Journalist bites PR. Never explain, never complain.
Last Wednesday, the cuddly, credit card provider Mastercard ran into an alleged ‘PR fail’ storm when their PR agency mishandled and misjudged a bevy of journalists they were inviting to the Brit awards. Scribblers claim that, in exchange for entry to the event, they were asked by email to guarantee coverage, and were requested to […]
Let’s not be fooled by fashion and tamed by reason…
“Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought” Albert Szent-Gyorgyi Someone recently said to me “the more I read, the less I know”. Profound. In a world where technological advances were supposed to make life simpler, the reverse seems to reflect the truth. The world is more complex, undefined, […]
The Borkowski Awards—notable 2013 PR moments
I don’t usually do awards ceremonies. I’d generally rather be making a new campaign than remembering the last one. However, as the end of the year finds Borkowski towers in a reflective mood, I thought I’d put together a brief collection of 2013’s standout PR moments—the ones that made us gasp with astonishment, and the […]
Addison Cresswell – a tribute.
Oh, the wretched topic of death, such a frustrating interloper, especially at Christmas, damn you. Alas, there is no point in pretending that we improve with age. In his colossal autobiography, Ben Hecht expressed the ageing process thus: “the years diminish us, time rots our body, cools our blood, darkens our brain, and, like a […]
Less, but better, really is more.
Beyonce’s new iTunes record—the singer’s album broke a million sales in six days on Wednesday—should be a lesson not only to pop stars but to anyone with a message to get across. The singer released the album entirely without prior fanfare, tossing it onto iTunes with a casual insouciance. It was a masterclass in cutting […]
How Nigella will survive the wheels of fortune
The sorry tale of Nigella Lawson and Charles Saatchi should teach us some valuable lessons about the climate we operate in these days as businesses and brands. In this story we have a clear example of how a 24/7 news agenda fuels turbo charged and emotional reactions from the crowd – #teamnigella – and enough […]
10 tips for PR agencies from The Simpsons
Get your story straight before you pick up the phone: Always true, this one, but especially nowadays when a journalist might be live tweeting your conversation as it happens. A plaintive “off the record, right?” just won’t cut it. Get the right team for the job: Today’s PR industry incorporates dozens of diverse skills. Make sure you wow clients […]
Adore the haters
Last week, the PR buzz was all around Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary and his uncharacteristic mea culpa. This week, another combative consumer brand is filling up feeds across the globe: Miley Cyrus and her encounter with some of Amsterdam’s finest. Cyrus’s ‘outrageous’ awards ceremony performances are fast becoming a fixture in our lives. Regular, horrifying and […]
You must just show up as yourself!
Malcolm Walker and Tom Reddy how we applaud you! Being the subject of an observational documentary is not without risk, but Iceland emerges triumphant from their series because as an organization, they don’t perform. They don’t hide. Malcolm and his team remain unashamedly authentic whilst not taking themselves too seriously. How wise. Who would have […]
"Finance must show it is a servant not a master" Ken Costa from “Of Greed and Creed”
Today could and should signal a new and better way forward for the Cooperative Bank. But to move forward now they must ignore the battering and negative comment from the media and create captivating narratives mined from their history and based on their true and original core values. As they take this latest hit, the […]
Don’t destroy a good story with fact: it gets in the way of the truth.
The PR and marketing landscape has forever changed, thanks to the ever-present giant that is the internet – never was this more obvious than when I looked at my audience at the SearchLove conference, which consisted of a plethora of technophiles looking lovingly at their laptops. Interestingly enough, I was there to speak about PR […]
Branded content: The Passion of the Russell
If Facebook shares had audio to accompany the multitude of posts, the latest commentary surrounding Russell Brand on Newsnight would be littered with loud, smug and triumphantly-toned exclamations from people saying, “Yes! Finally, somebody is speaking the truth! Look at Jeremy; he’s being rendered almost speechless!” Fresh from his guest-editing spot on The New Statesman, Brand […]
‘Twerking’ by any other name… Presenting: the most famous star the world has ever seen. Again!
The marketing and exploitation of the female image as part of the fame trajectory – for good or for evil – has a very long tradition. I first encountered the detail of helpless blind-ambition of fame-hungry starlets, whilst researching my book the Fame Formula. The manipulative craft of the publicist can be detected in the […]
Supernatural PR: fear that fans can love
If you’ve been anywhere near a newsfeed this week, you’ll have seen the clever “coffee shop surprise” viral ad for the remake of 70’s horror flick Carrie. The short video (it’s here if you’ve managed to miss it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlOxlSOr3_M) is set in a New York coffee shop, modified by some special effects pixies so that […]
Daily Mail’s magic trick: former half-human Red Ed, now fully formed
So the Mail/Miliband hoo ha drags on – as I write this an argument already played out a hundred times on twitter is being hashed out afresh on Question Time. I don’t want to contribute to either side of the moral debate, but I do want to make an observation. For once, the Mail, the […]
There is nothing more dismal than a fact
I like a good story as much as anyone, and I can’t claim to always be obsessive in my pursuit of the truth, but coverage of the so-called ‘White Widow’ Samantha Lewthwaite on Friday and over the weekend has put the British media to shame. Unsubstantiated claims that she was linked to the Westgate Mall […]
GTA V Launch: A PR Cultural Milestone
Hats off at Borkowski towers to the pixies behind the GTA V launch, one of the most staggering, captivating launches I’ve laid eyes on for years. The game has shifted £500m worth of units in 24 hours, and analysts are putting good money on its hitting a billion within the year. The petty crime ‘em […]
Ketchum PR
Following recent reports into Ketchum PR’s involvement with Russia, we thought we would take a deeper look into how the PR giant works its magic worldwide. This is not the first time that the PR behemoth has struck controversy, yet they continue to go from strength to strength. What is their secret? First and foremost, […]
Kitkat Kerplunk: Going beyond Google and Evil.
News of Google and Nestle’s KitKat/Android partnership has been met with a wealth of delighted puns in the tech community, but brand managers and business writers have been left with a bitter aftertaste in their mouths at the announcement of this unusual pairing. Though the press release has been widely parroted, and for the most […]
Conquest without contribution: sport now second to scandal and salary
Another late summer morning, another punning sport scandal headline graces the front page of the Sun. ‘L.Pee.W’ screamed the red top from Newstands across the country, as news broke that England’s victorious Cricket squad had celebrated their triumph with not so much a sticky wicket as a wet one. This would have been a big […]