The problem with going to the pub with clients is that when they get drunk you get to hear what they really think of you. And sometimes it isn’t nice. One client has gone even further, and emailed me this list of why he thinks some PR agencies are like bugs! Although he was at pains to point out that our agency is a fairly harmless bug and is only as bad as the common cold (ie, very catchy!).

See if you recognise any of the unpleasant symptoms below ...

When a PR agency is like an illness:

The verruca: Through thick and thin this agency sticks with you, in good times and bad, for richer and sorer, sorry, poorer.

The mouth ulcer: Clients have all had to deal with very irritating agencies who make them wince, especially when they hand in their invoices.

The eye infection: They make you “weep“ with their creative treatments, because you are laughing and crying so much. But not in a good way.

The warts agency: Warts aren’t so bad are they? These ones are! At the warts agency the course of true publicity stories never runs smooth, with a bump in the road shortly after each new campaign gets underway. This agency gets under your skin; it knows your values and takes you with it.

Chicken pox/shingles: This PR agency type was annoying for a time before disappearing off your calendar and out of your inbox almost altogether. So, that’s good news then. Until it rears its ugly head in a much worse form … This is the PR agency you can’t shake off.

The flu: The agency that wipes you out.

The tooth ache: At first it doesn’t seem too serious, and then you realise you are in for a rough ride, that will cost you horribly in time and money. Yep, root canal work is required. This is the agency that renders you broke, exhausted and emotionally scarred, completely incapable of any fertile strategy, marketing or otherwise. In the end, the only hope is to remove it completely and find an agency that is actually good for your health.