …. Rather than jumping into the mix, old pros are handing the reins to kids who can barely drive, shaking their heads and laughing … Kids these days…

There’s a stealth war between GenX/Y and Boomers being waged behind the scenes on Twitter, Facebook and the rest. Instead of ammunition, we’re lobbing Google hits. Our handheld portable electronic communication devices have become as necessary as our senses in evaluating the terrain. But in the end, no one can really ever see too far into the distance when there’s too much smoke.

PublicityDay is on a mission to clear the air, but I need help from the other “A List” PR bloggers out there.

I remember working for months trying to place him on Oprah, working with her wonderful producer and staff, but it always fell through at the last minute. We had started to accept the fact that he probably wasn’t going to get on her show. Then one day my two-year-old son was sick with the flu, and it wasn’t pretty.  We had to put him in the shower to make the cleanup process a little easier. The phone rang and my husband took the call, stuck his head in the bathroom and whispered, “It’s Oprah’s producer.”

That was 20 years ago.

It used to be much easier – send out a press release and follow up with calls to editors and producers, and bingo, book a flight.  No more. With the Internet, Email and social media, everyone is pitching something to someone. Victims of this onslaught, media producers can’t take the time to sift through the roiling static for real content, and have instead either closed their shutters or hired fresh-faced novices to text and Twitter all day. Too much clutter! Too much information!  Too many voices.

For some reason, Matthew can’t get mentioned on any blogs, so I’ve dropped 20 pounds, pierced my eyebrow and started one -  great articles, hilarious releases, intriguing content, interviews, breaking news on new government money programs.

Any day as Matthew Lesko’s publicist can get crazy. The man in the question mark suit is unstoppable, and sometimes it’s hard to keep up. Just ask David Letterman.

This is a call-out to other bloggers. I need help with this. I need your input and ideas on what works and what doesn’t. Let’s work this together and follow me as I take you inside doing PR for the Guru of Government Giveaways.

- Deb Samson