Media in the Worcester Mayor’s office is a shit show

Seriously, over the last few weeks I’ve been getting hammered with press releases from Mayor Konnie Lukes’ office and they just don’t make any sense. The only thing that makes less sense than the releases themselves is I can’t find any actual members of the press in the city who are receiving them. Check out this latest message received about an hour ago:

from Racicot, Mary RacicotM@ci.worcester.ma.us
date Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 10:45 AM
subject FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - MAYOR LUKES ANNOUNCES…
mailed-by ci.worcester.ma.us

For Immediate Release:
Worcester, MA
Wednesday, August 27th at 3pm
Mayor’s Office
City Hall – Room 305
455 Main Street
Worcester, MA

Mayor Lukes announces a new collaborative venture in the City of Worcester.

Mary C. Racicot
Press Secretary ~ Office of Mayor Konstantina B. Lukes
City Hall ~ Room 305 ~ 455 Main Street ~ Worcester, MA 01608
508.799.1153
racicotm@ci.worcester.ma.us
P Think GREEN before printing this e-mail

Really? That’s it? An announcement of a yet to be announced, announcement? Someone is actually getting paid to mail me this shit?
Last week I received three identical messages “For Immediate Release: Mayor Lukes helps fill backpacks for city children!” The first line of which read:

Postponing the start to her vacation, Mayor Lukes will be in Southborough on Friday morning to help fill backpacks donated by Mohan Nannapaneni, a businessman with a passion for education.

Wow. You postponed the start of your vacation, for us proles? How thoughtful, your Shrillness.
We may be doomed fellow Worcesterites, enjoy the ride and complimentary hot dogs. Last one out please hit the lights.

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Post by: Brendan | August 26, 2008 | Filed Under The Big Woo, media 

Comments

2 Responses to “Media in the Worcester Mayor’s office is a shit show”

  1. Mike on August 26th, 2008 10:52 am

    I’m not on this list, but I get forwards from it sometimes, and it puts me in mind of this Seth Godin post:

    Nobody says, “That Yo Yo Ma, he’s so self-promotional,” or, “can you believe what a self-promoter the Dalai Lama is?” That’s because they’re not promoting themselves. They’re promoting useful ideas. They’re promoting tactics or products that actually benefit the person they’re reaching out to.

    This is something I tell people who run websites all the time, but they have a hard time understanding it. You can’t write post like “I and my organization are important to YOU” and make any headway. You have to post things, or do things, that actually *are* important to people.

    Or it’s like the old adage about writing: “Show, don’t tell.” The mayor’s e-mails are all tell, no show.

  2. Tom (lincoln) on August 26th, 2008 11:07 am

    This is a City that thought the Mayor taking a walk was front page news, what do you expect?



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