Hauling England Over the Coles
There is no hope for the England team – every time one of them opens their mouth they put their foot in it and someone (usually the press) helpfully shoves the boot in too. What do we really expect, though, when the players have too much time, money and self-regard on their hands? Take Ashley […]
The Next England Manager
There’s a deal of speculation about how long Fabio Capello is to stay in the job as England’s manager – a statement was even put out before the decisive group match suggesting that his job was in jeopardy. It seems likely that he will go, and soon, despite a few bullish headlines suggesting that we […]
Karaoke Culture
We are living in a karaoke media culture – everything we see is a pale, recycled copy of something that’s gone before and, worse still, this sincere flattery of icons and iconography past is being actively encouraged. Miley Cyrus is heading off down the well-trodden path of over-sexualised image that has been presented 1000 times […]
England's Drowning
The Borkowski poet in residence, Adam Horovitz, returns with a versicle celebrating the reaction to the England v. Algeria match last night. I’ve been drowning my ennui in tequila, beer and noise, trying to float the bubble football blows and then destroys I’ve been drowning my ennui. I’ve been blotting the despair that’s been welling […]
The Endless Woes of English Football
From the archives – an old post from Euro 2004, reflecting on another dismal tournament for the English football team. We heap too much expectation on a bunch of lads who will never be able to exorcise the ghosts of the 1966 World Cup. The hype and the ballyhoo is too heavy a burden for […]
Dissecting Tony Hayward
All brands in this new age require a long-term strategic overview of every potential threat. The corporate vicissitudes being thrown up by the 21st century means that communication and PR skills must be, of necessity, embedded in the captains of industry. After all they are the brand custodians. But looking at BP, and Tony Hayward […]
Orange Skirts, Flying Midgets and the World Cup
Ever heard of the beer Bavaria? Me neither, until FIFA made sure that absolutely everyone got to hear about it after Bavaria sent a team of pretty young female ambush marketeers to Holland’s opening match of the World Cup using tickets bought in the name of (now ex-) ITV pundit Robbie Earle. One sacking, several […]
England's World Cup: Hype or Hope?
Forty-eight hours can feel like an eternity when your brand is in the centrifugal force in the maelstrom of public ridicule. In poor old Robert Green’s case, the error he committed by fumbling a save and letting in a dismal equalising goal in the World Cup match against the USA will plague him for the […]
Brunswick and BP: PR and Responsibility
Scathing and probing headlines are continuing to castrate and castigate BP’s hapless crisis PR endeavours, further to my blog of the other day. Disapproving chatter clutters the web and denunciatory journalists, bloggers and commentators continue to feed on the corporate leviathan’s swift downward trajectory. The latest casualty in the ongoing debate about the oil spill […]
How to Keep Your Head in Advertising
The Media Buying world is clearly in need of some PR help to drag it out of the 1980s. I found myself reading, jaw dropping to the table, this Media Week article by MediaCom’s Claudine Collins. It’s as if it had been ghosted by Charlie Brooker, Chris Morris and Helen Fielding – it reads like […]
Cornwall: In Need of a PR Polish
There was no blog yesterday because I was in the heart of Cornwall, the jewel in Britain’s tourism crown, talking PR with a group of Cornish business people in Rick Stein’s fabulous Fish and Chip shop in Falmouth. The last time I spent this much time in a chippy was with an elephant and the […]
Bhopal: Is the Long Wait for Justice Over?
It’s a relief to see a little justice being meted out over Bhopal, only 20 or more years too late. The long-standing avoidance of justice is a major stain on the PR industry, bearing in mind how integral PR was in keeping the case out of the courts over the last 25 years. The Indian […]
Will the Revolution Not Be Advertised?
It may be stating the bleeding obvious, but we all know the media is changing rapidly – every few months, something comes along that fractures the old order more and more. The latest is the iPad, one more thing in a long line of technological advances that are making it easier for brand and public […]
BP: Where PR Fears to Tread
As BP’s reputation slips further down the plughole, its PR strategy is beginning to look like an envelope without an address on it. The comms department believe big emotions come from big statistics. Lazy damage limitation tactics are fuelling the storm – they should be pouring oil on troubled waters metaphorically rather than allowing it […]
Advertising and Prohibition
There’s growing concern, and a fair amount of hand wringing, about alcohol advertising and the possibility of banning it. It looks like the glory days of inventive, witty and satirical booze advertising may be over for good. This would be very, very sad. Ban them and yes, you’ll get column inches. Keep them and you’ll […]
Aid Ships, Oil Slicks and PR Wars
The confidence and utter belief in the State of Israel the Israeli government have displayed, as they justify their violent attack on the ships attempting to bring aid to Gaza, is breathtaking. Both factions in any war tend towards insanity of some sort, but Israel organise theirs with terrifying rigour. They have an enormous number […]
Laws of Attrition
New media commentators have decreed that the age of the personal PR minder is dead. “Long live Twitter” is their clarion call. It’s the new communication tool for folk in the public eye. Openness and willingness to feed the twitter cycle offers an opportunity to unveil the ‘real you’; to be judged as well as […]
Thinking Circular with the Smooth FM PM
David Cameron is THE great communicator in the new era of politics. His effortless performance on the Today programme earlier must have sent a shiver down the spine of the journalistic community. How will they get at this moderate, articulate, confident, unflappable and frankly relentless Old Etonian OK, Dave is enjoying surfing on the bubbly […]
BP PR: Too Slick or Not Too Slick?
BP’s PR machine has been in overdrive of late; their latest effort at saying “look how hard we’re working to sort the oil spill out” is a live roving webcam monitoring the clean-up effort. I’ve tried to go on it but it’s never operational – either broken or offline. Whether that’s by overload of people looking […]
How to Share in a Coalition
The Treasury team stepped out into the sunshine to announce George Osborne’s raft of cuts which aim to make recovery a sure thing – a wise move, as it’s always easier to disguise bad news in good weather. There was a fair bit of tough news to swallow all round, but what intrigued me was […]