The Cute Factor
We continue to see the heroic efforts made by the McCann’s to keep up Maddie’s public profile, so their daughter’s disappearance doesn’t fade into obscurity. Undoubtedly, the “cute” factor helps to perpetuate her media presence and without it, I fear she wouldn’t have so much attention. Maddie is cute and very photogenic which always helps […]
Still streets ahead after half a century
by FERGUS SHEPHERD It was launched at the end of 1960, and one reviewer dismissed it for “its dreary signature tune and grim scenes of a row of terraced houses and smoking chimneys”. But Coronation Street, the world’s longest-running television soap opera, which gave the world Ena Sharples, the Rover’s Return and Ken Barlow, has again […]
The Maddy McCann media campaign
There is still no news of the missing toddler Maddy McCann. Here is an extract from BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast. I comment on the success of the campaign to date and the pressures that it will face over the coming weeks, as the media loose interest.
When stunts go bad
I am often sent PR disaster tales this one from New Zealand, underlines the danger of staging a stunt without realising the risks. I am sure that it was a great success on the day, alas there is usually a huge hangover after the best party. The Warehouse, New Zealand’s largest general merchandise retailer, says it […]
A Pharmaceutical High
There is another row over the pharmaceutical industry and EU reforms, in today’s Guardian. With drug companies being faced with declining sales, they seem to be making headway with their plans to enlist the patients themselves, their greatest allies, in the struggle to make more money. After drug companies were given permission to advertise their […]
Mars apologies to Veggies
Mars apologies to Veggies Mark discusses the PR issue on BBC Radio 5 Worricker on Sunday. Broadcast on Five Live – Sun 20 May – 10:00
A Pharmaceutical High
There is another row over the pharmaceutical industry and EU reforms, in today’s Guardian. With drug companies being faced with declining sales, they seem to be making headway with their plans to enlist the patients themselves, their greatest allies, in the struggle to make more money. After drug companies were given permission to advertise their […]
Mark Borkowski on Breakfast TV 18 May 07
Mark Borkowski talks about the campaign to raise awareness for Madeline McCann
Chocolate billboard goes global
When a stunt works it goes global, even the Russian media are talking about the chocolate billboard. Weeks after the stunt.. View enlarged image
Jodie Marsh v Una White
This link arrived in my inbox today. http://www.webuser.co.uk/news/120293.html. I was astonished at the stupidity of this naïve PR stunt. “Celebrity Jodie Marsh is looking for a husband – and if you think you’re up to the job, you can apply online. Marsh, who in her own words is “very demanding”, is planning to hold auditions […]
Great PR Disasters
I recently came across what can only be described as one of the greatest PR disasters of our age. It happened in the U.S. on May Day in 2003 when George W Bush gave a speech aboard the USS Lincoln declaring that “major combat operations in Iraq have ended”. He stood in front of a banner […]
Brown to play to his strengths
London – British finance minister Gordon Brown will portray himself as a sober, intellectually rigourous politician of substance in his campaign to succeed Prime Minister Tony Blair, analysts said. http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_2112575,00.html
Borkowski on Brown
If Brown does decide to try and reinvent himself as a more personable and charismatic politician, however, he should do so carefully, warned Mark Borkowski, who founded Borkowski PR, a public relations firm that counts various celebrities among its clients. “True image change is about stealth… The powerful image changes are those that aren’t spotted,” […]
The trivia cycle
One of the perils of being a publicist, for me at least, is having to go through the papers thoroughly every single day. I’ve been doing it for years and years, but instead of it getting easier, it’s fast becoming a chore. The reason for this is the sheer amount of trivia that clogs the […]
Lord of the Flies 2
An interesting treatment for a new reality show was emailed into our office today. I urge you to read the treatment. Can it be real THE SHOW: “The most nail biting, adrenaline soaked game show on earth” Ten kids aged between 11 and 14 are marooned on an exotic island thousands of miles from school, […]
Outrage Factor
I noticed in today’s Guardian, Owen Gibson’s article about how adverts these days are attracting a record number of complaints. The advertising industry watchdog’s annual report is published today, and it lists stylised violence, same sex kisses and religious offence as some of the top ten most complained about adverts for last year. An advert […]
Crime and The Media
This morning we heard that the mother of Madeleine McCann, the missing girl who was snatched from her parents’ holiday home in Portugal last Thursday, has made a desperate appeal to whoever is responsible not to hurt her daughter. The British public take it for granted that the Police use the media, but what they […]
Scandal
The papers are really feasting on the disgrace of Lord Browne for lying to the High Court about where he met Jeff Chevalier. The real disgrace, in the eyes of the homophobic media, was not the perjury, but the fact that Browne had delved into ‘seedy’ gay websites and hitched up with an entrepreneurial rent […]
Air Care?
Does anybody really like Ryan Air? I had the misfortune of travelling to Dublin in one of their blue and yellow cigar tubes of the sky; it was a deeply depressing experience. Does no thrills mean rude? The staff were not unlike East German Stassi circa 1953. I hope that we will all be forced […]