What is Ryan Reynolds doing on LinkedIn?
Financial Times
Perhaps what the presence of stars on LinkedIn represents is the new mundanity of celebrity culture. Mark Borkowski, a PR agent, says stars such as “Richard Burton in the 1960s were known for their charismatic and often rebellious personalities. They were cultural icons who embraced a more flamboyant and turbulent lifestyle. Today’s celebrities are different, they tread safer territory. The world has gone corporate.” As far as social media goes, LinkedIn is a pretty safe space.
https://www.ft.com/content/e718b81c-b1ce-4c50-be7b-579c9079144f
Power struggle! ‘Fears for Tess Daly’ as Holly Willoughby tipped for Strictly
OK!
PR guru Mark Borkowski believes any changes to the hugely successful show, which pulls in up to seven million viewers an episode, could prove unpopular with audiences and understands viewers’ fears over the possibility of losing the current hosts.
He says, “The fans’ fears over Tess leaving the show are totally understandable. People are habitual and resist change when it comes to programmes. They might fear she and Claudia are being pushed aside – and I think if I was in Tess’s or Claudia’s shoes I would be worried by the rumour.”
https://www.ok.co.uk/celebrity-news/power-struggle-fears-tess-daly-30360429
What kind of Prince of Wales will William be?
CBC
“Producing content takes a lot of hard work, diligence and a great team,” British PR expert Mark Borkowski said in an interview.
For Harry and Meghan, however, their road has turned decidedly bumpy as of late, with a barrage of negative headlines in the U.S. media. Word also emerged of a mutual agreement between the couple and Spotify to end their deal to produce podcasts.
“Spotify’s choice to sever ties with Meghan and Harry may result in a significant financial setback for the couple,” Borkowski wrote in an online blog. “This decision also casts doubts on their dwindling aspirations of attaining the status they crave.”
Much of what has come content-wise from Harry and Meghan so far has been focused on their connection with the Royal Family, and their grievances.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/william-prince-of-wales-homelessness-harry-meghan-louis-trudeau-king-charles-1.6894042?cmp=rss
Why secretive super-rich hold key to philanthropy’s PR problem
Spear's
Borkowski, who runs his own eponymous communications outfit, told the crowd that when it comes to giving, it’s crucial for those involved to be ‘constantly evaluating why they’re doing something’.
‘If people are genuinely authentic about their giving and what they’re doing, I think there’s a stability and truth in it,’ Borkowski said. Conversely, when undertaken for the wrong reasons, philanthropy ‘casts a shadow,’ he added.
Borkowski recounted a seeing a family who had a strong legacy of giving toward development projects over a 30-year period, but ‘would rather stay back, and not involve themselves, or boast or be seen’.
‘It’s a very laudable attitude, but obviously there are ways you can communicate [philanthropy] to protect you,’ he added.
https://spearswms.com/impact-philanthropy/spears-500-live-we-dont-know-enough-about-philanthropy/
Could the Harry and Meghan ‘double act’ be over?
Daily Mail
“Meanwhile, PR expert Mark Borkowski said: ‘Clearly they could be returning to their strengths.
‘Harry to Africa, Meghan to life style and fashion – if the content they either suggested or produced has proved not to work or has not produced the numbers – they are focusing on what has worked in the past and is something they are passionately entwined with.
‘Harry can create a theme of authenticity – however, it strikes me they could be better solo rather than a double act’.
Despite recent deals breaking down, it appears Harry’s proposal for a documentary on Africa might be on the cards after he apparently ‘puzzled’ Spotify executives with some of his podcast ideas including claims he pitched to interview Vladimir Putin, Mark Zuckerberg and Donald Trump about ‘childhood trauma’.”
Harry and Meghan’s new Netflix Great Expectations project ‘is nothing new’
Daily Mail
As news of ‘Bad Manners’ emerged, PR expert Mark Borkowski said their lack of success so far showed they were failing to produce shows that interest the public.
He told MailOnline: ‘Studio execs are subject to constant pitches ideas that have to be good. It shows they might be too far away from their audience tastes. Worthy content has to be good it’s not about broadcasting to their bubble.’
‘Worthy content has to be good…it’s not just about broadcasting to their bubble’: says PR expert
Mail Online
PR expert Mark Borkowski said their lack of success so far showed they were failing to produce shows that interest the public.
He told MailOnline: ‘Studio execs are subject to constant pitches ideas that have to good. It shows they might be too far away from their audience tastes. Worthy content has to be good it’s not about broadcasting to their bubble.’
So what’s next for Harry and Meghan after £18M Spotify deal was axed?
Daily Mail
MARK BORKOWSKI, founder of Borkowski PR
‘From my position it’s incredibly interesting times for them. If they had value to specify they would certainly still be taking the Spotify shilling. But it’s very damaging when a top Spotify executive calls them ‘grifters’.
‘Do we see a teetering stack of dominos that are going to fall with the other deals they’ve got? It remains a bright future for Meghan if she goes down the lifestyle route – she can do that. But Harry’s no David Beckham.
‘What makes them attractive is they’re worth the clickbait that they might drag in, but on the other hand it doesn’t allow them to control the story.
‘Therefore what role is there for Harry? He’s no style icon, he’s no George Clooney, he’s built for purpose. They’ve got to establish what their brand is.
‘But I have severe doubts they’re going to be clothes horses for Dior or Armani or whatever – as soon as one big name falls away others are likely to look at it.
‘Is this unpicking the thread about their whole brand and what it stands for? That’s why there’s a crisis at the moment, not created by them, but the death of probably their most publicised contract. They haven’t had the right team to deliver for them.
‘It’s great to have a book deal of such scale but it depends on Harry digging out more visceral stuff. There’s been a lot of problems with people dumping them and not engaging with them. What will he have as a compelling book, when he’s played lots of the cards he’s got to play already. What’s the content? It’s all down to the quality of the content he’s going to deliver
‘Netflix will be examining the value of their deal, whether it’s worth it. Harry and Meghan have got to get a team that will deliver for them. But also they’ve got to be able to deal with someone who can peddle the truth for them – and to date they haven’t been good at dealing with the naysayers.
‘They face a big crisis of who they are and the only fix of that is actually getting positive PR around the team that they are rebuilding. I’d be signing up very big names to surround them.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/royals/article-12221931/PR-experts-say-Harry-Meghan.html
Has the boujie brigade ruined Glastonbury?
Evening Standard
For Mark Borkowski, the PR consultant, putting up a fence in 2002 was a “turning point” for the festival’s scale and momentum, and its profits, as it removed the mass break-ins which had led to seriously safety concerns and helped thwart the criminal gangs which had dogged the festival.
If this made it more professional, more commercially viable and therefore a place where the upper echelons of society wish to tread, many would say safety offset any complaints about ‘selling out’.
“For a long time the organisers have wrestled with the demands of putting on and clearing up a festival of this size — which is one hell of a bill — but also staying true to the spirit of Glastonbury,” he explains.
“I’ve worked with lots of booze and telecoms brands who would love to reach the Glastonbury audience but Michael Eavis is still an old hippy farmer and it’s just not in his make-up.
“Their biggest branding opportunities are still for charities — Oxfam, WaterAid, Greenpeace and Amnesty International have all been partners — and being on the BBC limits what they can show commercially.
I think everyone realises that no one wants to be sold capitalist messages while they’re at Glastonbury.”
Unlike smaller festivals, Glastonbury is so vast that it can afford to have a couple of “low-key sponsors” and not “kill the vibe”. This year’s partners are Vodafone and Brooklyn Brewery. “It’s a hedonistic weekend and a rite of passage,” adds Borkowski. “Look at the Brit Awards, it feels like a night for corporate sponsors ”
Borkowski says the luxury accommodation is just a “natural progression” of how live music events have evolved. “Festivals have matured, as have the audiences — they’re not just for a bunch of hippies any more.”
I’ve been to Glastonbury many times, in many different forms — from a skint 18-year-old staying in a leaky tent and wearing child’s size wellies that didn’t fit (they were cheaper than the adult version), to blagging a hospitality ticket as a guest of one of the sponsors.
Of course Glastonbury has changed. Yes, it’s still overwhelmingly white, but it’s getting more diverse. You see more influencers now, more people who look like they wanted to go to Glyndebourne and took a wrong turn.
But the beauty of Glastonbury is that it somehow contains multitudes. The site is so infinite that there’s space for all comers to find their version of fun, whether that’s posing at the Stone Circle for the ‘Gram with halloumi fries and an ice-cold Pimms, or slumped in a k-hole somewhere near The Other Stage, with a flagon of warm cider. At least you hope it’s cider.
And for anyone heading to Glastonbury today with just a two-person tent, take heart in the knowledge that you’re embodying the spirit of the original festival. “The toilets were very grim, very early on in the weekend,” recalls Lynne Telfer, of her experience 53 years ago. “They were filthy right from the start.” At least some things never change.
https://www.standard.co.uk/insider/has-the-boujie-brigade-ruined-glastonbury-b1089339.html
Meghan’s Dior audition? Resurfaced clip from 2015 crime drama shows the Duchess of Sussex playing a perfume model
Mail Online
PR guru Mark Borkowski told MailOnline today that it is not yet clear if a deal with Dior is already done – or if the Sussexes are touting for one. ‘It shows that they have great power in fashion and they are wanted by fashion houses. It is easier to be a clothes horse than an issues warrior’, he said.
…
Mr Borkowski said: ‘It could be a case of poking the bear (to get a deal) or I suspect that is something that has been running for a while in terms of a negotiation and it now manifests itself into something.
‘It’s no coincidence that they are veering towards fashion. They are more comfortable in this world. Style over substance. It does seem to be a series of weird coincidences: Harry wears a Dior suit at the coronation and Dior at the hacking case and now a deal may be in the offing.’
Meghan Markle accused of ‘faking’ interviews with guests for £18m Archetypes podcast dropped by Spotify
LBC
According to PR guru Mark Borkowski, it is not clear whether the deal is done, but says the couple are clearly angling towards fashion.
“It shows that they have great power in fashion and they are wanted by fashion houses. It is easier to be a clothes horse than an issues warrior”, he told MailOnline.
He continued: “It could be a case of poking the bear (to get a deal) or I suspect that is something that has been running for a while in terms of a negotiation and it now manifests itself into something.
“It’s no coincidence that they are veering towards fashion. They are more comfortable in this world.
“Style over substance. It does seem to be a series of weird coincidences: Harry wears a Dior suit at the coronation and Dior at the hacking case and now a deal may be in the offing”
https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/meghan-markle-fake-interviews-podcast/
‘Health and safety wouldn’t allow it now’: the stories behind Glastonbury’s wildest stunts
Daily Telegraph
But forget publicity stunts. In 1990 there was a real stunt at Glastonbury that knocks all the preceding examples into a cocked druid’s hat. A Frenchman called Didier Pasquette walked to the pinnacle of the Pyramid stage on a tightrope. It was part of a death-defying display by theatre troupe Archaos, who remain the only circus act to ever perform on Glastonbury’s main stage. People involved can still scarcely believe what they saw. “You couldn’t do it now. You just couldn’t get it past health and safety. It’s a different world,” says Mark Borkowski, the PR veteran who looked after Archaos at the time. “More or less every performance with Archaos, somebody got injured.”
Pasquette didn’t. He was a world renowned tightrope walker who studied with Philippe Petit, who walked between the former Twin Towers in New York in 1974 (as immortalised in the 2008 film Man on Wire). And he stunned tens of thousands of fans waiting to see The Cure. “Anybody who saw it didn’t quite understand what was happening because it wasn’t billed, it was a big surprise. It was an art event in many ways,” says Borkowski. “The old Pyramid stage had a bit of a flat top to it. Didier walked up the side [on the wire], across the top and down the other side. He went to the pinnacle – there was lots of fire and explosions. And then The Cure came on.”
The event happened because Michael Eavis “was obsessed with Archaos, who between 1989 and 1992 were the most radical and life-changing act for many people, me included”, Borkowski says. Eavis has apparently said it was one of his favourite ever Glastonbury moments. “I don’t think they had any clothes on either,” recalled one witness, Polly Bradford, in 2004. It makes stencilling cows seem tame.
Harry and Meghan accused of being ‘afraid of hard work’ as they live ‘woke dream’ in US
Daily Express
Mark Borkowski, a public relations and crisis consultant, claimed the Spotify announcement would diminish what the Sussexes could receive from possible future episodes of the series.
He said: “Spotify and all the streamers who did very well out of lockdown are now looking hard at the costs – their algorithms don’t lie.
“If they were successful and they were valued by Spotify they would still be there.”
He added: “It shows that they don’t really have anything interesting to say and more importantly they don’t have critical friends in the centre of their organisation.
“And whatever you are as a content producer, you’ve got to sustain it over a period of time and you need the best team around you.”
https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/1782399/dan-wootton-criticises-harry-meghan-spotify
The Duke and Duchess of Dior? Experts say both Meghan AND Harry could be part of mega-bucks deal with French fashion house
Mail Online
PR guru Mark Borkowski told MailOnline today that it is not yet clear if a deal with Dior is already done – or if the Sussexes are touting for one. ‘It shows that they have great power in fashion and they are wanted by fashion houses. It is easier to be a clothes horse than an issues warrior’, he said.
…
Mr Borkowski said: ‘It could be a case of poking the bear (to get a deal) or I suspect that is something that has been running for a while in terms of a negotiation and it now manifests itself into something.
‘It’s no coincidence that they are veering towards fashion. They are more comfortable in this world. Style over substance. It does seem to be a series of weird coincidences: Harry wears a Dior suit at the coronation and Dior at the hacking case and now a deal may be in the offing.’
Why Spotify ‘ended its £15m deal’ with Harry and Meghan
Independent
Commenting on the likely reason Spotify ended its partnership with Archewell Audio, British crisis communications expert Mark Borkowski told the publication: “It’s always about the content…. clearly there hasn’t been a big enough audience for it.
“If you can’t deliver your fee, no one’s going to pay it,” he added.
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/prince-harry-meghan-markle-spotify-canceled-b2359985.html
How popular is Boris Johnson really?
The Sunday Times
Mark Borkowski, the PR expert, said Johnson was getting ahead of the curve in a way that will, at least, feed his base supporters. “He’s carved out his narrative, which many, many people will buy into because he’s a personality,” said Borkowski. “Chris Bryant [the Commons’ standards committee chairman] said, ‘People should read the report and see for themselves’. Well, nobody reads reports. Nobody reads small print.”
For this reason, Borkowski said, we cannot write off Johnson, especially when people have such short memories in politics. “It’s all about timing. He knows how to remain undefeated. He leaves the field of play now but the next few leaders still face a catalogue of problems. As more and more people prove they can’t deliver, he could step forward and point to his track record when he was in power.”
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/how-popular-is-boris-johnson-really-3sjngln9c
Why Spotify’s big bet on Meghan fell flat
BBC News
Crisis communications guru Mark Borkowski says the show may not have been compelling enough when Spotify reviewed the numbers.
“It’s always about the content…. clearly there hasn’t been a big enough audience for it,” he says. “If you can’t deliver your fee, no one’s going to pay it.”
Mr Borkowski says there is little doubt that the duke and duchess still have value as a media brand. But it may not be what it once was.
Polling for Newsweek earlier this year suggested the couple’s popularity in the US suffered following the publicity blitz surrounding their Netflix documentary series and the publication of Harry’s memoir, Spare. “The more Prince Harry and Meghan say, the less Americans like them,” was Newsweek’s headline.
Mr Borkowski says the pair, who stepped back as working royals in 2020, will have to “think hard” about what they can offer in whatever they do next.
“It’s a thread that’s been pulled out of the brand,” he says of the Spotify break-up. “If they want to stop it unravelling they’ve really got to think hard. The biggest question is are they going to learn from this setback or are they going to ignore it as just a blip.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65936228?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA
Sussexes advised to get ‘messaging right’ after lucrative Spotify deal ends
Evening Standard
Mark Borkowski, a public relations and crisis consultant, said the announcement would diminish what the Sussexes could receive from possibly future episodes of the series.
He said: “Spotify and all the streamers who did very well out of lockdown are now looking hard at the costs – their algorithms don’t lie.
“If they were successful and they were valued by Spotify they would still be there.”
He added: “It shows that they don’t really have anything interesting to say and more importantly they don’t have critical friends in the centre of their organisation. And whatever you are as a content producer, you’ve got to sustain it over a period of time and you need the best team around you.”
…
Mr Borkowski suggested they needed to learn from this setback and attract a “top team” to help with creating content.
He said the Sussexes needed to consider “we’re not getting our messaging right for our audience” and that maybe their followers were “not looking for great pronouncements on civil society… maybe what they want from Meghan is a lifestyle brand”.
While from Harry, whose controversial memoir Spare heavily criticised the royal family, it might be more royal “soap opera”.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/meghan-harry-sussex-duchess-mariah-carey-b1088444.html
What does end of Spotify deal mean for Harry and Meghan?
The Guardian
Mark Borkowski, a crisis PR consultant and author, said the end of the Spotify deal was not just bad for the couple’s brand, it also started “picking away the seams” of a lot of their other projects.
“You can see this being a bit of a domino that leads to other problems,” Borkowski said. “Will they be able to keep their engine running? The next deal isn’t going to be as much as the Spotify or Netflix deal and they’re gradually heading towards becoming busted flush. They’ve been isolated by the royal family, they’ve run out of steam.”
Borkowski believed statements about an amicable parting of ways were merely PR exercises. “If the Sussexes’ content was good enough, Spotify would not be dropping them. Let’s not be too romantic about it, it all comes back to the numbers and the costs of those numbers,” he said.
“There were all these hyped-up comparisons about the Sussexes being the new Obamas, but creating compelling content that is going to engage is incredibly difficult. In a world where there’s a million podcasts, you need to stand out.”
He said it was possible that the Sussexes were focusing on ways to expand Meghan’s wellness and lifestyle blog The Tig, given the success of Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop and Kourtney Kardashian’s Poosh.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jun/16/what-does-end-spotify-deal-mean-harry-meghan
Sussexes advised to get ‘messaging right’ after lucrative Spotify deal ends
Independent
Mark Borkowski, a public relations and crisis consultant, said the announcement would diminish what the Sussexes could receive from possibly future episodes of the series.
He said: “Spotify and all the streamers who did very well out of lockdown are now looking hard at the costs – their algorithms don’t lie.
“If they were successful and they were valued by Spotify they would still be there.”
He added: “It shows that they don’t really have anything interesting to say and more importantly they don’t have critical friends in the centre of their organisation. And whatever you are as a content producer, you’ve got to sustain it over a period of time and you need the best team around you.”
…
Mr Borkowski suggested they needed to learn from this setback and attract a “top team” to help with creating content.
He said the Sussexes needed to consider “we’re not getting our messaging right for our audience” and that maybe their followers were “not looking for great pronouncements on civil society… maybe what they want from Meghan is a lifestyle brand”.
While from Harry, whose controversial memoir Spare heavily criticised the royal family, it might be more royal “soap opera”.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/meghan-harry-sussex-mariah-carey-serena-williams-b2359132.html