The PR Week Condensed
Conde Nast Traveller survey out this week. Usual world’s overall travel top 100 stuff – Top islands: Mykonos, Skye. Do people ever get bored of these research PR stories? Charlie Sheen: rock and roll! Hooker, coke, fighting. Just like John Entwistle dying at the Hard Rock Hotel in Vegas, with a hooker coke, JD. What […]
Dishing the Dirt at Peachy Coochie
Anyone wanting to know a little more about the dark practices of Hollywood in the early days of the 20th century should come along to Peachy Coochie at the Toynbee Hall at 7.30 p.m. this Thursday, October 28th, where I will be revealing more about Maynard Nottage, one of the publicists featured in The Fame […]
The Great Rooney U Turn
Wayne Rooney’s incredible decision to sign a new five-year contract at Manchester United has shocked the football world, just days after he made it clear he was looking to leave. The persuasive powers of Ferguson are legendary in football and he could well have played another blinder to keep Rooney on-side. Bear in mind that […]
Kanye Fix It?
There has been a lot of debate about the relevance of PR council to the stars since the Twitter revolution. Stephen Fry, Ashton Kutcher and Ross Brydon all do a pretty good job of managing to reach out to their fans. With these examples, and others, in mind, stars like Kanye West may wonder why […]
The Good, the Mad and the Twittery
This Sunday is the season finale of series four of Mad Men, and the web is alive with the sound of tributes and ‘best of the series’ video clips, including spoilers if you’ve not seen the entire run yet. Unless you’re in the UK, that is, in which case you’ll be watching episode seven of […]
Awards and Escapology
Another year, another PR Week Awards night. Winners love it, losers loathe it. My agency, Borkowski, ignored it for years. Truthfully, it’s a somewhat odd night. I met so many friends I just didn’t know I had. I don’t usually have the emotional stamina to stay the course and tend to slope off before the […]
Miners, Footballers and Owning the Story
Listening to yesterday’s Broadcasting House on Radio 4, my sense that the Chilean miners were set to be exploited to the hilt kicked into high gear, listening to the investigative journalist Jonathan Franklin being interviewed about his forthcoming book on the extraordinary experience the 33 men went through. He was slick and sharp – an […]
Chilean Miners and the Cold Light of Fame
It’s weird to consider the forthcoming global PR implications for the Chilean miners. It’s all too clear that this will be the biggest story in the world come Wednesday assuming that the men are released from the mine. It can’t be ignored – every news gathering organisation is surrounding the escape route as it nears […]
Spin and the Art of Stone Throwing
Margaret Thatcher’s great spin man Bernard Ingham knew a thing or two about pragmatism. He kept himself out of the Westland Helicopter Crisis as he knew that even a whiff of his involvement would damage Thatcher. And he was surely very glad of the off the record Downing Street briefings that kept his name out […]
Interesting Times for the X Factor
“May you live in interesting times,” says the old Chinese curse. Somebody seems to have willed interesting times onto the X Factor of late and much of it is to do with the ubiquity of social networking. Cowell’s money machine TV show has always trodden a fine line between seeking privacy for its big announcements […]
Leaders, Prime Ministers and the Next Generation
A couple of first nights have grabbed my attention in the last few days, and both of them have presented interesting conundrums to consider. The first is the production of Yes, Prime Minister that has just transferred to the West End. It’s a great show; very funny, very well acted and rather more radical than […]
In Conversation with CIPR TV
I gave an interview for CIPR website’s recently launched TV strand, which streamed live on the internet yesterday and is now available on demand. Click here to watch it. I spoke with Philip Sheldrake and Stephen Waddington; much was discussed, from the speed of change that technology forces on PR, how advertising is trying to […]
The Truth? Bend it About Beckham
Conundrum of the week is the strange case of why In Touch magazine ran a story suggesting athletic rumpy pumpy between Beckham and exotic model-come-prostitute Irma Nici. I might be wrong, but it all feels so fake. Certainly, David Beckham looks set to sue the US magazine for the claims that he went a bit […]
Big Mouth Strikes Again
Has Chris Moyles lost his marbles? Or just thrown them out of the pram? His tirade, live on air earlier this week accusing his employers of non payment of his salary, was a foolish public outburst that he might well come to regret. The BBC has always been worried about the talent becoming bigger than […]
The Great Papal Turnaround
Before the Papal three-ring-circus moved into town, I was asked by a number of media outlets what I thought of the Pope’s PR apparatus. At the time, I commented that it didn’t take a rocket scientist to see that this anachronistic throwback was not fit for modern media purpose. Lacking charisma (in stark contrast with […]
Lady Gaga: Offal or Wonderful?
The more I think about Lady Gaga’s meaty costume worn at her appearance at the MTV Awards, the less sure I am about the intentions behind it. Is it 1) a controlled and thoughtful satire in meat couture about the plight of women in the pop industry, who are oiled up, lubed up, dressed in […]
No More Heroes?
It was saddening to read about the death of Eileen Nearne, aged 89, who had lived a reclusive life for 20 years and had few if any friends and a niece who lived abroad and last managed to visit her 6 months before she died. It’s always sad to see someone left so alone in […]
Don't Get in With the Spin Crowd
I’ve just seen footage on YouTube of a reality show that should have the PR industry quaking in its boots – PR-based reality TV show The Spin Crowd. What I’ve seen suggests that it’s a show packed with clipboard Nazis, fashionistas and other fluffy-brained reprobates representative of the old cliché of what PR is supposed […]
Fanning the Flames
Why in God’s name is the media giving this bloody Pentecostal minister in Florida so much press? Pastor Terry Jones is simply a dangerous and deranged attention seeker. Look, I understand it’s a news story, but if the media had ignored him the frenzy could have been easily abated. Jones has succeeded in projecting his […]
The Pakistan Flood PR Failure
Given the scale of the flood disaster in Pakistan, it is distressing to see that the British media seems to be missing any sense of urgency about it. Any coverage seems to be being abrogated in favour of the urgent news that Wayne Rooney may have slept with prostitutes. I am beginning to wonder if […]