Yes... I can !!?^&$@'ing Hear you

So, as a PR guy, I feel like I may be crossing the line here, but hey, it's cool.

There's tons of media members who have publicly flogged PR people.

See here for Chris Anderson's rant, which is likely the most famous (and quite possibly the most hilarious) of the floggings. I admit it... Chris's rant was really on point, and I hope any reporter would tell me if I was walking that line. True story... I have never sent out a pitch letter without reading at least 3 of a reporter's stories, and the firm I work for really frowns on carpet bombing reporters.

But... this has to be done.

I get ton's of Google Alerts. Inside PR Secret: We read lots of things about our clients and clients' competitors. If you're in a situation where you're working with a PR firm, ask your day-to-day contact what Google Alerts they are reading on your behalf, and feel free to offer additional keywords that may have an impact on your business.

I digress.... if you check out my company's website, you may realize, one of our clients is a company named HearMe.

So... now... backstory aside.... as a PR guy... I realize this isn't my place to ask journalists for a favor... but I am going to do it anyway.

If you're a journalist, and you're reading this... I implore you to stop using "Can you hear me now?" as the title of your story. I get it.... it's catchy. Verizon is still using it today, so it even gives readers a feeling of familiarity. But, in the past 10 days, I have received at least 3 stories daily with that exact title.... most of them from fairly large newspapers and magazines.

It's no longer original... so please.... let this annoying catch phrase go the way of WHAZZZZZZZZ UP and the talking bud. weis. errrrrrrrr frogs.