Did Anyone Really Win? Inside the Aftermath of Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s Ugly Legal Battle (Exclusive)
US Weekly
They both face the arduous task of rehabilitating their reputations. “Neither side emerged as an overall winner,” says David Johnson, CEO of Strategic Vision PR Group. “But Blake suffered the most because people viewed her as humorous, family-oriented and approachable, and the lawsuit tarnished that image.” PR expert Mark Borkowski says it’s best to let her work do the talking. “[She should be] undeniable in the work and boring everywhere else. Boring is the most underrated crisis strategy in the business.”
Baldoni’s sensitive “Man Enough” podcast host persona took a huge hit. “Recovery from a case like this depends on three factors,” says Johnson, “the absence of new controversies, continued professional achievement and time.” Adds Borkowski: “Justin’s only route back [is to] make something good and [be quiet] for two years.” Nonetheless, Baldoni has continued to receive support from fans and corners of Hollywood, with stars like James Brolin and Joe Rogan speaking out amid his legal battle.
Brooklyn Beckham ‘threatening’ David and Victoria’s brand empire with latest stunt
The Mirror
But while he is cashing in on the feud, the advert could have huge repercussions for his parents, according to a PR expert. Mark Borkowski claimed that Brooklyn’s antics will not only torch his own brand, but he is now threatening that of his family.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, the PR expert said: “This will not end well for the Beckhams. Money and fame don’t buy happiness or indeed harmony. David and Victoria must forget the brand – it should be family first. This is a tragic soap opera. Wounding is not the word.”
He added that while Brooklyn may feel liberated by removing himself from the empire built by his parents, it is causing huge damage to the couple. And he went on to say: “‘What makes this so painful is that everyone appears trapped inside a story they can no longer control.”
Brooklyn Beckham ‘threatening’ David and Victoria’s brand empire with latest stunt – The Mirror
‘Brooklyn could bring down Brand Beckham’: David and Victoria’s oldest son is threatening the $1billion empire with his decision to cash in on the family rift, PR experts say
Daily Mail
British PR guru Mark Borkowski has said that the crisis is spiralling, with Brooklyn torching his own brand and the flames are now heading towards David and Victoria’s own $1billion empire.
He told the Daily Mail: ‘This will not end well for the Beckhams. Money and fame don’t buy happiness or indeed harmony.’
David and Victoria must ‘forget the brand – it should be family first. This is a tragic soap opera. Wounding is not the word,’ he said.
Mr Borkowski, one of the UK’s top PR and crisis experts, says Brooklyn is rejecting the family brand because he genuinely believes his parents have spent years controlling him.
He said: ‘Brooklyn belongs to a different era. The rejection of the family brand may itself feel like an act of liberation.’
But in doing so, he is damaging a brand his mother and father started building in the late 1990s.
He said: ‘The Beckhams have spent nearly three decades building perhaps the most successful family brand in modern British culture. Not just fame, but a mythology: the footballer, the pop star, the beautiful children, the resilience, the reinvention. It became a commercial empire but also a family narrative. The problem is that brands can be managed. Families can’t.
‘What makes this so painful is that everyone appears trapped inside a story they can no longer control.’
Meghan Markle’s attempt to soften image backfires – ‘teetering on irrelevant’
The Express
During a wide-ranging chat, host Matt Wilkinson asked his guests, public relations expert Mark Borkowski and royal commentator Kinsey Schofield, whether or not Meghan was becoming “a bit boring” as she adopts a more homely image. Mr Borkowski said: “She’s on the cusp of becoming irrelevant… She’s teetering on irrelevancy I think.”
He suggested Harry’s recent interventions on UK politics and the world stage, including his trip to Ukraine, show he is moving away from a focus Meghan wanted to “drag him” towards.
Mr Borkowski told Royal Exclusive: “You can see [in Harry] there’s a human there with purpose that is not being applied.
“That’s a thing he can’t see within himself. But [he] is someone who was groomed for greater things and he can’t do those very things and that must be eating him up.”
The PR expert claimed Harry’s lifestyle now he is no longer a senior working royal “must be prison for him”.
Meghan Markle’s attempt to soften image backfires | Royal | News | Express.co.uk
Deepfakes, chatbots and the new threats to a billionaire’s name
Spears
Despite the fragmentation of the media landscape, traditional outlets still matter. Just over half of respondents (52 per cent) believe regular engagement with the press remains among the most effective ways to build a positive reputation. This finding reflects the continued influence of established journalism on public perception and, increasingly, on AI systems. ‘LLMs draw heavily on established media sources,’ says Mark Borkowski, founder of the eponymous PR consultancy. ‘High-quality coverage strengthens a digital footprint, even as trust in traditional media declines.’
https://spearswms.com/wealth/deepfakes-chatbots-new-threats-billionaire-name/
Will it be fourth-time lucky for Sienna Miller’s tumultuous love life?
The Telegraph
Previous experiences may have taught Miller that lesson the hard way. She has endured more than her fair share of high-profile heartbreak and struggle as she has forged her career as an actress.
“The bottom line is it is difficult to navigate a high-profile career and a personal life,” Mark Borkowski, a PR industry veteran, says. “Because the more famous you become, obviously, the bigger your profile and the more clickbait you create. And I think we see it particularly with women who strike success when they’re young… [that] fame has a certain toxicity to it.”
Will it be fourth-time lucky for Sienna Miller with Oli Green?
Meghan Markle’s As Ever business under new threat
Wonderwall
How can Meghan make the brand better?
Public relations expert Mark Borkowski believes the entrepreneur needs to streamline the company and its values.
“When a brand arrives and says, ‘We are many things, all of them meaningful,’ the audience hears: ‘Work it out yourself.’ And they [Meghan and Harry] don’t,” the specialist told the publication.
What Jeremy Clarkson is reportedly paid by Amazon Prime for Clarkson’s Farm ahead of season five
Lad Bible
PR expert breaks down Clarkson’s success
Sure, his farm might be a money-maker nowadays, but it can be said that Clarkson is quite the money-maker himself.
And expert Mark Borkowski says that this is partly because he’s an ‘incredible content generator’.
Having been tied to the demands of the likes of Top Gear and The Grand Tour, the PR whizz reckons Clarkson ‘clearly got into farming, and you know, like most people these days, you know, he turned it into concept’.
“He became the British farmer bloke, weathered, battered,” Borkowski explains. “I mean every everything about it is his journalistic way of looking for the stories, looking for the narratives.
“It was never the narrative about the car, it was the narrative about him and the other two presenters about countries, about backdrop, about roads, about pranks, and the backdrop’s changed, it’s contextualising something in a completely different way. It’s the principle about how he makes content and that’s why he’s so popular.”
He continues: “He’s hit the moment exactly the time post Brexit, where farming and farmers are now under scrutiny, so he’s got a ready-made polemic to start talking about it.
“But above all, he’s authentic, that’s the interesting part about him, and actually having a living, breathing farm… it’s like The Kardashians in a way, only better.”
The expert describes Clarkson as a ‘natural storyteller’ and a ‘natural content maker’.
“Even now with the heart attack, or this weekend with him going down to BGT, and to the final, the farmer’s choir, now sponsored by his lager, everything about it is integrated with his life, and I just think he’s found something better than Top Gear,” he adds.
“Top Gear made him, but I think he will be remembered, because now he has single-handedly done more to make people understand farming, the difficulties of farming, and he’s championed the farming community just at a time, the timing is perfect, when they’re under pressure from inheritance tax and whatever, and leading the charge, so it was a case of being in the right place at the right time.”
LADbible has contacted the team at Clarkson’s Farm for comment.
What Jeremy Clarkson is reportedly paid by Amazon Prime for Clarkson’s Farm ahead of season five
Kim Kardashian craves stability. Lewis Hamilton values freedom. What could go wrong?
The Telegraph
The fact that the British-American duo now has the maternal seal of approval has sent the rumour mill into overdrive – as what once seemed like a casual fling is starting to look more long-lasting. Equally, with people this famous, it’s hard not to question whether this was a family meal captured by accident or a well-timed publicity stunt.
“You always have to ask, ‘What are they trying to tell us?’” says celebrity PR guru Mark Borkowski. “Was it planned? Possibly, as it seems a little too obvious. I don’t want to be cynical but if you want to keep a story going and keep creating signals, the meeting of in-laws is something that everybody understands as an important milestone, so there is a strategic logic behind it.”
Either way, the relationship itself appears to be real. Hamilton and Kardashian have known each other for more than a decade – although the first public photograph of them together from the 2014 GQ Men of the Year Awards is not one for the mantelpiece, as it features both of their significant exes: Nicole Scherzinger and Kanye West. Clearly, they got on well though, and by 2015 Hamilton was spending Easter in Malibu with the family (Kanye West even praised his taste in music during the four-day trip).
Kim Kardashian wants stability. Lewis Hamilton wants freedom. What could go wrong?
How much actors can make from residuals revealed – after Everybody Loves Raymond fans learnt Ray Romano makes $18M a year from repeats alone
Daily Mail
Lisa Kudrow (and co-stars): $20M a year for Friends:
She might not have filmed a single scene in 22 years but Friends is still a phenomenal money-spinner for actress Lisa Kudrow.
Recently, when asked why she and her four surviving co-stars earn $20 m a year from reruns of the American series, Kudrow, 62, credited her dippy onscreen alter ego, quipping: ‘Because Phoebe Buffay was so great?’
But nerves of steel and a crack team of agents and lawyers were arguably more important in securing the sort of syndication rights that mean Kudrow, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer never have to work again.
After all, says celebrity public relations consultant Mark Borkowski: ‘It is show [i]business[i] – and there’s nothing more brutal than getting a deal.’
However, he stresses, ‘it really is the lucky few who get millions’.
Why unstoppable Maya Jama’s ‘substantial’ television strategies have Love Island employers scared
NY Morning Star
In 2015, the environmentally friendly brand name– which developed milk from yellow split peas– revealed 38% development, and it’s most likely to discover more success, thanks to a brand-new offer with Joe & & The Juice, which released last month.
What’s more, in a cooperation fronted by Maya in a striking blonde wig, she released Maya’s Iced Matcha, consisting of black sesame paste, collagen and Sproud milk.
” Maya has a fantastic group around her and has actually connected herself to some terrific tasks,” states PR expert Mark Borkowski. “She appears to be making all the right choices and is taking one action at a time.”
‘He’s a natural’: Andy Burnham’s allies give his social media style a thumbs-up
The Guardian
Subtle it isn’t, but it does bear the hallmarks of a competent communicator, said the PR consultant Mark Borkowski. “He’s a natural,” said the media analyst. “He comes across as fearless and he looks comfortable in his own skin.”
Which is a marked contrast to the man whose job he wants to nab, he added. “[Keir] Starmer has struggled to project that same authenticity, and in the modern age you have to be a brilliant communicator as well as being good at your job.”
World’s most valuable football match descends into £300m shambles due to Spygate
The Mirror
It’s known as the ‘most valuable football match in the world’ as it’s worth £300m to the victors who win promotion to the lucrative Premier League with increased TV rights, hospitality and advertising. It shows how important promotion is – even losing every game and finishing bottom secures any club £109m.
Public relations consultant Mark Borkowski said: “This will have ramifications for years to come. It will have a huge impact on Southampton Football Club.
“I feel so sorry for the Southampton fans. Southampton haven’t handled this well. Those goal celebrations with the binoculars … it’s like the whole club knew. There’s a sense of shock and a real level of stupidity. They can recover from this but they need to regain the trust of their fans.”
Author and financial expert Kieran Maguire said that not going up will be a huge financial blow. Last night Southampton made a last ditch appeal to try and change the decision which will see Hull play Middlesbrough on Saturday.
World’s most valuable football match descends into £300m shambles due to Spygate – The Mirror
Three Strictly presenters? Here’s what could go wrong
The Telegraph
PR expert Mark Borkowski isn’t bowled over by those particular choices. “It’s casting by ChatGPT,” he asserts. So, how would these new faces blend into the ballroom competition? A Strictly triple act might be a genius solution. Or, in the words of Craig Revel Horwood, it could be a dance disahhhster.
Three Strictly Come Dancing hosts? Here’s what could go wrong
‘Married at First Sight’ allegations shock UK TV industry
Financial Times
MAFS UK became the most watched British commercial on-demand streaming title in 2024, according to Channel 4. It has been particularly important for the E4 streaming service in attracting younger audiences, increasingly turning to platforms such as Netflix, and generating massive engagement on social media. It has even spawned an official podcast in the UK.
Mark Borkowski, a veteran British entertainment PR consultant, said: “For years, reality TV has sold itself as a democratic route to fame. But underneath it sits something much older and uglier: the atavistic Colosseum impulse.”
He predicted the crisis would not “kill reality TV” but it “will mean reality TV’s next phase will have to be less venal”.
Women’s football is discovering the perils of a harsh spotlight
The Observer
The decision to launch an Instagram page with her boyfriend of under a month at the same time as Chelsea were losing 3-2 to Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-final, with Bright watching on, also felt like another faux pas.
“Part of the reason things are going wrong is you haven’t got the sort of talent around these people to develop careers,” says public relations consultant Mark Borkowski.
“It’s a dance. You don’t want to be forgotten. It’s a short career. What you do beyond that is given by the audience you drum up, and the tools to drum up that audience must never be too desperate. It’s a dangerous tightrope.”
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Burning Through Fortune — $3M Security, $38M Legal Bills and ‘Only 5 Years Left’ Before Lifestyle Crash
Radar Online
PR guru Mark Borkowski pointed out that the duo hitching their brand to rehashing old royal resentments is a tired narrative that no longer brings in the big bucks.
“There’s only so much money you can make out of grievance, and they have exhausted the assets that they have. The diminishing returns became the narrative,” he explained. “Show business in America now is based on what is the commercial return on investment. One failure and out.”
Prince Harry & Meghan Burning Through Fortune With Lifestyle Crash Ahead
Football Focus is a victim of BBC virtue-signalling’: Experts blame show’s demise on ‘lightweight presenters’ hired to fit BBC’s ‘world view’ amid exodus of white male, middle-aged stars
Daily Mail
It has been alleged that Ms Scott has felt bruised by BBC inquests into its declining performance, which has seen viewing figures almost halve while she has been at the helm.
Mark Borkowski, one of the UK’s leading PR gurus and brand experts, told the Daily Mail today: ‘The virtue signalling at Football Focus has caught up with the BBC’.
He said the plunging viewing figures ‘shows the BBC were trying to do something for the audience that they didn’t want’.
‘It was so lightweight and presented by people who didn’t have any personality but fitted the BBC’s world view’, he said.
‘These shows are being shaped by an agenda when all people want is to be entertained. There is this blandness and mediocrity that pervades iconic programmes like Football Focus’.
Celebrated former Football Focus host Bob Wilson today insisted Alex Scott had done ‘be a really good job’ as presenter.
Anna Wintour’s Vogue cover is more than a cameo – it’s a power play
The Guardian
Mark Borkowski, a press consultant and author, describes Wintour’s appearance on the cover as “a hell of a smart move”. “This is very much about Wintour not letting go of her power,” he says. “A lot of people in these types of jobs recognise they are sitting in a chair that has power. Wintour doesn’t believe that. She believes she is the power. She’s not a personality that’s going to fade away into the background.”
Even the ideation of the cover hints at the authority Wintour still wields. Writing in her editor’s letter, Malle outlines how it came about. She was in the backseat of Wintour’s personal town car (a nice power play by Wintour, and reminiscent of the first film) running ideas for the next batch of covers past her (a tacit hint that all the big decisions still need to be approved by Wintour) when Malle first suggested the idea. Wintour initially shot it down, saying: “That’s very flattering, Chloe, but it’s not really my style.” It then, so the story goes, fell to Streep to persuade her. Wintour called the Hollywood star directly (another not-so-subtle power move).
Wintour was dismissive of the first film when it came out in 2006. Although she did attend the premiere – wearing Prada, no less – she was cagey about her reaction. In 2024, at the opening of the musical version in London, she told the BBC that it was “for the audience and for the people I work with to decide if there are any similarities between me and Miranda Priestly”.
However, more recently she has seemed happier to engage, suggesting that Priestly is very much “a caricature” and a highly enjoyable and very fun one at that. The various social media videos that accompany the shoot drive this idea home. Streep stays in character, while Wintour plays herself. We see her fumble her lines and get the giggles. She is warm and witty, a sharp contrast to the icy Priestly.
We first saw her toy with the idea at the Oscars in March, where she jokingly referred to Anne Hathaway as “Emily”, a nod to Emily Blunt’s character in the film. Meanwhile, the next read in the Vogue Book Club is the novel by Lauren Weisberger that inspired the film. Borkowski suggests these stunts hint that Wintour is beginning to separate herself from brand Vogue. “Her life has been defined by Vogue,” he says. “Back in the day she was recognisable by a very distinctive haircut and a pair of dark glasses. She was a cypher. But now it’s all about the narrative of the personal brand.” She is, he says, “getting involved in the film because she sees it as something that can establish Anna Wintour, the brand”.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Brand Crisis: Why They’re Struggling in Hollywood and What’s Next (Exclusive)
US Weekly
PR expert Mark Borkowski says the public wants clarity. “When a brand arrives and says, ‘We are many things, all of them meaningful,’ the audience hears: ‘Work it out yourself.’ And they don’t,” he adds. Brand and PR expert Natalie Trice believes that while “there’s still strong public interest in what Meghan does,” her constantly changing stance is problematic. “Is [her thing] jam? Is it fashion? Is it charity work? Yes, you can do it all — but that true passion needs to be clear.” The second source, however, contends that they have various types of projects that speak to their interests.
The first source says their projects to date “have [too] narrow [of an] appeal.” In addition to With Love, Meghan, Netflix also aired Polo, Harry’s 2024 docuseries about his friend Nacho Figueras, and 2023’s Heart of Invictus, a docuseries centered around the Invictus Games, his global sporting event for wounded service members. Their next TV series is set to be about polo, and they just recently sold Cookie Queens — a documentary about Girl Scouts — which they executive-produced.