Gossip

Joost a moment! Who actually IS responsible? Cohn & Wolfe? "I know nothing..."

The blurb on the invite couldn't be plainer: three questions, the answer to all of which is, apparently, Cohn & Wolfe. The questions:  "Who was responsible for the global launch of Joost, one of the most talked about online TV services this year? Who introduced Piczo, one of the fastest growing social networking sites, to the UK's media and blogging community? Who claimed the 2006 PR Week Award for Best New Media Campaign for their work around O2's Live8 campaign?

And the invite insists: "The answer to all of the above is Cohn & Wolfe's Business & Technology division, who are hosting a drinks evening on 28th February and would be delighted if you could come along."

It just so happens that all of us here at NewsWireless have been trying to find a PR contact for Joost, for some time. So your Sniffer was given the invite, and told "Call that number!"

A delightfully giggly gurly answered. "Oh, I'm sure if you come along to the drinks," she gushed, "then there will be someone there who can talk about it." Two weeks from now? No! - we need someone now. What's the switchboard number?

Dialling got us nowhere: Ms Gigglesome had given us her own direct line -which rang straight to voicemail. So we looked up Cohn& Wolfe on the Internet. Strange web site. It has a search function:

OK, let's look up C&W in the UK. That site shows a phone number! - so we dialled.

"Joost! Joost?" Utter bafflement from the switchboard, who said she was putting us through.

The executive who answered the phone responded instantly: "No, it's not us. I'll put you through to the right department" - and put us through to C&W consumer. Who also said:

"No, it's not us. I'll put you through...

It was getting silly, so we interrupted, and explained that we wanted a Joost contact. Now. Not the person who'd invited us to drinks. Someone who was involved with Joost. Not someone who might be at the party in two weeks. Today. NOW

"Oh. I'm afraid I know nothing," said our cheerfully helpful contact. OK, it's not London. Try New York? Another switchboard. "Joost? What's that?"

We repeated the name. "Hold on..." said the operator. Four seconds later, they hung up. We persisted, and were told that a Matt Woolfrom would help. Voicemail. And it times out after 60 seconds!

Joost who was responsible for Joost's launch? It clearly can't have been Cohn & Wolfe!