William Hague: Myred in Rumour
In the greater scheme of things, does it really matter who William Hague shares a room with? I’m sure his wife, Ffion, would think it does, especially as she’s the one who’s been thrown unceremoniously to the wolves in the name of promoting her husband’s heterosexuality, in the wake of the rumour-mongering hoo-ha over his […]
How to Regain a Million Quid
Bo Burnham’s been making up for the PR slip that saw him – or possibly his PR company – reject his nomination for the Malcolm Hardee ‘Act Most Likely to Make a Million Quid’ Award. And he’s been doing it with grace. It’s hard to tell if it’s his PR doing it or if – […]
How to Lose a Million Quid
The Malcolm Hardee Awards are getting a good rise out of their latest crop of nominees – or one of them in particular. The awards honour Hardee – one of the greatest festival pranksters and publicity magnets – by giving out semi-satirical awards. This year the committee chose to nominate US stand-up Bo Burnham for […]
Seeking Out the X Factor
It’s great to see that the fairy godmother of Edinburgh publicity, Liz Smith, has won the Bank of Scotland Herald Archangel Award. It has taken more than three decades for her to get the pat on the back that she so richly deserves, given the amount of help she has given others for so many […]
Archaos: The Sensations of the Circus World
The first uber client Borkowski PR ever had was Archaos, the punk circus which scandalized the UK between 1988 and 1991 with dangerous chainsaw-juggling, a raunchy Gallic attitude and explosive, two-fingers-in-the-face-of Health & Safety performances. The UK circus scene was shaken to its very core and would never be the same again. And I’m proud […]
Captivating Edinburgh
I’ll be examining the manipulative new age of PR and social media, and how the herd is motivated to reshape our lives, in Edinburgh next week. My lecture is one of the key events in the inaugural Edinburgh International Marketing Festival on Tuesday 24th August at 17.30 and the lecture aims to reveal exactly how […]
Tony Blair's Cunning Stunt
If any politician was going to pull off the greatest stunt of a generation, it really had to be Tony Blair. And, by committing all the proceeds from his memoirs (as well as the £4 million advance) to the Royal British Legion’s Battle Back challenge centre, a project that will provide state-of-the-art rehabilitation services for […]
JetBlue and PR Turbulence
JetBlue have been undergoing a little turbulence of late – from being perceived as the high watermark of budget airlines their reputation has dipped and then revived, all thanks to an irate employee’s sudden departure, his elevation to folk hero on the internet and an outburst of ire at JetBlue’s response via their previously impeccable […]
Advice for a Young PR Hopeful
Whilst I was in Edinburgh last week a young publicist, just starting out, bounced up to me, having recognised me, and asked if I’d give her some advice on the publicity game. We sat down for a cup of coffee and I asked her what she was working on. She told me that this was […]
Edinburgh Fringe: Where is the Love?
I’m up in Edinburgh at the moment, watching the excitement at the Fringe’s street level crank up several notches as the performers prepare for a multitude of launch parties. Whilst it’s great to see all these performers building themselves up into a state of anticipatory frenzy, I am left wondering why the Scottish media aren’t […]
Interesting Times
When will they stop, all those insistent tweets linked to advice-giving sites? All those sites hungry for clicks, all of them helpfully suggesting that folks should be interesting if the want to be successful on Twitter? They’re as predictable as Chelsea Clinton marrying a hedge fund manager. What does ‘interesting’ mean, anyway? How do you […]
No More Heroes: The media, football and built in obsolescence
Today’s edition of the Sun features an exposé of Wayne Rooney’s recent night on the tiles as his team-mates “completed rigorous pre-season fitness tours”. It is a typically irked and excitable article, chipping away at the veneer of sporting heroism that has been liberally applied to Rooney and his sporting colleagues in the past. The […]
The Publicity Spin Drier
The Mel Gibson/Oksana Grigorieva row that has been consuming America whole for the last few weeks has taken a new turn, according to the TMZ website, with Oksana’s publicist Steve Jaffe leaving for pastures somewhat less argumentative. The big question racing round the media and the net is: did Jaffe walk or was he pushed? […]
PR, Mad Men and the American Dream
Season four of Mad Men starts in America tomorrow night, but I managed to get a sneak preview thanks to a friend and, watching it, I realised that most of America just doesn’t know how far back the PR industry’s influence stretches. Of course, if you’ve read my book The Fame Formula, you’d know that […]
Starless in Hollywood
I’ve been travelling around California for the last 10 days, taking in the sights and sounds and meeting people on a research trip for a book on the ways that sexuality has been used to create fame. Hollywood is a spawning ground for media whores, after all. I thought I’d be taking time out of […]
Stunt of the Week
It’s been a good week for stunts – the Barefoot Bandit’s a classy effort, but a little over-complicated. More gloriously simple is Island’s approach to promoting Tom Jones’s new album of hymns, Praise and Blame. Leaving the praise to the critics, who see it as an equivalent to Johnny Cash’s late bid for credibility, Island’s […]
Barefoot Bandit or Barefaced Stunt?
The tale of the Barefoot Bandit in today’s Times (currently locked behind a paywall, otherwise I would of course have encouraged you to click here) is, on the surface, a ripping yarn, a boy’s own adventure. A seventeen-year-old escapes juvenile detention and goes on the run across America for two years: stealing cars and yachts […]
The Martin Sorrell Model
The article below was published in yesterday’s Observer, alongside a big profile of Sir Martin Sorrell. My piece hasn’t been published online, so I’m reprinting it here. To read the profile online, click here. — Sir Martin Sorrell’s accomplishments are nothing less that stunning. In PR terms, he is a cool, assured and effortless communicator. […]
Football and Soap Opera: How the News is Changing
In the 21st Century, with the Twitter cycle outpacing the news cycle by a length, with fewer people working for newspapers and, with Murdoch insisting that content has taken a step up to Emperor, stories move too fast for journalists to stop for anything as paltry and deadbeat as a fact. The truth is dismal, […]
BBC Pay Policy
There’s an article up on the BBC’s new pay policy on the Independent, featuring comment from myself and Max Clifford. There’s an extract below, but to read the full article, click here. “…if a new era of transparency throws light on the secretive deals struck in the boardrooms of the BBC, insiders warned of dramatic […]