I’ve read this week’s papers behind my hands. For a PR, watching the steady implosion of Brand Clarkson is a painful experience. Can it get any worse for Britain's king of controversy? Last week’s blog focussed on the ‘fracas’ (and perhaps allowed me to indulge my Hammond crush a little)...
Prime minister David Cameron - First Lord of the Treasury - may be the government's PR man by background, but the Budget, the most high stakes public relations event in the politics calendar, is entrusted to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Whatever you think of George Osborne's politics, as an act...
Dad-dressing petrol head Jeremy Clarkson has rarely been out of the news in recent weeks. Unless you've been camping in an isolated corner of the Outer Hebrides with only some weather worn goats and a Nokia 3310 for company you won't have failed to notice that the presenter, usually never...
Acronyms can easily turn a perfectly acceptable marketing slogan or business name into a laughing stock – for example, the Authorised Service Shop (ASS), the Wisconsin Tourism Federation (WTF), Seattle’s South Lake Union Trolley (SLUT) or Microsoft’s Critical Update Notification Tool (now wisely renamed the Critical Updated Notification Utility). It then...
I have just hired a fabulous new PR assistant. I was impressed with her and had a sense of knowing the fit before I interviewed her. The reason was that she sent me a video CV. There’s no doubt that communication landscapes in general are changing and, with respect to employment...
Whether or not you read the book (did you?) there has been no escaping the 50 Shades of Grey publicity wagon as it rolled into action before the official release of the film on 14th February. It was greeted with the same hysteria as a new Star Wars film or...
“Have you made resolutions this year?” This question seems to have been a part of just about every conversation between returning office workers since the start of the month and is often met by enthusiastically reciting a list of life improvements - or a blank look. However, rather than giving up...
January is a bit of a grey month and so it’s always nice to come across a good old PR fail in order to inject a bit of humour into this rather flat time of year. This latest story comes courtesy of Play Doh, perhaps one of the most common...
January is upon us once again and for many of us that means a fairly savage detox after all the champagne of New Year’s Eve and the over indulgence of the Christmas period - the arrival of Dry January. Whether or not you’re taking part in the annual denial of booze this...
Most people assume that, when it comes to reputational damage, you’re only really at risk if you’re intentionally behaving badly. There’s an odd expectation of karma whereby if you’re misusing Twitter or getting into scrapes that can be digitally documented then you’re taking the kind of risks with your reputation...
