Update: Looks like the partnership was over before it started. The site is gone :-(
In a move that has shocked just about everyone in the PR industry, long-time PR bloggers Steve Rubel and Jeremy Pepper have joined forces to form PepperRubel PR. Perhaps in a testament to their blogging roots, it was another blogger, me, that discovered their new venture.
It started this morning when I was looking over my blog stats (yes that's #4 on the list) when I noticed an inbound referral from the domain name PepperRubel.com. That of course caught my attention.
I checked out the web site and found nothing, just a blank page. Using an old web developer's trick I tried a few other addresses such as http://PepperRubel.com/default2.htm and http://PepperRubel.com/default2.asp. It was http://PepperRubel.com/index2.html that worked! On that page I found the logo and their tagline: We put the PR in PR.
I immediately contacted Steve and Jeremy to confirm what I saw. It seems that their longtime blog feud was a carefully crafted pr campaign that we all fell for.
Jeremy and Steve secretly met over a year and a half ago. From that meeting they hatched their plan to independently build their blogging reputations for the next 18 months. Taking a cue from professional wrestling, the two PR dynamos created an elaborate storyline to build the perception that they were arch-enemies. Steve played the hero while Jeremy assumed the role of the villian. The illusion of a bitter PR blog war would only heighten the buzz when they would eventually join forces.
Steve and Jeremy had planned to formally announce their new venture on Monday, April 3rd, but my discovery has forced them to move it to today.
Visitor Comments
applause!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: jeneane | April 1, 2006 11:22 AM
Josh what great sleuthing! Congratulations on you discovery!
Have a great weekend.
Posted by: Carol | April 1, 2006 11:22 AM
bravo!
Posted by: Robert French | April 1, 2006 11:47 AM
I can neither confirm nor deny what you have found.
It's a combination, though, of my balanced view and Rubel's exuberance on blogging. So, the right middle ground.
Posted by: Jeremy Pepper | April 1, 2006 12:09 PM
Are they hiring? :-)
Posted by: Gary Goldhammer | April 1, 2006 12:25 PM
Good investigative citizen journalism, Josh!
Posted by: Neville Hobson | April 1, 2006 12:25 PM
Josh - love the logo and that's what gave the April Fools joke away. Steve would never stoop to second billing ;-) and neither with Jeremy .. would bave to be a whole new identify Great post!
Posted by: Toby | April 1, 2006 12:29 PM
Toby - alphabetical, baby, alphabetical.
Posted by: Jeremy Pepper | April 1, 2006 12:35 PM
Nothing in the blogosphere amazes me anymore. Good for them both. I can't wait to hear their podcast.
Posted by: Blake | April 1, 2006 12:45 PM
And a happy April fool's Day to you too Josh. ;)
Posted by: Stephen | April 1, 2006 12:55 PM
Pizzo Rosenblum Public Relations (PR PR) of New Orleans has been defunct for many years, but as they still own the service mark, Charles Pizzo and Edie Rosenblum have announced the filing of an infringement lawsuit against PepperRubel Public Relations. Details to come.
Posted by: Shel Holtz | April 1, 2006 1:12 PM
...and if they name it PeBel (or RuPer?), it'll even qualify for Web 2.0 valuation. Do I hear $750M? :-)
Posted by: Zoli Erdos | April 1, 2006 1:41 PM
Darn, your prank's better than mine. Arf-arf! I mean, Ike-Ike!
Posted by: benny bix labradoodle | April 1, 2006 1:59 PM
*scurries to his copy of the New Testament*
Yup... It's right there in the book of Revelations...
"And, lo, there was a trumpet blast from the east, and verily did doth two warring mouths join as one..."
I'd tell you more, but I just looked at my blackberry and the "slaughter of innocents" is scheduled for noon PST. Gotta hop...
Posted by: Phil Gomes | April 1, 2006 2:45 PM
So, with Steve leaving Edelman, I'm surprised Chapel/Connolly haven't announced the winner of the pool.
Unless, is PepperRubel now a division of Edelman?
Then it'll be E-PR? e-PR? That's even better.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Driehorst | April 1, 2006 10:33 PM
Applause, Bravo! Laurent
Posted by: Laurent Flores | April 2, 2006 8:06 AM
I should have guessed the April Fool's element. My first thought was that they liked your Empirical Polk (www.empiricalpolk.com) logo so much that they made theirs a sincere form of flattery.
Posted by: Barry Friedman | April 2, 2006 2:05 PM
I just ran a detailed advancced text-mining analysis of all the conversation and back and forth between Pepper/Rubel over past 2 years and the computer readout insists this is mathematical impossibility. :-)
Posted by: Pete Blackshaw | April 3, 2006 10:44 AM