Tales From the Beat Episode 122: Visiting With PR Maven Sam Locricchio

We discuss the Coldplay kiss-cam mess, the Gwyneth Paltrow video response, how the automotive media has handled the electric vehicle story and if the automakers blew it, and what pisses off Sam about reporters. A lively 30 minute conversation.

TTAC Creator Ed Garsten hosts ” Tales from the Beat,” a podcast about the automotive and media worlds. A veteran reporter and public relations operative, Garsten worked for CNN, The Associated Press, The Detroit News, Chrysler’s PR department and Franco Public Relations. He is currently a senior contributor for Forbes.

The TTAC Creators Series tells stories and amplifies creators from all corners of the car world, including culture, dealerships, collections, modified builds and more.

A transcript, cleaned up by AI and edited by a staffer is below.

[Image: YouTube Screenshot]

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Transcript:

0:01

Well, he’s someone you can’t not have a good time with while making media magic and who joins me in proving that when it

0:08

comes to retirement, failure is the only option. Hey everyone, I’m Ed Garsten.

0:13

Welcome to episode 122 of Tales from the Beat, where we look at news and PR from

0:18

both sides of the scrimmage line. And the gentleman I just described, my

0:23

guest, longtime friend, one-time accomplice at some version of Chrysler, and above all, a skilled, savvy

0:30

communicator and and sometimes singer, Sam Lrigio. It’s director of account services at Detroit area PR agency,

0:38

Nearperfect Media. Hey Sam, how are you? I’m great after that intro. Wow. Thank

0:44

you so much, Ed. It’s great to be I I only take 10%, you know, as as your agent. Very nice.

0:51

Yeah. No, no, it’s great to see you. I think the last time we saw each other, what was a few weeks ago at a uh Cox

0:57

Auto Automotive thing munching uh free shererie on at the autoame

1:04

or something? Yes, at the automotive hall of fame. I was very depressed. Didn’t see either one of our pictures on the wall, but I’m

1:09

sure that with time they’ll change their way. You know, I think you have to be

1:14

retired, not retired, like 25 years before they they consider your picture

1:20

or uh you get a PR guy to say, “Hey, you know, this guy’s pretty good.” Uh but so

1:26

I know that I lightly described your career. So why don’t you fill in the

1:33

blanks for uh for our viewers because you’ve Donnie, you’ve been an automaker, you’ve been agency, you’ve done all this

1:38

stuff. Yeah, it’s uh it’s been a white knuckle ride, but it’s given me everything in my

1:44

life. Um, you know, started out nonprofit, went to agency,

1:49

uh the big three here, uh throw in VW on the side if you’d like, and a few auto

1:55

shows. And man, that’s why my hair looks the way it does today. But, uh,

2:00

I got I got a little brewing back here, too. And, you know, we work together at the artist formerly known as Chrysler. So,

2:08

we’ve seen both sides of that ball and uh yes, times have changed, but ironically

2:13

certain issues haven’t. Um, you know, this is we’re going on at least me

2:19

35 40 years of doing this and supposedly I’m retired to your joke there.

2:24

Yeah. Three years ago, I I I kind of walked for my friends at Ford and uh

2:30

I couldn’t I couldn’t not do anything, you know, after all those years of

2:35

Oh, sure. crisis and things that didn’t get in the paper that you got kudos for.

2:40

Um, I still needed to move. So, I am at Near Perfect Media and we have a balance of not only automotive clients but also

2:46

hospitality and yeah, I’m the director of account services. When Justin Near uh who works

2:53

with my wife who’s an executive VP there, yeah, Sarah, uh, yes, they found out I was kind of doing some

3:00

side projects and he’s like, let’s put them to work. So, three to five hours. Keep your I mean, how often could you

3:07

can you play golf, right? You know, not a golfer, but I am getting better at the singing because, you know,

3:14

there’s nobody home and I’m singing to myself. So, gives me grief is the dog. Is the Are the exhaust tones still a

3:22

thing? The exhaust stones are a staple. Ready to play your next catered affair.

3:27

Is that right? Well, we could have the uh I don’t know. Let’s see. the uh

3:35

I don’t know the 65th anniversary of my bar mitzvah. Uh you can play at that,

3:41

you know. You know, I saw that on the APA calendar. Did you? Okay. Yeah. I mean, we’re going to have stuff derma and all the usual

3:48

kazarai that you serve at the I think I looked at my bar mitzvah album actually a couple of weeks ago. There’s like

3:54

three people still alive. So, we’ve played to three people before.

3:59

Have you? Okay. Yeah, I was in I was in a group once called the the scenics

4:05

where we were so bad the drummer didn’t have a he all he had was a snare drum and no stand he had to put it on a on a

4:11

desk chair. Well, sometimes when our drummer forgets I fill in as lead singer and and

4:17

drumstand, you know. That’s awesome. That’s awesome. You have to be flexible. That’s awesome. So before we get into

4:23

the automotive stuff, uh we got to talk about this thing that just happened with the non-automotive company, but this

4:30

this company, this data company, astronomer, where right the CEO and the

4:36

and the HR woman were caught canoodling on Kiss Cam during the Coldplay concert

4:43

and uh lead singer, right, Chris Martin, he said something. What? They’re either having an affair or they’re shy because

4:49

they very nervous. Yeah. Well, he was right on both levels. Well, yeah. I mean, that’s that’s He’s

4:56

successful. I mean, he writes he writes love songs, writes breakup songs, so he you know, he knows. But the thing that

5:04

the company did then uh was put out this little 60-second

5:10

video with Gwyneth Paltro, who ironically, of course, is Chris Martin’s ex-wife.

5:16

Uh, totally uh humorous. If if I’m sure most of you have seen it. I think I just

5:22

read that. I don’t know how many million views it’s had. I think it was 27 million people. Incredible. And I just watched it again

5:29

for about the ninth time and it’s to me it’s a tour to for I just curious as to

5:35

you know what you thought of that tactic and if it was successful or not and if if what you would have done to situation

5:40

like that. So many people have a newound. Well, first and foremost, based on my taste,

5:46

if you go to Coldplay, you’re looking for trouble. Cool. Anyway,

5:51

we get a lot of notes on that. I don’t have I’m I have All right, folks. Not a Cold Play fan, but if you’re going to go

5:57

Yeah, maybe you don’t want to cheat on your spouse on a video camera. Um, and

6:03

even if you’re not, you probably don’t want to cheat on your spouse. However, I think they were at a point of no return with

6:11

both these individuals. Um whether or not you knew what the hell the company did a week ago or not, uh reputation

6:18

management is the heart of what public relations is supposed to be. Sure.

6:24

And um when you have people in power, you know, this wasn’t Bill from the

6:29

loading dock, excuse my French, Buffen, you know, Jenny from accounting,

6:35

right? You know, that this was something that could be handled internally. This was not only on a huge scale, but you’re the

6:42

boss, right? And it’s your job to maintain the integrity of the company. You are the

6:47

face of the company. Yeah. And let’s throw in a side note, the HR director.

6:53

Yeah. Is your police of that, right? So, you and I are sitting in a boardroom

7:00

that night with a bunch of twi twitching board members. Yes. They’re looking at you like the doctor.

7:06

and they came into the office and they go, “Well, I’ve got a I think I have a broken finger and I need a splint.” And

7:12

we’re looking at them going, “You just busted your arm and your leg.” Yes. If I set your finger, you ain’t going

7:18

nowhere, right? These people got to go. That would have been, you know, and I’m not an officer at the company, but

7:24

you’re not going to maintain their reputation at the sake of a company’s reputation when you have people

7:30

employed. And let’s go here. You have customers depending on you. The product didn’t fail

7:35

as far as I know. Took me a minute to look up what the hell they did. Yeah. Right. Um which, you know, to Miss Paltro’s

7:43

point in the in her spot. Glad you’re interested in us now, right? Um so I think they did the right tack. I

7:50

might have got Chris Martin if I could have done. Yeah. You know, hey, just want to give you an

7:55

update. Hey, just right. New album still sucks. But hey, um

8:00

yeah. Anyway, uh the I think they did the right thing by

8:05

cleaning house. He had to start over. Uh because that is that’s top of the house.

8:11

Oh, sure. How are you supposed to influence the rest of the people that that that are supposed to listen to you externally,

8:17

right? He’s got his own set of problems. Oh, yeah. He finds a job, that’s fine. Where she

8:23

finds a job, that’s fine. But as company reputation managers in PR, right,

8:28

you’re the last line of defense. That’s it. And ethics, you know, ethics is so important when people are considering

8:34

whether to hire you or not. Um, but the the the thing that I liked

8:40

uh and I used to find when you know when I was doing social media at the 800

8:45

versions of Chrysler was you’d get that argument of do you say anything? Do you

8:52

do anything? Uh do you act indignant? Do you use humor like like they did? uh or

9:00

there’s the old saw of the community will take care of itself, especially on on social media. Um I thought that they

9:09

were brave and they were quick. It was important to do it very very quickly and and don’t let it fester.

9:15

Absolutely. And and and I think um you know your point about humor,

9:20

it’s a real thin line. Yeah. uh you know, as a guy who tends to

9:26

make an awful lot of jokes on occasion and as a a guy who has to do that sometimes on stage, I watch you know what you’re saying. And

9:33

it’s not just the idea of a new PC environment. It’s just you’re the face of what that is that

9:40

day. And for them to utilize the humor, they recognize the fact that it was so

9:46

widespread. It was on everything. And you you have to say, “Hey, you know, as

9:52

she did, people are now interested in what we do. We recognize that, right?” Yeah. A little taken aback at what are they?

9:59

Are they going to tell me my horoscope? No. Wrong word. No. No. No. So, I think they handled it

10:06

appropriately with humor despite humor being a slippery slope.

10:11

Yes. Yes. Um, I agree. And the fact too that they didn’t even have to mention

10:17

what actually happened. That was that was beautiful. I mean, whoever wrote that,

10:23

you know, I’m sure they got a raise. They got something that it was just genius. And uh I give them kudos for

10:29

that. So, um I just had to talk about that because it was just so brilliant. It was just

10:34

and you know in this whole thing I think what gets forgotten is, you know, the ripple effect on the

10:40

families of these folks. Yes. So humor in this regard

10:46

uh is not necessarily appropriate but recognition of the craziness of the

10:52

situation that cannot be denied right based on the views. Yes.

10:58

Come on. Yeah. I mean let’s look if this would have happened 30 years ago 40 years ago would anybody know? I don’t think they

11:04

had a kiss cam 30. I mean, you you actually had pro I was thinking about

11:10

it. I said, “Well, if this would happen, especially when when we were growing up and somebody saw something like that,

11:16

first of all, they probably wouldn’t even notice it. But if they took a picture of it, they’d have to go run their their camera to the photo mat and

11:22

wait a week for the right and then figure out now what do I do with the damn photo?” They put an envelope and

11:28

send it to each other’s spouse. Guys, come in front of the picture, right? Hey, look what I got. You know,

11:34

But you know now you can’t get away with that because everything is clear and you know no one even you know despite the

11:40

fact that some people question what what goes out on social media there was nobody denying that that was true. So

11:46

you know as a company you gota you got to note the reality and the truth will set you free.

11:51

Sure. Sure. And just to finish on that I mean they did it both way. They they took it seriously

11:58

with the departure of those two people and then used humor to sort of get on

12:04

reset and also actually tell people what they do is is a opportunity for promotion.

12:10

Use it as an opportunity so they know. Yeah. So it was brilliant. So let’s talk about uh uh our specialty. We’ve been in

12:18

the auto industry in one form or another for so many years. And the story that drives me crazy uh about how it’s

12:25

presented. And I talked to everybody about it is the way this Eevee story’s been presented is that um and I had a a

12:33

guy I was on on a radio show the other day. He said, “Hey, you did a story the other day that said the EV uh is ready,

12:40

sales are ready to bounce back.” And then like about a week after I filed the story, there’s another analysis, you

12:46

know, from one of these places. Well, EV sales are down. E people love EV, people don’t love EVs. Do you think, Sam, that

12:55

the EV story that has been, for lack of a better term, responsibly

13:00

reported, or is it just a changing wave of of priorities between the

13:07

journalists and and the automakers and in the industry about how this is being

13:12

portrayed about whether people really want these things? I I it all goes back

13:18

to adoption of you know we we’ve talked about this ad nauseium and the ability

13:24

to have charging and an infrastructure of that and I think that still makes people nervous.

13:30

Um yes home charging is a way to go but

13:36

you know we live in Michigan and the summer involves people saying I’m going to go up north. Okay,

13:42

you can do that. Yeah, but you’re going to have to plan your route accordingly for those stops.

13:48

Yes. And you know, people are not un unless you’re unless you’re in the mode to move

13:54

in that way and start that lifestyle. That’s a difficult premise and it’s been that has been the toughest part is

14:01

understanding the adoption. There’s now an ability with I think some of the

14:07

pressure off of you got to buy an EV, you got to buy an EV. There’s a there’s a used market out there. One of our clients, uh, plug,

14:14

their CEO is Jimmy Douglas. Young guy, very aggressive spoken, has a portal that

14:21

people can get, you know, your CarMax version of finding out how much wear and tear is on this

14:26

vehicle up front, how much wear and tear is on that battery, you know, up front. But if you want to

14:31

test the waters on getting into the EV lifestyle, yeah, those kinds of things have popped up.

14:39

Um, I know dealers, uh, we have a couple dealers on our roster at MPM and, uh,

14:45

you know, it’s a struggle because you’re paying for the floor space, right? Ain’t moving quick.

14:50

Yeah. But now you’ve got the tax credit coming up, the federal tax credit goes away at the end of the month, right?

14:56

And as you’ve noticed, there’s been a lot of push both from an advertising standpoint as well as an earn standpoint

15:02

on the PR side that we’ve got great deals. If you were thinking about jumping into that lifestyle,

15:07

yes, now is the time because in that when that goes away, right, there’s a charging element payment that

15:14

goes away, too. There’s a credit that goes away on that, too. Yeah. Take advantage of that. Okay. Now, we

15:20

get past September 30th. Now, we go back to your point about coverage, right?

15:25

Be interesting to see how what kind of spikes we get in the next month, particularly on you on EVs.

15:32

Yeah. see if that did anything or you know because that once that tax credit

15:38

goes away. Yes. We’re gonna have to do a real sell job. Yeah. If that’s what people want to sell. Now

15:45

granted, you know, there’s there’s there’s entities out there. There’s fleets out there that’ll take them. Sure.

15:50

Sure. Um but I think there’s less fear and just

15:57

Well, I’ll go with the same old same old. Yeah. Which is Ice, right? I mean, I think it’s the whole

16:03

thing, too, as as you alluded to, Sam, is that people don’t like to change

16:09

their lifestyle unless there’s a real compelling reason.

16:14

Um, sure. I uh if you got in an electric

16:20

vehicle and drove it, if you’ve never driven one, you say, “Oh, this is awesome.” They’re wonderful to drive.

16:25

It’s a great experience. Much less maintenance, right? um good for the environment, but still

16:35

you want to go on a road trip with the family, you’ve got to sweat it out still to this day because the the charging

16:43

infrastructure still isn’t there and and the president is doing his best to make sure it doesn’t grow. Uh I said it in

16:50

the and that’s an impact, right? I mean, before it was like, oh my god, by 2023, 2025,

16:56

we got to have x amount of our portfolio lined up in EV and we got to do this. Now that that pressurees off and

17:04

you know, if you’re a car company and you’ve spent this R&D to get there and now the rug

17:10

got pulled out and it’s like, okay, back to same old, same old. Yeah. So, do you what do you do?

17:17

Yeah. So do you think though the OEMs, the automakers, I used OEM, um are

17:23

telling their story adequately so that people are buying into the electric

17:31

vehicle lifestyle? I mean, they’re just putting them out there. I mean, GM comes out with these most expensive EVs first,

17:40

right? the Hummers, this $350,000 [Music] Celestic,

17:46

um the Cadillac, the Lyrics, they’re beautiful, beautiful vehicles, but

17:52

few of us can can afford those. Um and some of the other automakers,

17:57

too, come out with their most expensive models and then now that they’ve got a backing, so okay, now we’re we’re broadening the product line. I’m just

18:04

wondering if you think that the automakers began the story and telling the story in an adequate way or uh did

18:13

they put off people by putting out these most expensive models first thinking that that maybe they were halos and to

18:18

get people interested? Short answer is no. I don’t think as an

18:24

industry candidly we did that right. And I I

18:30

remember I’m not going to say which car company because it’s it’s been it was at least two of the three. Yeah.

18:35

Sitting in rooms with people plotting out product, you know, for the next five years. Yeah.

18:40

And talking about this with no real basis of how are you going to influence the customer?

18:47

The technology sounds great. The vehicle sounds great. Yeah. I’m not the guy buying it, right?

18:52

I’m the guy who’s got to help you sell it or at least sell it to the media. Yeah. I’m not there.

18:59

Okay. And then they show you they show you the price points because everything particularly back in the day was even

19:04

more expensive because of battery cost. Yeah. I think there was a discussion early on

19:11

in the industry about the ability of what hybrids could bring to the table.

19:16

I’ll give you an example. Okay. When I was at Ford, my my last tour duty.

19:21

Yeah. Uh after I was on Lincoln, they moved me over to uh the Ford brand and I

19:27

got to work on some SUVs. Escape obviously was one of the first hybrids, right?

19:32

Right. They had a taxi cab in New York City. This thing had 300,000 miles plus on it.

19:39

It’s a New York taxi cab. Say no more. Say no more. I don’t need JD Power for a

19:44

durability test on that. Right. Okay. Unless they’ve got something that could take the smell out of it,

19:50

right? But it was a great story about

19:56

at least getting people into the mode of a different a different power train.

20:02

Yes. I think a lot of what happened with the EV was here it is. This is going to be the next thing. You

20:07

got to buy it. Oh, by the way, right? What? Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

20:12

Where? How do I keep it fueled? Yeah. Well, you got to charge it, right?

20:18

Okay. Where? Well, probably best to do it at home. Yeah, I got pay for that.

20:26

Where do I get it on the road? Good luck. Good luck. No, I’ll go back a few years. It was

20:33

kind of like sitting in your going, “Huh?” Yeah. Okay.

20:38

Yeah. You can’t I It’s not like running out of gas and expect a TripleA to dump a gallon of electricity in your car

20:45

while you rub my phone over the top of go another 10 miles. No. So

20:51

there was that apprehension up front. Then there was the price point up front. Yeah.

20:56

Then there was the the governmental pressure of I got to get this done. Boy,

21:02

and it all just created the perfect storm of people just went too much. I

21:08

don’t understand it. Yeah. I might go buy a Camaro. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I I mean, I’m just curious

21:15

as as to how this is going to progress because um I don’t see it being done

21:22

intelligently. And I think if I’ll give some free advice uh to automakers. I think that if

21:30

if I was an automaker, I would have done many many many community activations where the cars

21:36

were out there and let people just get in them without the pressure of a salesperson. uh where all their

21:42

questions could be answered. But get in the car and experience it, learn to love it, uh and see if you could break down

21:50

some of the uh the uh reluctance to make that lifestyle, but uh expecting people

21:58

to come into a dealership to try out the car. I mean, I think I’d just put it out there in the community and make it easy

22:04

for them. I think it was I think it was a situation where the OEM said uh the car company said, “Well, we’re giving

22:10

you the product dealer. You deal directly with the consumer anyway.” Yeah. Tell them what it does.

22:16

Yeah. Here’s some here’s some literature. Right. Here’s some here’s a spec sheet. Don

22:21

nuts. Go sell it. Yeah. Oh, by the way, you got to you got to pay to keep it on your floor. Right. Yeah.

22:27

Now, true. They are the dealer is the is the

22:32

front line of defense with the customer. I get that. Yeah. But I think to your point, a little bit

22:39

more moral support to those dealers at that time to do those community.

22:44

You’re already in the community. That’s why a dealer’s there. Yeah. Um I think there had to be a little bit

22:50

more. Um and maybe the governmental pressure was was part of that. I think they

22:56

needed to to step back a little bit more and do a little bit more of the leg work on the education to convince

23:03

versus here it is. I I’ll give you I’ll give you a great example. One of our clients is Tamarov the

23:09

team. Yeah. They got Nissan Acura all non-domemestic. Okay. Okay.

23:14

I went into Jeffrey which is Jeffrey Auto which is part of their group and it’s a Kia dealership. And I went in

23:22

almost like a secret shopper. I didn’t tell him, “Hey, I’m your PR guy from MBM. How you doing? Give me a deal.” Right?

23:27

I went in cold and I needed a car. And uh something small.

23:33

And that salesman, I’ll never forget, Joe Washington.

23:39

Okay. That guy walked me through that dealership and he he said, “Have you ever thought based on how many miles

23:45

you’re putting in, supposedly semi-retired guy?” Yeah. You ever thought about an EV?

23:52

Nope. No, never did. Okay. Guy took me on a test drive. Yeah.

23:57

And you know, I played dumb. Ask Sarah. I do that really well. And

24:03

guy was amazing, man. And it took 15 minutes. Really? Wow. But the guy had a gift to Gab.

24:08

And he knew damn well I didn’t want to buy an EV. Sure. But he gave it a whirl. And I walked out

24:14

of that car. Yeah. A little less Sam

24:20

and a little bit more of a listener. Okay. Uh, but I appreciated what he said. Now, I didn’t get the I got to sell those,

24:26

right? But at the same time, uh, I appreciated the effort and

24:34

sometimes it was more effort than I saw in 40 years from car company trying to sell. Yeah. Right.

24:40

That’s no disrespect to my former employers. I love you all. Yeah. Um, however,

24:46

you know, we we ran before we walked. Sure. Sure. Well, it’s I mean it’s to me

24:52

it’s it’s a case study that’s going to be looked at for years and years because

24:58

um if you think way back and I’ll just wrap up this part of it because we we don’t have that much time left but

25:06

there was a good EV and then GM got rid of it. Crushed them. Literally crushed

25:12

them. Uh then had to start over again. Um my wife launched the vault. She will

25:18

tell you stories. Yeah. is a it was a beautiful car. The EV1 was a good car. Um, but it’s just a

25:27

story that drives me crazy because I think they just personally I think they did it wrong from the get-go and still

25:35

not still not telling the story. So, let let’s just move on because we’ve got about 10 minutes left. Um,

25:43

and I don’t want don’t want to run out of time, but just one thing, Sam, is um

25:49

the whole landscape of pitching stories. Now, we’re dealing with uh

25:54

different criteria that the news media needs and also this whole incursion of

26:00

artificial intelligence being used as a tool. Um I’m wondering if what you’re

26:06

seeing is in and how the whole method of of pitching stories successfully has

26:12

sort of uh changed and are you using AI at all in any of your processes?

26:19

I mean from a personal side as an old man no what I use certainly I reach out on

26:27

folks on social andor email. Okay. But that can’t be where it stops. The the

26:32

the term is public relations. There’s a relations element that Okay. Guys like yourself,

26:38

get on the phone. Granted, everybody’s on deadline, but you know what? They will have time

26:44

to talk to you. Yeah. If there’s a time to grab any kind of lunch, any kind of, you

26:49

know, and don’t make it about, you know, give a variety of things that you’re working on because they’re working on a

26:55

variety of things. They’re they’re wearing so many different hats. And you know what? I’m going to go back to what I said at the outset.

27:01

The truth will set you free. Yes. Anybody calls me a spin doctor, Mhm.

27:08

that raises my hackles because I ain’t spinning any. All right.

27:13

I’m going to give you as much of the truth as I can. Now granted, in a case in litigation or class action suits,

27:19

there’s only so much I can share, but I’m going to tell you that. I’m going to tell you why. Yeah. I’m not going to blow you off,

27:25

right? So, it’s honesty is the best policy. And and that’s how those pitches have to be. It has to be a forming of a

27:31

relationship. Unfortunately, a lot of the landscape and media has changed. A lot of retirements too, you

27:38

know, a lot of changes to the guard. Yes. And a lot of inexperience out there, particularly in our sector in in some of

27:44

the some of the outlets. So, it’s like we said about EV adoption.

27:49

There has to be a little bit of an education behind what you do. And that’s not condescending. That’s yeah,

27:55

let me give you the context so you know where I fit. And if I don’t fit, just tell me to go

28:01

away. Yeah. So I can go bug somebody else. Right. Right. Okay. And and one last

28:07

thing I told you I was going to ask you and maybe had a chance to think about it. Dealing with reporters. What do

28:13

reporters do that you as a PR person that really piss you off?

28:18

Uh it’s it’s not sometimes in their case it’s not their fault, but coming to an

28:23

interview and say, you know, hadn’t read the study that we were supposed to be talking about. And these interviews get

28:29

set up, they get set up the day before, but they could also get set up a week and a half out. Yeah. Prep. Understand what you’re walking

28:35

into. I’m doing my best to make sure this client is telling you the truth and and and giving you the answers you’re

28:42

looking for. Please do the prep. Um, you know, I don’t mind 26 follow-ups on fact

28:49

check. I actually applaud that. Yeah. But, uh, be ready when we get there. You know, be

28:56

ready to go. Um, I know you got a lot on your plate. So do we. Yeah, sure. Um, but it saves you time and it gives a

29:04

better accuracy of the story. Awesome. All right, Sam. So great to

29:10

talk with you. Uh, great conversation. Hopefully we’ll uh meet over some free

29:15

shererie or some other free eats which the auto industry is wonderful at providing uh people on a regular basis.

29:23

If you need journalists to show up, you better have food. You better feed them. You better feed. We’re not getting into shrimp anymore

29:29

too much, but you know, we’ll we’ll take we’ll take rich crackers and a piece of pepperoni. So, uh you know,

29:35

chicken McNuggets and a Budweiser. Yeah. Right. All right. Sam Lricio, director of

29:41

account services at Nearperfect Media. So great to talk with you. We’ll see you

29:48

again on the beat. I’m sure you bet. Enjoy your non-retirement. I’m enjoying mine as well.

29:54

And remember PR people, if you’re having an event, don’t take out a suite at a Coldplay show if you don’t really know

29:59

the people. That’s right. And don’t get kissy huggy either. All right, that’s this edition

30:05

of Tales from the Beat for now. I’m Ed Garsten. Thanks a lot for viewing. We hope

30:10

you’ll share, you’ll comment, you’ll subscribe, and we’ll be back soon with more tales. Take care. Thanks.

30:17

Thank you.