Winning with Wispa!
The last time we entered the PR Week Awards was fifteen years ago. Then, we won the award for Best Promotional Activity for a publicity stunt that involved a circus and a clown. It was a well-earned award, beating Freud’s Planet Hollywood campaign. For many reasons, however, we have not entered since then. This year, […]
How a bad picture can be a PR disaster
After John McCain’s monumental pratfall, Archie Bland explains how one picture can undo an entire political career His tongue is sticking out. He is doubled over like the hunchback of Notre Dame. And, from the photographer’s angle, John McCain appears to be reaching for his opponent’s Democratic ass. The picture, taken at the end of […]
Borkowski on Madge
Madonna v Guy: Mudslinging in Vogue as war begins By CLAIRE SMITH Scotsman WHEN their divorce was announced earlier this week, celebrity commentators queued up to tell us that Madonna and Guy Ritchie’s break-up would not follow the muck-raking Mills-McCartney model. Publicist and media analyst Mark Borkowski said it was common practice for stars to […]
Maynard Nottage: not so mysterious
It’s been a frenetic 48 hours, dealing with the Times’ article, printed today, which suggests that Maynard Nottage is a hoax. Well, he’s not. Or, as I was quoted in the Times, “Did I consider I was being hoaxed? Of course I did. But I don’t think so.” The reason for my belief is this: […]
Gordon Brown strikes back..
All the madness engendered by the slumping, declining, crashing money markets has thrown up some interesting residue. One of the most immediate changes is the way that Gordon Brown seems to have reverted to his ruffled, dishevelled old skool persona and has dumped the carefully spun version like so much laundry – and I think […]
Absolute fabulous radio.
Absolute Radio, the rebranded Virgin Radio has launched a multimillion-pound TV campaign,today . The station introduces the catchphrase “That’s good, that’s real good.” All a bit predictable, I remember the Dutch pirate station that ran an ad campaign with the tag “ We’re FUCKING GREEEAT. The series of ads touched the psyche and got straight […]
NEVER MIND THE BUTTER, HERE’S JOHNNY ROTTEN
I have been in a reflective state, bordering on shock, since I saw the Johnny Rotten Country Life butter advert. It really has been a long time since 1976, when the punk movement’s anarchy and infamy – and Lydon and the Sex Pistols in particular – caused popular outrage nationwide. Well, obviously the former punk […]
Credit Crunch Meltdown
In only a matter of weeks the political panacea that was Sarah Palin, the untried Governor from Alaska who seemed to be rejuvenating the fortunes of the republican cause, has morphed into a PR nightmare. Firstly, her unorthodox outburst about the mining initiative in Alaska left many feeling burned. Then came an enquiry into whether […]
Politician drowns in election publicity stunt
As the curtain is drawn on the Tory Party love fest this link popped into my inbox yesterday. It’s a cautionary tale for all aspiring would be political spin meisters. Take five minutes to read the article it does proves that all publicity is not necessarily good publicity news.yahoo.com
Search for a slogan
Search for a slogan. Oxfam is asking the public to write four memorable lines to be displayed on digital billboards around London. But how hard can it be to bash out a catchy, punchy, effective slogan? Ravi Somaiya: The Guardian, Monday September 29 2008 How difficult is it to write an advertising slogan? Oxfam will […]
Handbags at the Labour conference – spat between lobbyists
I’ve just read a piece on SpinWatch on the recent spat between lobbyists at Labour Party Conference: http://www.spinwatch.org/content/view/5160/29/ . Its will worth a look.
BBC Radio or Comedy Farce?
I literally couldn’t believe my ears when I heard Les Ross of BBC Radio Midlands interviewing (if that’s what you could call it) the writer and broadcaster Hardeep Singh Kohli. It was far more akin to an Alan Partridge sketch than a BBC radio interview. Les Ross began with an inane question about whether Hardeep […]
Girls and Corpses…
Thanks to http://www.radiobarking.com/ for turning me on to some rather good magazines Girls and Corpses? “Well, if you’re like me –explains the author, writer Robert Steven “Corpsy” Rhine– you like two things: beautiful girls and rotting corpses. So, I thought, why not bring these two great tastes together in one magazine?” Ahem!? http://www.oddee.com/item_96476.aspx
Palin Away
“I want you to get out in the real world and marry a rich man,” Joan Rivers told Big Brother contestant Emilia Arata earlier this year, when she took part in the show’s Celebrity Hijack. “If you’re smart, get a man with a heart condition, walk behind him, go ‘boo!’ and you’ll be set for […]
Hockey Mom on Twitter
I don’t believe it, Sarah Palin is on Twitter http://twitter.com/Sarah_Palin Frankly I am more interested in the fake Palin http://twitter.com/FakeSarahPalin
Anatomy of a showmance: Why Kelly Brook plus Danny Cipriani equals glamour
Take two young stars, add the perfect styling, and what do you get? An A-list couple By Sophie Morris Thursday, 11 September 2008 Mark Borkowski, founder of Borkowski PR and author of The Fame Formula “The picture strikes me as an experiment from their publicists and agents to see whether these two have the commercial […]
Ritsaert Ten Cate: A Memorial
“The reproductions are ubiquitous. A real sunset is infinitely more difficult to experience, even when it blazes before us. “ Death can be really cruel: last week it robbed us of the comic, anarchic life-force that was Ken Campbell and then swiftly tore the unique, reassuring and incandescent presence of Ritsaert Ten Cate from the […]
New Media Couple?
Pictures of Danny Cipriani with Kelly Brook adorn the papers today and I’ve had numerous calls from the media wondering whether Kelly and Danny are now the new golden couple. What are these pictures that are strewn over the papers today actually saying? Basically I think these pictures are saying here are two people and […]
The celebrity publicist who broke the rules
This article, on the betrayal of Heather Mills’ secrets by her publicist, was published, in edited form, in today’s Guardian. This, however, is the unedited version. Michele Elyzabeth’s kiss-and-tell all story about her working relationship with Heather Mills in The News of The World is probably the most heinous crime that any publicist can ever […]
Ritsaert Ten Cate – RIP
Cruel times, only seven days after the death of Ken Campbell another somber bulletin echoes around a wet and miserable Sunday. The dismal tidings came, this morning, from Rose Fenton who called to tell me that Ritsaert Ten Cate has died. Ritsaert was the artist, inventor and director of the Mickery, an extraordinary centre of […]