I’ve known both Jeremy Pepper and Steve Rubel for over a year now and like many of you, I’ve found their feud amusing, and at times frustrating. Frustrating because they are two of the best, smartest, cleverest PR people I know and having them at odds with each other serves no one.
But a couple of months ago, I noticed a change. Nothing I could put my finger on, but while I was out in Palo Alto last month I noticed Jeremy got very quiet whenever Steve’s name came up. Mysteriously quiet. Clearly, something was afoot.
Well Josh Hallett has the scoop. Today, April 1, 2006, a new powerhouse in PR is born.
Quoting Josh:
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.
Congrats guys. Looking back, I’m sure all of us in the PR blogosphere will remember April 1, 2006.
