Letter to the Editor

Dear Strumpette:

I read Friday's article "Top Blogger Exposes Monkey Butt" with great interest and frankly some dismay. As the president of 100 Monkeys, Inc., I thought it might be helpful to your readership that we clarified a few key points.

First off, the "Monkey Butt" is a horrible stereotype that plagues our business. Regrettably, there are some practitioners who do engage in that behavior. But in our experience the percentages are quite low. Of our 100 monkeys, not one has ever even displayed the tendency. Actually, chest-beating, high-pitched barks, lunging, lip-tucking, sticking out the tongue, sideways running, and rising to a two-legged stance, are far more common.

Secondly, in our chest-thumping opinion, the whole "to blog or not to blog question" has already become another inane PR topic the stuff of countless PRSA luncheons. Blogs, like good PR campaigns, are all about engaging one's interest and leaving one hungry for more.

Take the capuchin, for example. A new world monkey with a small brain, its sole focus is pretty much food and sex. If you're a seasoned PR pro, you'd think it would be fairly easy to find a way to engage a capuchin, i.e. just hijack blogs about food and sex and incorporate your PR message to whet their insatiable appetites.

But it's really not that simple. For monkeys - like our questionably evolved humans cousins - have differing appetites. Who's to say which food and sex blogs will satisfy which monkeys? The old adage, "Monkey See, Monkey Do" only holds true to an extent, as inevitably the blog about kinky positions involving chocolate might cause one chimp to shriek and bore another poor baboon to tears.

Bottom line: The question of where and when PR belongs in the blogosphere is irrelevant and ironic. After all, the beauty of living in the Information Age is that it's all about choice. When we want something, we can seek it out at the touch of the button or click of a mouse. If we don't want to see or hear something, we simply change the channel or close the browser.

Perhaps a goal for PR in the Information Age is to look at our business as if we're delivering a banana tree to the capuchins -- err, umm, consumers. The monkey can decide for him or herself which banana to take down from the tree to peel and eat. Isn't that really a better and more authentic way to get all the monkeys out there clamoring for our clients' bananas?

Sincerely,

Mary Roberts
President
100 Monkeys, Inc.
www.100monkeyspr.com
(p) 414-443-0850 ext. 12
(c) 414-839-4175

EDITORS' NOTE

100 Monkeys was the agency behind the national coverage secured for the recent "Fastest Plumber Contest."

GREEN BAY, WIS. — Matt Millard of 5-Star Plumbing in Brentwood, Calif., captured the title during the finals of the "Fastest Plumber Contest" in early November at Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers, here. Contest sponsors Kohler Co. and plumbing wholesaler Ferguson Enterprises had kicked off the competition earlier this year by hosting 65 qualifying events across the country.

During the finals held before a Packers game, Millard recorded a winning time of 1 minute, 18 seconds and took home the grand prize of $3,000.

AN APOLOGY TO 100 MONKEYS

All of us at Strumpette would like to extend our apologies to Ms. Roberts and each of her 100 Monkeys. We are grateful she took the time to edify us on this topic. :)

Okay, totally serious: we are thrilled to have met Mary. Now that's a PR person! We greatly apprecate her creativity and spirit. We wish her and her team continued success.

- Amanda