Pierce Mattie Public Relations New York

Several PR veterans on twitter and FaceBook chatted with our team today expressing a sense of relief, sadness, fear and even joy that Oprah’s show is set to close in 2011. Why, you ask… for starters even though the Pierce Mattie team has had several clients on her show, so much so that we were featured in Inc. magazine for doing it in an article titled; The Oprah Effect - there is still an overwhelming amount of pressure put on by clients to their agency of record to secure a spot on her show.

You could be the best publicist in the world. You may have a great client who has an amazing product. But if you don’t pitch it in a passive aggressive way where the Oprah team “discovers” the brand and falls in love with it on their own thus prompting the segment producers to call your office for more details, you know the pitch will never work. (I am going to get in trouble for saying this!) Plus there is simply not enough room to get everyone on the show when her airtime this year has been filled with tabloid journalism.

Personally, I am happy she is moving on. It’s been a monopoly that though wonderful needs to end and leave more room for other shows. One hour of Oprah is simply not enough! She should have her own network. Truthfully I haven’t been fond of the topics this year; ape eaten face, another face shot off by a husband’s gun, mermaid girl, Mike Tyson., Whitney Houston, Sarah Palin, Jenna Jameson and that Mackenzie Phillips episode. It was more Maury Povich meets Barbara Walters to us than Oprah was to herself. Were those guests really “living their best life?” – as she puts it.

My concerns naturally jump over to the magazine, what does this mean for O, The Oprah Magazine? Will it be developed along with the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN)? Or will Hearst kill the title? I am excited that she is getting her own network! This means more shows, more room to pitch, more space for clients to be on the network and hopefully less overly sensationalized guests like we have been seeing this season. I miss the fashion, beauty, wellness and lifestyle segments.