September 17, 2010
Priceless
So today (Friday), amid the usual crazy and weird emails I get on a daily basis, I also received this rather stern one from someone claiming to be the Public Relations rep for Marine Taxis.
Who are Marine Taxis?
Well, they are a taxi service based in Cape Town, and Ursula Brown, their PR guru in question, took particular offense to a blog post I wrote.
More than 2 years ago.
You can read it here.
What followed was some back and forth emails, which became more and more bizarre. Please read the correspondence below:
a form has been submitted on September 17, 2010, via: http://www.shaunoakes.com/contact/
| Contact Shaun Oakes | |
| Your Name: | Ursula Brown |
| Email: | ****@marinetaxis.co.za |
| Website: | www.marinetaxis.co.za |
| Message: | Mr Oakes.. Note yr request about what not to do when corresponding with yrself. But I must say that this is a serious case of the pot calling the kettle black as u seem to have done this yourself with yr unsubstantiated uncommented “story” on your site which even our “hijacked” logo. Please remove this story asap…… pronto…….. |
Shaun Oakes wrote:
From: Shaun Oakes
Sent: 17 September 2010 12:44 PM
To: ****@marinetaxis.co.za
Subject: Re: A comment from Ursula Brown
Hi Ursula,
I don’t understand your email. Which story are you referring to?
This one, from 2008? http://www.shaunoakes.com/marine-taxis.htm
Where I advertised your services?
Why would I take this down?
Regards,
Shaun Oakes
Marine Taxis Wrote:
Mr Shaun Oakes
e: ****@shaunoakes.com
cc: Ms Alexis Searle and Ms Annique Dears – Advertising department Heart Radio
Mr Oakes…your reply to my email request refers. Am attaching SCREEN Shots of the page in question……
Firstly, if, you were indeed, “Advertising your services”, I request a signed off approval from ourselves. And then, regardless of whether or not you are holding a signed proof, we request that you remove “story/advert/whatever you may call it” with immediate effect. My brief is to “clean-up” and “remove” any and all advertising contained whereever it presently occurs.
Secondly, incorrect details and misinformation contained in page title are mistakenly proffering the impression that MARINE TAXIS CAPE TOWN is called MARINE HEART TAXIS……. Who authorised a company name change – I find this incredulous as Marine Taxis has had the same company name since the early 1950′s and has not changed yet….
cc’ing both Ms Alexis Searle and Ms Annique Dears (Advertising department Heart Radio) – to keep them in the loop.
We request instant action and removal of this unauthorised mis-advertising of our product.
Ursula Brown – Public Relations, Marketing, Advertising
Marine Taxis Cape Town – 5-Star Mother City Taxi Service
Shaun Oakes wrote:
From: Shaun Oakes
Sent: 17 September 2010 02:29 PM
To: Marine Taxis
Cc: ‘Alexis Hendricks’; ‘Aniqah Deers’
Subject: Re: A comment from Ursula Brown
Ursula,
I don’t think you quite understand how blogs and the internet works, so let me educate you:
A blog is typically a web-based journal, allowing people to share their thoughts. So if I choose to use a brand or service, it’s well within my rights to write about it and then publish it online, provided it does not contain anything libelous or slanderous. (looking at the post in question, I think it’s obvious that there is nothing libelous or slanderous here)
Demanding that I get ‘signed-off approval’ before mentioning your brand is ridiculous. Are you familiar with Facebook?
Or Twitter?
I can go onto Twitter right now, and publish how heavy handed you are being, and in a matter of minutes hundreds of people in Cape Town will be posting tweets about Marine Taxis. Are you then going to contact each one of them and demand that they get signed off approval from you first?
Secondly, this was written more than 2 years ago, not 2 days ago, and I do recall radio advertising back then referring to “Marine Heart Taxis”. In the post itself, I make use of the correct name.
I really don’t appreciate your aggressive tone over what should have been quite a simple request. If you had just contacted me and politely asked me to change the title, as it doesn’t reflect your official name, I would have gladly made the change.
As it stands, your bizarre handling of this (supposedly from someone in PR?) makes me very hesitant to assist you in any way, and quite frankly makes me think twice about ever using or referring your company ever again.
In actual fact, I am more likely to talk about how draconian Marine Taxis are, after this experience.
So really, an excellent PR job on your part.
Best Regards,
Shaun Oakes
Marine Taxis wrote:
Mr Oakes…I dont think that you understand what is meant by Where I advertised your services? (a quote from your reply to my initial request)….
It means that you stated that you were advertising our product = we sign an order, you send a proof, we send a signed proof back to yourselves and then and you place said ordered “advertising”.
And as far as your “let me educate you” skills are concerned… well, they suck…You are talking to a qualified ex-teacher who owned and ran an Internet Cafe in Sea Point for five years, has a Southern African web portal (GPR 5), been in marketing, advertising and PR since 1972, am accredited media world-wide, attending 19th Indaba in a row, with two ex husbands and three sons all in IT…. so please, I have gazillions of qualified tutors in my family and/or via years of contacts who are a mere phone call away.
Regarding thinly veiled pseudo threat, please, be my guest, twitter away or go on to Facebook or whereever else you wish, have fun and do your worst…We too have access to these (and other) social media platforms…so, off you go then….and type to your heart’s content. Maybe the rest of TWITTERDOM would be interested to learn the real reason behind your vindictave story…….. or maybe not……..
Also, if you had any sort of actual contact details on your website, a mere telephone call could have cleared up this issue far more effeciently.
Finally, you had no authority to place our logo on your website with your defamatory article riddled with inaccuracies and insults : “flossie”; “frail looking old guy”; “know a long term sexual partner”; “as well as weapons training”; “eventually managed to arrive outside The HQ, as he got lost for a while”…… can hardly be considered flattering or complimentary.
Oops… you are already TWITTERING I note …. without the option to reply to your previous email.
Draconian hey?? – I dont think so.. I am merely demanding that you remember the rules of engagement, act accordingly and report responsibly.
In reply to Mr/Ms Danneville….you are an expert PR why??? – You seems to be either unemployed or overpaid, as you have so much time to voice your hilarious unwanted opinion.
@mike_met there is probably a cease and desist on it’s way to you as we speak. 7 minutes ago via web in reply to mike_met
@Danneville I know, it’s incredible. And this coming from someone in PR? What is she thinking? 19 minutes ago via web in reply to Danneville
@darylglass I mentioned Marine Taxis in a post from 2008, and get an angry email from PR lady saying I need sign-off from her first. 21 minutes ago via web in reply to darylglass
I’m almost obliged to want to bad mouth their brand now. #PublicRelationsFail 23 minutes ago via web
Incredible… now I get an email from a “PR” lady claiming I need written permission before mentioning Marine Taxis online. 38 minutes ago via web
Marine Taxis just emailed me telling me to remove an innocuous blog post. Written in 2008. Er… computer says “No”. about 2 hours ago via web
Ursula Brown – Public Relations, Marketing, Advertising
Shaun Oakes wrote:
From: Shaun Oakes
Sent: 17 September 2010 05:05PM
To: Marine Taxis
Cc: ‘Alexis Hendricks’; ‘Aniqah Deers’
Subject: Re: A comment from Ursula Brown
Ursula, you are digging a massive hole for yourself here.
In today’s connected world of Social Media, is this any way to engage with a consumer?
For your sake I hope you’re the owner or a director of Marine Taxis, I just can’t see how they would be happy with the potential PR gaffe you are causing here right now.
Okay….
So did you get all of that in?
Am I alone here in thinking that this is more than a little bat shit crazy?
Where do I begin?
Firstly, angrily demanding that I remove a blog post because I mentioned a particular brand is ridiculous. As I’ve mentioned in the email correspondence, that is the way of Social Media. Fit in or f**k off. It gives the power to consumers to vent / praise as they see fit. The onus is on brands to make sure that they deliver the best product or service that they possibly can and, if they don’t, make damn sure that they engage with consumers in a respectful manner.
I’ve read through my earlier blog post and I still maintain that I have said nothing slanderous or libelous. Granted, what I write should generally be taken with a pinch of salt (disclaimer – The Gupster and I did not REALLY oil up and partake in Greco Wrestling. At least not on that particular day)
The facts are though, that on this particular night (again, more than two years ago)
- The taxi driver was late, as he couldnt find my address.
- He did drive like a snail.
- When it came time to pay, he battled with the card swiping mechanism.
For Marine Taxis to demand that I remove the post because they didn’t like what I say (again – more than 2 years ago) is truly laughable.
Almost as funny as the fact that they demand that any online mention of them needs to be signed off first.
As someone mentioned on Twitter, this is so bad it could quite easily be some sort of viral.
Is that your plan, Marine Taxis? Was this just an attempt to get people to mention you online?
No such thing as bad press etc?
I don’t know, I’m still just a little shocked by the whole thing.
What do you think?
Am I being the cock here?
Or are Marine Taxis being completely out of their f**king minds?
Oakes signing off.
No related posts.
Jesus Mary and Joseph,
I can’t even BEGIN to describe how wack this is?
Do they think they are some kind of Gestapo?
Where did these people learn about PR?
[shakes his head in bemusement]
This is spectacular. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a worse PR professional. She’s practically delusional and soon her online reputation is going to be ruined (which, I imagine, is going to give her career a massive knock).
I seriously hope Marine Taxis catch wind of this and see what a balls-up job she’s doing.
Ha! This post already ranks first for a local search of her name!
Words cannot begin to describe the monumental f*ckwad of an online PR fail this is.
Well done, Ursula Brown, I think you may have singlehandedly done more damage to your beloved Marine Taxis than any number of bloggers ever could.
By the way, as I know you’re reading this, does your boss know what you’ve gone and done?
Ah, spotted the problem.
“Ex-teacher”
Probably the most entertaining read of the month!
She certainly takes her job seriously doesn’t she? Let’s hope this goes viral – It’s the next “I’ll pay you with a spider” email.
Ex-teacher and TWO ex-husbands. That explains it all. She clearly doesn’t understand the concept of consumer-generated content and needs to learn a thing or two about online reputation management. And for the love of all that is good spelling, it’s “wherever” not “whereever”! Bad spelling is bad PR. Just saying.
I love that I am mentioned in this saga… it’s like a David Thorne email.
“Ms Danneville” – Bahaha
The Streisand effect???
http://webtechlaw.com/posts/the-blogger-the-taxi-company-and-the-streisand-effect.html
The Streisand effect?? More like the Laurel & Hardy effect.
http://webtechlaw.com/posts/the-blogger-the-taxi-company-and-the-streisand-effect.html
I am really battling to take this all in.
She is actually DARING you to tweet away and facebook about it?
Does this woman realise that she is committing PR suicide on behalf of Marine Taxis???
I think Ursula Brown could be looking for a new job very soon.
Wow. That’s correspondence from a teacher?
I fear for the youth of this country. Dear lord, I hope someone is taking the piss..
Seriously.
I cannot believe that someone like this could ever be
employed in any kind of client-facing position for any company.
Of course, if she is the calibre of person Marine Taxis are employing, that
would explain your experience.
What a disappointing and reprehensible handling of customer relations. I am shocked and appalled that anyone who conducts mail correspondence in such a fashion has managed to be hired in both PR and supposedly teaching.
Your aforementioned supposedly-offending post would have been a golden opportunity to contact you and give you excellent service to instill some brand satisfaction and thus benefit from positive viral marketing. What a failure. This person genuinely has no clue. No clue with PR, marketing or, for that matter, spelling.
Marine Taxis should be ashamed and, come end of this month, hopefully one PR manager short.
Dear Mr. Oakes. My Public Relations rep will be contacting you very soon and asking you to remove this post with immediate effect.
This is regarding the defamatory remark regarding you and I partaking in any form of Greco Wrestling.
And be aware, my PR bulldog has FOUR ex-husbands.
Sheesh, this is disturbing. I suspect she may be in on the Media Tribunal!
Amazing how she assumes that because she’s been involved with IT and and an internet cafe that she understands the terms of engagement for social media. This whole interaction reminds me of what Alvin Toffler said: “The illiterate of the 21st Century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn”.
WOAH. Coming from someone in PR – this chick is an embarrassment.
Perhaps she is in need of a good lay. Her rant does not help in finding her one.
Dear Ursula,
So you’re a marketing, advertising and PR guru are you? I’m sure you’ve heard of a Google CV hey? of coarse you have, you have three sons in IT….
Google yourself, remember to click on pages from South Africa… but you knew that, didn’t you.
Explain this one to your future employers … I’m pretty sure they going to Google their next PR manager.
Ah man, we should all do blog posts now about this and make it grow even bigger, lmao!
Snort
Classic Sunday entertainment!
Silly silly woman. Sigh.
No words.
really laughed at “two ex-husbands” and “I have gazillions of qualified tutors in my family”
this part too:
“Also,if you had any sort of actual contact details on your website, a mere telephone call could have cleared up this issue far more effeciently.”
Good grief! This from a PR “expert”. I am mortified at this. In fact I initially thought it was a joke! I wonder if the owner of Marine Taxi’s is aware of the damage being caused to his brand by this incompetence. If this lady really is an ex-teacher it is an indictment on all of us who teach. Don’t even get me started on her poor spelling, writing style and grammar!
Methinks some education in the use of social media and PR is required!
According to this lady’s LinkedIn profile she has only worked at Marine Taxis for 2 months. I wonder if her boss knew what he/she was in for! :)
http://za.linkedin.com/pub/ursula-brown/10/362/b17
I think it time for a bit of a viral to explain to companies how the blogosphere works. What a pathetic excuse for a PR agency. The language used in the emails is shocking. Blog post on its way Shaun :)
Of course, the obvious thing is that not everyone is qualified to be a publicist (Madam Brown being a prime example).
Just about anybody that’s tired of being a teacher/lawyer/dog walker suddenly has the ability to do PR…or so they think. So-called PR consultants are a dime a dozen in Cape Town and they’re all as damaging to brands as Ursula Brown is to Marine Taxis.
They’re going to need a publicist to fix this mess.
The irony is beautiful.
Reminds me of the humorous (fictional) emails at http://www.27bslash6.com/.
Embarrassing to say the least.
I am shocked and angered by this woman’s behavior. I am a second year PR student and feel that this woman has dragged the PR name into the mud with her unprofessional behavior.
If she knew anything about Public Relations she would know that the core function of a pr consultant is to manage relationships and perceptions through the correct use of communication.
The fact that she dared you to tweet away horrifies me. She should know the power which social media currently hold and the development and growth which will takes place within the context of social media.
The fact that she is a ex-teacher is an insult to those in the profession such as my father who has been a English teacher for 23 years.
As for tweet away and going to facebook, I will be adding this link not only to my facebook but to my blog and any other form of social media. The abuse of this profession or any profession the way she has done cannot be condoned.
Hahahaha, this is a joke right, must be, can only be, surely, the level of arrogance is astounding, it makes me sad, *sad face*, www.excitetaxis.co.za/ , problem solved, *smiley face*. That’s right Oakes… 10 commas.
This is crazy! How can someone claiming to be so educated and experienced write like this in response to an online post. She needs to go back to wherever she learnt her skills in PR and go over them again. As for me, I’ll never use this company thanks to the bad taste left in my mouth…
The mind boggles… this should be retitled “How to trash your own brand AND lose your job in one fell swoop.”
The scary thing about comparisons with David Thorne is that David is out to create ridicule, this lady does it to herself, by herself.
An instant classic.
I never use anyone other than Excite Taxis anyway – bar the occasional annoyance like drivers not letting me know when they arrive, I have never had an issue in the 4 or so years I’ve been using them.
As for poor old Ursula Brown… shame, having heard her on 2ov.fm just now, I actually feel kinda bad for her – clearly has NO CLUE about social media, blogs, ORM, online communications or the awesome power of social media.
This has all been too amusing for words anyway, thanks Shaun! ;-)
Hey lets give this PR person some credit. I mean, she did run and internet cafe and has two sons in IT.
Jeez what a nutjob.
A friend and I used Marine Taxi service one night. They arrived on time but once we got into the cab we discovered that the meter reading was not right and we where being over charged. One we got to our destination we ask the driver to please check with the switchboard if that amount was correct. Which he did not. Also when we tried to get out of the car during the trip he would not let us out. Final i told him this was a rip of and he become very aggressive and literally through us out of the car and did not give us our change back.
Wtf!!! Sorry Ursula but you’re being completely ridiculous here.
Oakes, you have my deepest sympathies with trying to deal with someone like this. Who clearly just does not want to get it. “Oooh I know several people in IT!” Um yeah…
And I love how she contradicts herself by first stating that you did not have permission to post and so should remove your post and then later on saying you are not honouring the rules of engagement. There are no “rules of engagement” if you didn’t enter into an agreement with someone.
Common sense has clearly scuttled out of the back door a loooooong time ago.
I actually received the worst service EVER at Marine Taxis, so stuff them. And wow, Ursula, nice advertising there, I wonder if she’s ever heard of Reputation Management! Idiota
Very embarrassing for Marine Taxis, total over reaction and clueless handling thereafter. Marine are rubbish anyway, rather try Excite Taxis 021 448 4444 or Intercab 021 447 7799, they would probably give you a free ride after all this.
Try to contact Mr. Todd or his daughter at Marine. They are very nice people just trying to run a busienss. As for Ursula?? Ive been in the tourism industry for 15 years and have never heard of her.
Man, this is classic! She will be lucky to find a job again (unless Marine Taxis decide to keep her, in which case they’re off their rocker). Thanks for making my day!
Ursula, I am on your side! I learndeded all my PR stuffies and grammmar on this IT interwebs thingy: http://www.shutupyouaremakingitworse.com/fired
Man-O man. And to think that some folks out there still think that aliens don’t exist..
You gotta feel sorry for her (but a whole lot sorrier for her ex-husbands, poor suckers – can you imagine being married to this classic bimbo?) Hahahahaha, really made my day – I feel like a genius right now compared to Morticia (with respect to the Adams family)
This is the exact sort of backward thinking that the PR and advertising dinosaurs display in South Africa that make my miss my days working in PR and advertising in London.
The fact that she’s been in PR since 1972, 10 years before I was even born speaks volumes about the kind of mentality that she is dealing with.
Welcome to the 21st century, old girl. I’m sure you’ll learn to fit in eventually.
look up Ursula Brown on Linkedin – suffice to say the photo really does make everything slot into place…
i’m so happy i just found this post (Its being thrown around twitter, ironically enough). It made my day.
I’ll be very surprised if this idiot doesn’t get fired.
Its quite clearly that time of the month
Fantastic!!! Thanks for the laughs & the heads up to never ever use them! lol
Linked from Twitter – awesome. Will never, ever use that company if I come across them.
I agree with Rachel, here is Ursula Brown, the PR Expert for Marine Taxis!! (Gotta feel a bit sorry for Marine Taxis).
http://www.capeinfosa.co.za/uploads/staff/25661e478f14ea5ef3cf6c4f493c9ee46911%5B1%5D.jpg
Wow, I’m speechless! Shaun gave her chances over and over again to make this right, and every time she chose to dig herself deeper. Shame and with all that IT in the family… tsk tsk
I think she should quit PR and stick to shows and exhibitions.
No client in their right mind will hire her for PR after this!
It is a chain of e-mails like this whereby a PRP and I say this with so much doubt are still thinking like one who was indeed mentored by Joe Bloggs in the 70′s and their idea of a newsroom is the one they ‘saw in 19-dots’…I ask you with tears in my eyes Ursula, to please get with the programme?! Social media (FB, twitter and Foursquare) are the way ‘PR campaigns’ are going. PR is surging ahead and at the rate you going – not embracing this social media sphere, worries me!!
PR must stand for positively rude, this woman clearly has issues and not enough work to do – think ill email marine taxis and take over the account, that company has taken to many roids
So Ursula, don’t see any comeback now?
I’m so upset that it’s over! I read it as slowly as I could to savour the idiocy and the profuse use of the dramatic pause…………… What an epic teacher she must have been, you know, the kind that misspell their own name and shout at your for saying it wrong. South Africa, you are on the up and up!
Sweet Jesus. This is like a car crash. It’s so shocking but I just can’t stop coming back to read and check if theres any new developments. Epic Fail
You know, this might even give her some sort of cult hero status. in which case she should thank you. this could really take off.
Right so I’ve had a look at the total damage Ursula Brown has inflicted on her company due to her complete ignorance in PR.
If you Google “Marine Taxis”, 8 of the 10 listings are about how they have failed as a brand (thank you Ursula Brown)
These are the links I have managed to find thus far:
http://www.bangersandnash.com/hey-fool/marine-taxies-commit-suicide/
http://mycapetown.co.za/news/2010/09/marine-taxis-shows-us-the-best-way-to-fail/
http://www.2oceansvibe.com/2010/09/20/marine-taxis-shows-us-the-best-way-to-fail/
http://imod.co.za/2010/09/20/marine-taxis-saga-marine-heart-taxis/
http://topsy.com/www.shaunoakes.com/2010/09/marine-taxis-poor-pr/?utm_source=pingback&utm_campaign=L2
http://www.shaunoakes.com/2010/09/marine-taxis-poor-pr/
http://www.slxs.co.za/2010/09/19/kill-your-brand-in-one-day-the-marine-taxis-way/
http://webtechlaw.com/posts/the-blogger-the-taxi-company-and-the-streisand-effect.html
Her line about “tweet and facebook away, have fun, do your worst” still cracks me up.
I don’t think she had a CLUE how bad this was going to be.
this would explain why she has two ex husbands
What a crazy situation! Ursula Brown is the type of person that goes out and gives those working in PR a bad name. No matter what her reasons were, she lost control of the situation right from the beginning and even if she was right, which I don’t feel she was, she handled the communication back to you terribly right from the beginning. She clearly has shown that she has no clue about blogging, advertising, PR, communicating, social media, representing a company professionally … I can go on if you like.
All I can say is holy shit Ursula, what the hell were you THINKING? Under no circumstances should you ever address ANYONE is such a fucking shitty way, never mind the thousands of PR 101 rules you’ve pissed into the wind here.
I’ll never use Marine taxis again on principle because of this woman’s shitbag attitude.
Christ, what an asshole!
-ST
Ok first of all she’s TOTALLY underestimated the power of social media and that offends me DEEPLY.
So Ursula Brown. I really, truly, honestly hope that “TWITTERDOM?” kicks you in the ass!
@Shaun – please keep us updated on any more correspondence.
Cheers for a lag!
Holy Fuck!
What a WEIRDO!
Maybe shes shoulds like to facking learns some englishes before she can like to write so belrrie much fackin bullshits also’s!