Derren Brown: The Art of Understanding
I admire two people. One is dead and one alive. The dead one is the great American showman PT Barnum. He is my muse. Why? Discovering his legacy influenced my thinking on the power of the crowd enormously. Barnum’s majestic stunts were works of genius – they went viral long, long before that word sneaked […]
How to Survive in Media Limbo
In the wake of Cheryl Cole’s turbulent relationship with the media since her sacking from the American X Factor, here are some tips, inspired by Andy Green, that might help her through any other media difficulties that may come her way in future. Cheryl’s recent sacking is an opportunity to re-evaluate her identity and learn […]
Libya: exploiting the vulnerable
News from Libya this morning suggests a new low in the country’s civil war. An ICC report accuses government forces of using rape as a weapon. It’s a wretched fact that women become even more vulnerable during such malevolent hostilities. According to a recent Oxfam report, as many as 14 women are raped every day […]
Publicity Stunt? What Publicity Stunt?
The great Ronan Parke caper seemed to just fizzle out yesterday. Pre- the Britain’s Got Talent final, it seemed the final hype was upstaged by a rogue blogger. The disgruntled record exec-come-whistleblower touched a raw nerve with his well-written conspiracy theory suggesting that Britain’s wannabe Beiber had actually been ruthlessly groomed by the Dark Lord, […]
The Ego Has Landed
Britain’s Got Talent has rolled around again and again the nation is gripped. Out with the old and in with the new. It’s been this way for a while. Remember, it’s not five minutes since the X Factor was all anyone could talk about, but that’s seeped away into the mists of time as BGT […]
How to manage a celebrity's reputation
I have known Keith Schilling for many years; he’s a highly able human being. On many occasions I’ve worked alongside some brilliant folk in his firm and have regularly taken part in their brilliant, thought-provoking, well attended seminars. In the last few days, Keith has been pictured in many broadsheet newspapers as journalists debate and […]
The revolution in celebrity
It’s an unimaginable horror to be in the middle of an awful tabloid scandal, your human frailty laid bare. Yes dear reader – I’ve been there when it’s happened. It’s a dark, sad, dank and lonely space. Watching and being with the subject is not the most edifying part of my job, witnessing a tsunami […]
Twitter: mightier than the sword?
A wry smile crossed my lips when I heard the news that lawyers have applied for a court order to force Twitter to hand over the person behind the whistleblower account. It’s taken one anonymous tweeter to spectacularly out the famous footballer hiding behind his privacy injunction and, in a heartbeat, neuter the legal profession. […]
More Schwarznegger Shock Revelations!
It’s impossible to escape the stories spilling out everywhere about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s love child – but did you know about the Sperminator’s long-lost half brother? Neither did I, but then I saw the clip below – a clip from Russian TV featuring a terrible mime from a man who looked vaguely familiar. I did a […]
Trial by Twitter
Continuing the debate on the challenges that the PR industries face in the digital age, the Dominique Strauss-Kahn affair underlines some of the issues that I opened for discussion last week. It’s a hot topic, particularly as the story has broken at a time when many companies are becoming less and less tolerant of any […]
Careful what you wish for in the new communications age
According to Private Eye, Times media correspondent Patrick Foster was sacked after being earwigged by the BBC’s head of Press during a call in which he made a rather inappropriate comment to Caroline Thomson, the BBC’s chief operating officer. Paul Mylrea, head of press at the Beeb, swiftly raced off a letter of complaint to […]
Remembering the Legends of Journalism
My favourite website of the moment remembers a long forgotten media age and celebrates the memory of a breed of journalism that seems to have vanished. The website is thegentlemenranters.com and it features splendid stories and reminiscences about such legends as the late Peter Batt and Leo Clancy, both of whom died recently.
Super-Injunctions and Changing the Way We Think
This is the modern age, the age of the super-injunction, the age when celebrities want to keep their dirty laundry in bomb- and journalist-proof cages so that not even the slightest whiff of scandal can escape. Of course, it’s just not as easy as that, as the furore over someone posting information on Twitter about […]
The Ghosts of Business Nightmares Past
I’ll be appearing on BBC2 next week, as one of the interviewees in three part series Business Nightmares, with Evan Davis. I’ll be appearing in all three episodes, which cover product design and manufacture, marketing and PR and strategy and deals, discussing stories such as Sunny Delight, Hoover free flights, Ratner, Mini, New Coke and […]
Changing Narratives and the Death of Osama Bin Laden
The ever-changing narratives surrounding the ritualistic slaying of Osama Bin Laden has spewed up a slew of conundrums. It should also teach publicists valuable lessons about the pitfalls of a contemporary story engine, brand messaging turned cariacature and the conditions of the modern news mill. Instinctively, a good publicist understands how to engineer a simple […]
The Royal Wedding: Rebranding the House of Windsor?
The marriage of Princess Diana’s son struck a new beginning -the British Monarchy. Prince William is the great white hope, a fresh face with his mother’s heart and compassion. He will, in time, lead the Firm into a new age. The question is when?
The relaunch of the brand involved an extraordinary, experiential three ring circus full of pomp and pageantry. Tinged with a bourgeois romance and a certain playfulness, the wedding was sealed with a snog that adorned the front pages from Stockport to Shanghai.
Spin, Weddings, Money and the House of Windsor
Piers Morgan dismisses the idea that the British Secret services ever murdered anyone. In a new movie documentary feature, Unlawful Killing, Piers suggests, if MI5 don’t kill the baddies, what’s the point of them? I feel that the new Royal couple may have a similar problem. I might have got hold of the wrong end […]
The Art of Change
Is there any excuse for a deferral, hidden behind the familiar “no comment”? For the first time in my career, I find myself pondering this Churchillian aphorism. “No comment” is a splendid expression which I am using again and again. My old cohorts launched a new offering via PR Week last week, which naturally pasted […]
The Cowell Question
The Observer is asking the big question – is Svengali in chief Simon Cowell essential to the X Factor? Two journalists debate the pros and cons, intersecting the public conversation surrounding Cowell’s migration to America. But neither address Cowell’s principal ingredient, his enormous power to influence the hype and guide the off-screen narrative. After watching […]
The Generation of Now
Of course PR folk and their clients need to address the challenges that face them in a world where social networks are revolutionizing the planet. We know we need to engage a whole new generation of consumers whose values are being reshaped almost daily by their new social dialogue. It’s now harder then ever to […]