Some of you know that I often go off on a semi-rant about the seeming give-a-hoot attitude exhibited by those responsible for the promotion and public relations efforts on the Paul Potts team. I have received several disgruntled emails from members of that team–who think that they are doing a bang-up job. And maybe they are–let’s face it, I’m just an amateur onlooker.

What I do have, though, is years of experience working for and with various agencies of the United States government. Suffice it to say that I have seen many examples of bureaucratic bumbling close-up and some of the stuff that Sony/Columbia/RCA (are all these guys now one conglomerate or what?) and the amazing Shore Fire Media have done and not done sure looks like a reasonable facsimile of incompetence. I mean; it’s scary to think that these companies are amongst the world’s best. God help us all.

Anyway, much of the feedback I get when I am off on this tangent says something like, “Well, public relations doesn’t make all that much difference anyway. Who cares if he is getting regular publicity?” Let’s get real, folks: If not for the huge PR garnered from that first YouTube video of Paul Potts at the Britain’s Got Talent semi-final, you would likely be asking, “Paul who?”

For example, listen to this report from one of our special readers, Smiley Sunrise, as she tells us about what an Oprah re-run did for Paul Potts recently:

When I heard that the Oprah show was going to be re-run, I thought I would see if the “Oprah bounce” would happen again. So I looked on the Amazon site the night before the show was re-run, and Paul’s album was #250. Before I went to bed last night (the day of the show) it had climbed to #3! That’s quite a jump!!

Quite a jump indeed, Smiley, and thank you for your thoughtfulness and hard work.

One more pertinent point: According to some of the whisper on the street, Shore Fire is no longer controlling the public relations for Paul Potts. At least his bio has been taken down from their client pages and inquiries to them about the move are reportedly getting snide, curt responses–hold it though, we’re talking about Shore Fire, and since the first agent who was handling Paul left their service, snide comments have been the rule there. To be fair, other whispers say that they are just backing off and waiting for the movie to come out before going back to work (nothing like picking your best shot, is there?)

Okay, Shore Fire is famous for Bruce Springsteen. My grandmother could have handled Springsteen and come out smelling like honeysuckle, but here I go again…knock it off, Don. Go to bed.