Gamasutra has a great feature on the link between PR, press and publisher. They even mention when Kotaku and Sony mix it up.
“It’s a business,” says Tricia Gray, Marketing and Communications Director for developer Flagship Studios. “…The good of my product comes before all other considerations. And if I deem Magazine X is the best option with the most numbers, I go with it. There’s no sinister plot, no conspiratorial agency, no bribes, buyouts, threats, or clandestine operations.”
I remember when I use to tell people I did PR. They seemed to think I sold my soul to the devil and that I was involved with the mod. And this was regardless of the fact they had known me for year. People do look at you weird when you do PR and that’s one think I hope to change. PR isn’t bad at all… just some people are bad at doing PR.
To further this push, the higher ups at Rockstar emphasized person-to-person contact between publicists and editors, which included transcontinental flights to hand-deliver new games for review. “Rockstar is very big on personalizing things,” says Zuniga. “So, we’d go out to deliver code by hand. We’d get up at 6am, fly to the west coast, deliver code all over the place by hand, then we’d leave that night and head to Minnesota [home to the offices of Game Informer magazine]. For journalists, it was embarrassing and wasn’t special at all. But the higher-ups wouldn’t believe it.”
I don’t think there is anything wrong with personalizing your product, company and brand. It’s one way to stand out in the marketplace and get noticed. You can take it to far and maybe that’s what Rockstar did.
