Why CEOs must get PRs on board
Danny Rogers, the editor of PR Week, has, in a recent Independent article, highlighted a curious phenomenon blighting the boards of the majority of FTSE 100 firms. According to a recent survey, 54% of them still do not have a communications expert at executive board level. Considering that in the modern climate, most major decisions […]
The Hillsborough Disaster and the Fresh Dangers of Media Manipulation
The long-overdue answers about police conduct during the appalling Hillsborough disaster have captured the media, and particularly the red-top, imagination. It’s small wonder- the tragedy is ingrained into our national psyche to a degree unmatched by any comparable event. Understandably, the families of the 96 have campaigned unrelentingly for justice, but the fascination extends beyond […]
How do you solve a problem like Frankie? Channel 4 joins the major leagues
Channel 4’s valiant efforts at major sports broadcasting have met two very particular challenges this week, each testing their capacity to cope with the full burden of an excitable, demanding and very very large public. It’s a classic David/Goliath situation. Channel 4, having spent a good deal of promotional budget painting itself as the rising […]
Twitter or Trad PR? Always Check the Bathwater for Babies
The past few years have seen huge debate in the PR industry around the radical reshaping of public relations. Why, asked the naysayers, would a Celeb employ a PR in an age where they can use Twitter to break stories, correct rumours, build their brand and offer coveted insights into their lives? DIY was the […]
Bradley Wiggins- a new breed of celebrity
This post originally appeared yesterday on The Huffington Post. Bradley Wiggins’ success in the Tour de France was testament to the willpower, training and raw talent of an individual. His stellar status in the media- whilst certainly not hindered by his victory – has more to do with his suitability as a new kind of […]
Crisps, schoolkids and rumblings of Olympic legacy trouble
The latest draconian sponsorship enforcement measures for London 2012 were spread across the tabloids yesterday. Allegedly, the angelic schoolkids selected for Danny Boyle’s green and pleasant opening ceremony will be forced by sponsor Adidas to either wear their trainers, or trainers with no branding visible. Meanwhile, reports have come in of police guards forced to […]
Bob Diamond and the Perils of Opacity
After a period of quivering, the Barclay’s house of cards finally crumbled this week, with Marcus Agius’s remarkable u-turn and Bob Diamond’s final resignation. The whole confusion points to something of a head in the sand culture among senior leadership, with mistakes perhaps ignored and accountability certainly a convoluted issue. Barclays’ has certainly had a […]
Harnessing the crowd, and knowing what they want (what they really really want)
The tremendous response this week to the launch of Viva Forever! The Musical(manhandled by my esteemed colleague Dee McCourt and her team of pixies) probably came as a surprise to many in the higher echelons of the arts and media world. Yet the tremendous outpourings on twitter, not to mention the reams of coverage and […]
What brands can learn from Jimmy Carr's mistakes
The issues arising from scrutiny of Jimmy Carr’s tax affairs have much to teach us about the proper handling of a crisis and structuring of a brand strategy in the Now economy. The affair encapsulates problems which are endemic to any brand- the reason I’ve enjoyed giving some much commentary on the whole sordid business […]
A Major Record Deal
At Borkowski towers we took in John Major’s statesmanlike Leveson testimony with bated breath, gathered around a single laptop like blond-mopped 30s tots listening timorous but resolute to the velvety tones of Churchill on the wireless, the glow of the screen illuminating our haggard faces like a ray of hope stealing through the curtains of […]
The Royals and Us: Is it Really So Rosy, Or Just Another Fad?
The following originally appeared on huffingtonpost.co.uk on June 2nd In the run-up to the Jubilee juggernaut, the western media has become obsessed with the newfound brand success of the British Royal Family aka Brand GB – pomp and circumstance consolidated holdings. Whatever your feelings on Good Queen Bess and her spawn, it’s impossible to ignore […]
Martyr Coulson
A good sacrifice is one that is not necessarily sound but leaves your opponent dazed and confused.
The Eurovision Spin Contest- Symptom of a Neutered Press?
Looking forward to kicking back for some good old fashioned guilty pleasure in front of Eurovision this Saturday? Not as much as the President of Azerbaijan. His eagerness to use the contest for international relations purposes has been evident since his just slightly hyperbolic description of his nation’s 2011 triumph as ‘a victory for the […]
The Voice v BGT: another limp response from the Beeb
The eventual defeat of The Voice by the Cowell war machine- compounded by that too perfect final story about the crew watching BGT in the gallery- has far more to do with the BBC’s mentality than it does with the show. Once again, the beeb has shown itself to be something of a shrinking violet, […]
The Wettest Drought on Record
“The Wettest Drought on Record”: so a dry wit in the back row of a client meeting recently described our current weather situation to me. It’s a spectacularly British situation to be in- a combination of monsoon-esque precipitation levels and poor local planning found nowhere other than Virgil’s ‘edge of the world’. The whole situation […]
A piece for the Fresh Awards (www.freshawards.co.uk- originally released in their newsletter)
Earlier this week, I became fascinated as a journalist acquaintance of mine- Grace Dent- suffered a much publicised insult at the hands of a young PR executive with a too-happy twitter finger. The guy, in what we can only assume was a moment of alcohol-fuelled ill judgement, as well as somewhat startling boorishness, offered an […]
Pippa- Maybe down but Not Out
A deep collective breath is perhaps needed. Pippa Middleton’s identification with firearms last weel, thanks to the somewhat incautious actions of friend Romain Rabillard, has led many to predict that her fledging career in the public eye is already over. Like her sister, runs the thinking, Middleton’s image relies on propriety- all 3 Middleton siblings […]
Tupac Rises and Forsythe Shambles Forth- What British Stuntsters Could Learn from Across the Pond
It looks like Tupac Shakur’s back on top for the foreseeable future- it was announced today that his frankly rather terrifying hologram will be going on tour following its first outing at Coachella festival. More than anything else, this is proof of the remarkable power of a great stunt- and is a blow for the […]
What did Trenton Oldfield Mean for Stuntsters?
Back at the start of last week, wherever you turned in mediaworld you found someone sticking their oar in (sorry) to the discussion on wayward idealist Australian Trenton Oldfield and his Pankhurst-esque self-sacrificial boat race stunt. I shan’t bother now to throw in my two cents about the morality of Oldfield’s actions, but I do […]
Tim Bell: A Surprisingly Erudite Spokesman for an Industry
Allow me to begin, somewhat cautiously, with a disclaimer: I do not agree with many of the political or moral views of Tim Bell, the legendary ex-S&S lobbying supremo who has found himself continually in the spotlight since the emergence of the Bell Pottinger scandal last year. Without going too far into it, I have […]