Here’s to the crazy ones: Brin’s burger a sign of wilder times?
Last week, the first ever synthetic beef hamburger was served to a panel of experts. It was a Promethean feat of human ingenuity, involving weeks of intensive lab work, hand weaving of microscopic fibres, and the expenditure of a cool £215,000. Despite all this, however, the achievements of Dr Mark Post and his team pale […]
Narrative by numbers: The production line of storytelling
I recently came across a post on PR Newswire’s blog (http://blog.prnewswire.com/2013/08/01/using-storytelling-to-drive-business-goals/) informing me of all the ways I could use storytelling to drive my business goals. Like the narrator of Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, who finds himself cast back in time upon consumption of a madeline, I was sent rocketing back to […]
Plato, pressure and the death of PR stunts
Activists scaled The Shard and the Home Office brazenly paraded their views on strategically driven ad vans. Has the PR stunt died a somewhat tepid death? In a CommsChat twitter conversation, Mark Borkowski discusses bullish lobbying, the art of EQ & the importance of play via Plato.
All That Twitters Is Not Gold: The Challenge of Taming the Social Herd
This week, the British media’s obsession with Twitter reached a new zenith. Unfortunately for the social network, however, this was no love in. Instead, after feminist campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez drew attention to vicious slurs and threats made to her via the site at the end of last week, commentators have been up in arms, arguing […]
Jurassic Ad Men: a marriage of equals or the last of a dying breed?
This week, the business and media commentariat have talked of little but the upcoming merger of Omnicom and Publicis, the second and third largest advertising groups in the world, respectively. As befits a venture which involves hundreds of the world’s most glamourous admen and women, the accompanying spin is so utopian as to be dazzling. […]
iBaby: Clarence House's latest must have toy
Photo Credit: Andre Camara So there we have it; the conclusion of the greatest product launch campaign Britain has ever seen. No, Apple didn’t bring out the iWatch while you weren’t looking. I’m talking about the latest release from modish mass market lifestyle brand Clarence House. In order to promote the latest instalment in […]
Lobbying washes whiter
When, in 2010, David Cameron described commercial Lobbying as the “next big scandal” in British politics, he drew attention to a strange truth. The work of the commercial lobbyist has all the necessary triggers for popular British outrage, not least because it’s conducted by a tightly networked elite behind closed doors. Despite this, the public […]
Greenpeace vs The Shard: Unleashing the Heat of the Arctic Campaign
Last week, six members of Greenpeace ascended their way into the history books during fifteen hours of sheer sweat, muscle and no doubt emotion, as they scaled The Shard to draw attention to Shell’s plans to drill for oil in the Arctic. It was a bold, inspiring, beautiful action, that did the thing that all […]
Andy Murray: a modern hero in an old fashioned mould
As Britain hails a new hero in the shape of Wimbledon great Andy Murray, it’s natural to wonder what impact his victory will have on him from a PR point of view. The genius of Simon Fuller and his team at XIX Entertainment, managers of the tennis star, is that they are building a brand […]
Celebrity Whistleblowers: A New Breed of Fame Junkie?
“Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.” So said Benjamin Franklin, a man who knew a thing or two about the activities of the state and its miscontents. He recognised the haste with which word spreads once a secret gets out, particularly when the information contained is shocking or surprising – […]
Smart Ways to Advertise
A railway safety advert that’s been tunefully taking Australia by storm has penetrated the international conscious after winning the ‘biggie’ of the advertising world: the Cannes Lions Grand Prix. The ‘Dumb Ways to Die’ ad is beautifully simple and has all the hallmarks of a great, modern campaign. It’s funny, it’s catchy, it appeals to […]
The Starcom Invasion of the Twittersphere
There was a news break from the FT on Monday which reported “Starcom Mediavest Group has signed a huge advertising deal with Twitter” representing hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue over multiple years for the tech company. Wisely, Twitter and Starcom declined to discuss the financial details of the agreement. According to the FT, […]
Welcome back Mourinho: Footballing Legend and a True Media Special One
The special one, the mighty Jose Mourinho is back, and with a bang. Love him or loathe him, he is box office. He always reminds me of the legendary Brian Clough: he has the god given talent to deliver a narrative and focus attention. He is the master of the soundbite, his manner excites, beguiles, bewitches, […]
Lessons in PR: If you can Keep your Head when Ifans is Losing His…
Rhys Ifans has been commanding attention for all the wrong reasons, testing the very limits of the notion that there is no such thing as bad publicity. There can have been few publicists who didn’t experience an internal cringe on behalf of the luckless PR that had to deal with his catastrophic interview with The Times. […]
Public Relations the Dark Alchemy of the Social Age
The attack on the soldier on the streets of South East London was truly terrible. The two men who carried out the attack coveted one thing: the oxygen of publicity for their cause. And boy, did they get it. Today’s papers are entirely dominated by sensationalist headlines and language that does nothing to encourage calm […]
Farewell, Golden Balls
We are struggling to come to terms with the news that Lord Beckham of Ongar and Leytonstone has packed away his Adidas Predator LZ boots. His like will not be seen again. His footballing and soccer achievement is extraordinary: who could forget the stunning injury-time free-kick booking England a place in the 2002 World Cup […]
Lessons from Sir Alex: building a cult brand takes balls
As the sun sets on the news that Sir Alex Ferguson has decided to hang up his fabled hair dryer, it is time to consider the lessons the PR industry might learn from his departure. Undoubtedly, Sir Alex was a remarkable leader, true he forged a unique brand personality but his move to take control […]
The Monstrosity of Fame.
Our so-called obsession with celebrities is as old as the cult of saints. But the adoration of flimsy celebrity effigies is now facing a stark reality check, thanks to the revelations of Operation Yew Tree. I am appalled yet weirdly hypnotised by the carousel of failing celebrities. Disgraced household icons, once the essential popular entertainers […]
Suarez, shame and the not-so-beautiful game
The BBC crowned Liverpool player Luis Suarez the king of football controversy yesterday afternoon following the FA’s announcement that they have handed him a massive 10 match ban. The scandal has had scribblers on the sidelines outraged at football’s reputation since. Left, right and centre, commentators have been clamouring to declare that football’s reputation is […]
Fundamentalism and the Dark Arts of Propaganda
As I write this from Los Angeles, the news ticker is awash with the minutiae of the horrific bombing that took place in Boston today as marathon runners crossed the finishing line. Doctors are telling stories of innumerable injuries and amputations; eye witnesses are giving accounts of terror and confusion; the President is offering platitudes […]