Mark Borkowski and Max Clifford: The Video
Here is the webcast of the head to head between Max Clifford and myself at the London College of Communications last Tuesday, in nine handy bite-sized chunks. Apologies to anyone who logged in to Ustream in the hope of seeing the debate streamed live – Ustream crashed and prevented us from going ahead. Part One […]
The World Behind the 'Best Job in the World'
You couldn’t move anywhere this morning without hearing something about Ben Southall, the British winner of ‘The Best Job in the World’ and the string of idyllic desert islands along the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Queensland, Australia, which will act as his home and office for six months. Not surprising, when the […]
Borkowski and Clifford Live Streaming Debate
I will be going head to head with Max Clifford to discuss the toxic nature of celebrity at the London College of Communication tonight and, if you don’t have a ticket – they sold out quickly – you’ll be glad to know you haven’t missed out! You can get involved in the heated and controversial […]
Nothing Sacred: from Carole Lombard to Jade Goody
I enjoyed the launch of the Fame Formula paperback at the Riverside Studios at Hammersmith on Wednesday night for many reasons: it’s a great venue, the people who came were interested and interesting, it was good to expound on the brilliance of publicist extraordinaire Russell Birdwell to an audience and it was marvellous to see […]
The Twitter Pandemic and Swine Flu
Whilst I have no wish to denigrate the sense of loss the families of the 150 or so people who have died in Mexico must be feeling, I suspect that the reporting of the supposed Swine Flu pandemic is more hysterical by far than it needs to be and may in fact cause more problems […]
The Art of Milking: Jade Goody in Shoreditch
Jade Goody’s not cold in her grave and already a “controversial” artist is leeching off her celebrity to generate some quick and dirty PR. News broke in the Hackney Gazette last week that performance artist Mark McGowan is organising a re-enactment of the final hours of Jade Goody’s life. It’s a pretty typical scam; the […]
McBride and Prejudice
A week has passed and it amazes me that there has been as much surprise at – and media condemnation of – Damien McBride’s attempts to slur the opposition as there has been. Surely this sort of thing, in one form or another has been going on for years? I’m not suggesting I approve of […]
Twits who ruin Twitter: Why some stars and PRs miss the point of tweeting
“Britney’s feed is sanitised, tedious vainglory, merely a bland sales pitch” By Mark Borkowski – Monday 13th April Cynical: Britney’s Twitter feed is merely putting out a bland sales pitch, with the sort of information that can be gleaned from anywhere I’m waiting for the first big Twitter catastrophe. And if you think it came […]
Rescuing the Reputation of Sir Fred Goodwin
If you thought the Enron fiasco was PR hell or that Starbucks charging rescue workers at Ground Zero for coffee was a publicity disaster, spare a thought for Sir Fred ‘the Shred’ Goodwin, whose PR strategy, in the wake of the collapse of RBS and his monster pension, has amounted to little more than ducking […]
The Shredding of Sir Fred
In the wake of the attacks on Sir Fred Goodwin’s Edinburgh home, apparently by a group calling themselves Bank Bosses Are Criminals, it’s clear that the attacks on Fred the Shred are a necessary distraction for the Government, who are looking for ways to recoup their status in the wake of the banking disaster and […]
Sofa Wars
The King and Queen of Morning TV have been ripped apart in a plot worthy of Shakespeare. Money, greed, deceit, jealousy, subterfuge and high drama are driving this scenario, as if an excitable new scriptwriter with grand designs has been drafted in to rescue a failing soap. The vigour is intoxicating. Fern Britton has quit […]
Run away with the Facebook circus
Published Wednesday 25 March 2009 at 09:25 by Mark Borkowski Familiar with Facebook and always available to Twitter, PR guru Mark Borkowski says there is no excuse for promoters to ignore the endless advertising possibilities of social networking sites It may seem strange to be talking about 19th century impresario Phineas Taylor Barnum in the […]
Jacko and the power of Twitter
Michael Jackson’s done it again, surprising all the nay sayers who had written him off as a wash-out and a has-been. He’s sold out 50 dates at the O2 arena and will, assuming everything goes according to plan, play to around a million fans over that period. Clearly all the web chatter on Twitter and […]
Off the wall but still invincible
Despite the rumours, the accusations, the lawsuits, the increasing physical weirdness, the King of Pop’s return to the stage in London promises to be ‘the biggest comeback since Lazarus’. And he hasn’t even got a new album Elizabeth Day The Observer, Sunday 8 March 2009 Article historyIt seemed strangely appropriate that on the same day […]
Off the wall but still invincible
Despite the rumours, the accusations, the lawsuits, the increasing physical weirdness, the King of Pop’s return to the stage in London promises to be ‘the biggest comeback since Lazarus’. And he hasn’t even got a new album Elizabeth Day The Observer, Sunday 8 March 2009 Article historyIt seemed strangely appropriate that on the same […]
Finding Fame in Hollywood
I was intrigued to read in yesterday’s Independent about the splash Paul Duddridge is making in Hollywood. He’s moved from being an agent for comedians based in Soho to becoming a fame guru in Los Angeles in two years and seems to be making a good fist of getting numbers of the countless acting hopefuls […]
Richard and Judy to bring down curtain on 20-year partnership to tackle solo projects
Chat show couple Richard and Judy are considering bringing the curtain down on their TV partnership. Richard Madeley said he was looking at some “tantalising” solo opportunities after believing there is now little left for them to do together as broadcasters. Speaking to Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs show, he said: “I think we both […]
Digital Missionaries and the Vatican
So, an über-Cardinal in Rome feels that it’s time for a generation to detox from technology. Forget fasting for lent, the Pope’s publicist has floated a story that we all need to curb our technology obsession and digital addiction. “Thou shalt not text or play games for lent” is the missive from the Vatican. Transformational […]