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Comment by nimos | Hacker News Reader

I don't know why but it kind of rubs me the wrong way PR agencies for Kickstarter/crowd-funding even exist. I'd rather back something that had someone passionate with a shitty cell phone video over the generic sterile PR videos that everything seems to have now.

https://twitter.com/Woodshedagency The hashtags on their twitter description almost seem like satire.

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This does not work ( passionate developer with a failed KS )

edit : and this was not because the project sucked, the project is profitable now.

2x ditto

I don’t. Some low budget shitty cell phone pitches are down right cringey. There is nothing wrong with hiring a PR firm to present your pitch in the best light. It’s part of fundraising.

Pretty much. You need to hire the people who know how to do the job right. Ironically showing wisdom in that means the money donated will likely also be used correctly by hiring the right specialists.

Insightful, had not considered this point of view.

The hashtags are also all in all caps, which gives me pause as to their fundamental competence as PR people. All caps lettering is hard to read. It is also viewed by most people online as yelling at people. Neither is a smooth public relations move.

Unless we are all terribly mistaken about Woodshed Agencies' goals. Maybe they have been really successful because we aren't looking their goals in the correct light? Is it to operate smoothly by ruining and preventing all public relations moving forward?

The reason these guys exist is because the difference between a 100k+ campaign and a 10k failed campaign can come down to straight marketing which most engineering minded folks are not trained/knowledgeable with.

It’s worse there have been a few “PR” agencies looking for “talent” in a few maker spaces and hacker spaces in London. I know of 2 people who are somewhat known but still very minor in the maker space community being contacted directly to join a team/advise on Kickstarter projects all of which seemed like and over promising scam or some cheap Chinese custom gadget you can get on Aliexpress.

There is now effectively a new business where “PR” firms fun the marketing cost in favor of 50% or sometimes more of the campgain and pretty much after that they cut the cord and go to fund their next scam.

> The hashtags on their twitter description almost seem like satire.

Yeah. Screaming in ALL CAPS too.

> #DIGITALBUSINESSDEVELOPMENT #MULTIMEDIAPRODUCTION #CROWDFUNDING #CONSULTING #DETROIT #ENGAGEMENT #NEWYORK #CHICAGO

And their twitter background. Hipster all the way.

@Woodshedagency just hid all their tweets. This isn't looking good.

And then un-hid them...! For a PR agency they seem a bit unclear on the concept of optics and, indeed, the management of relationships with the public.

> We're currently turning on all of our social media, sites, and lines of communication. They will remain on. Clearly turning them off was a big mistake. More on that in a bit. Jeff and I plan on staying online all night to answer and address any and all questions [0]

0. https://twitter.com/Woodshedagency/status/943632233088405505

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