Don’t Do That: Don’t Lie to Reporters (They’ll Find Out) with Jimmy Moock, StreetCred
Summary:
What happens when you inflate your firm’s numbers in a press release?
Jimmy Moock, Managing Partner at StreetCred, has a simple answer: reporters will check, you’ll get caught, and the damage will spread fast. In this episode, Jimmy and host Kelly Waltrich cut through the noise to reveal what actually makes news in financial services and what should stay in the drafts folder.
Jimmy brings 25 years of financial services PR experience to a conversation that feels more like two friends solving problems over coffee than a typical interview. He and Kelly worked together during her time at Orion, where they turned founder Eric Clark into a household name through thoughtful storytelling and strategic positioning. Now with their own firms, they share hard-won lessons about the intersection of marketing and PR.
Jimmy walks through what reporters actually care about versus what gets immediately tossed. He explains why your new hire announcement probably isn’t newsworthy, when integration news matters (and when it doesn’t), and how to approach event-related press releases without getting lost in the noise. Jimmy also shares a cringe-worthy story from his early career involving a Wu-Tang Clan name generator, an accidental email to a major client, and a fake firing that taught him a lesson he’s never forgotten.
Kelly and Jimmy cover:
00:00 – How Kelly and Jimmy met during their Orion days
01:32 – The client-PR dynamic
04:36 – The Fosberry Flop: Eric Clark’s thought leadership genius
08:38 – Has fintech innovation news been replaced by M&A headlines?
11:35 – AI fatigue: Are reporters over it or just more skeptical?
14:47 – What people think is news (but isn’t)
15:13 – New hire announcements: When they matter and when they don’t
19:41 – Being first vs. being an option in enterprise deals
21:14 – Event announcements: User conferences vs. trade shows
24:25 – Dropping news at events and fighting for attention
27:32 – Jimmy’s personal “Don’t Do That”: The Wu-Tang Clan email incident
31:29 – The big Don’t Do That: Never lie or inflate numbers to reporters
33:32 – Why the ADV is easily checked and credibility is everything
35:17 – Kelly’s reminder: The world is too small for even little lies
36:26 – Jimmy’s final advice: What to look for in a PR firm
37:57 – The power of great PR and marketing working together
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About Our Guest
Legend has it that during Jimmy’s public relations internship during the summer of 1998 he landed a client on CNBC’s “Power Lunch” during his first week on the job. He spent the following six years in the fast-paced, high energy, creative New York City public relations environment where he worked closely with numerous C-level executives on their business communications initiatives. Clients ranged from Fortune 500 conglomerates to dotcom start-ups that focused on everything from consumer finance to broadcast television cameras to content delivery. He even launched one of the first DVD recorders in case anyone still uses one of those. For each client, Jimmy was responsible for publicizing multiple launches, product lines or service offerings while also aiding in the overall enhancement of his clients’ communications needs and objectives.
For the past 15 years, Jimmy has been focused on leading campaigns for clients comprised of registered investment advisory firms, mutual fund complexes, hedge funds, ETFs, family offices, along with numerous other entities in the financial services ecosystem. Over the years, Jimmy has cultivated and fostered many one-on-one, personal relationships with top-tier financial, business, consumer, and broadcast media personalities via his positions held in New York City and Philadelphia.