A week on, and I am still thinking about that bizarre, telling moment: JD Vance standing beside Donald Trump as Volodymyr Zelensky, a wartime leader, was questioned, not about war, democracy, or geopolitics, but about why he wasn’t wearing a suit.It was a question that should have been inconsequential. Instead, it became a symbol of […]
Question of the day: Can Meghan Markle teach us something about PR? Is Meghan the undisputed empress of reinvention, or merely the architect of strategic bewilderment? One minute, she’s launching American Riviera Orchard, a name dripping with sun-dappled exclusivity. The next, she’s pivoting to As Ever, a brand so nebulous it could be selling artisanal […]
Topic of the week the inaugural Musk salute. Oh, the delicious irony of it all. The world’s richest attention seeker has finally jumped the shark, and we’re all pretending to be shocked. About as shocking as a celebrity’s “candid” paparazzi shot. Pure performance, darling, and not even a good one.Look, I’ve spent decades watching the […]
Ah, the Grammys—where music is an afterthought, and the real winners are those who can manufacture the most viral hysteria. And this year’s undisputed champion? Bianca Censori, Kanye West’s latest human installation piece, who arrived cloaked in fur only to dramatically shed it, revealing… well, almost nothing. Should the City of Coventry be filing a […]
Do we have a blind spot? Is there a delusion we can’t see? When Trump won in 2016, and Brexit divided the nation, the “experts” didn’t pause to question what they missed. Instead, they cocooned themselves in an echo chamber, stuck in a loop talking about interference and manipulation. Looking back, they were utterly disconnected […]
Let’s discuss Gregg Wallace and his white-van-man alter ego. A man who has turned his once reliable MasterChef charm into a full-blown case study in professional implosion. Watching him navigate his downfall has been like observing a soufflé collapse in slow motion: utterly predictable, yet still oddly fascinating.There are issues aplenty arising from the allegations levelled against […]
As a showbiz publicist, I know about the Faustian pact between famous people and the public. Stars think they understand it, but they really don’t.As the worldwide tributes continue, the tragic death of Liam Payne at the cruel age of just 31 has shaken the foundations of how we perceive celebrity and fame. As a publicist […]
A fortnight ago Rishi Sunak apologised for the damage he did to the credibility of popular trainer brand Adidas Sambas after wearing a pair in a podcast interview, during one of his infinite attempts to appear down with the kids.Adidas were presumably still reeling from the reputation damage caused by a stuffy right wing politician […]
I’ve been asked by a few people, including the The Guardian, for a communications perspective on reports that Elon Musk’s Barnum-esque page pageantry is having a negative impact on Tesla’s sales and share price. A charismatic figurehead is critical to effectively communicating and ultimately adding value to a business. Still, Musk risks becoming a cautionary […]
I’ve been asked by a few people, including the The Guardian, for a communications perspective on reports that Elon Musk’s Barnum-esque page esque pageantry is having a negative impact on Tesla’s sales and share price. A charismatic figurehead is critical to effectively communicating and ultimately adding value to a business. Still, Musk risks becoming a cautionary tale about […]