Photo Credit: Andre Camara So there we have it; the conclusion of the greatest product launch campaign Britain has ever seen. No, Apple didn’t bring out the iWatch while you weren’t looking. I’m talking about the latest release from modish mass market lifestyle brand Clarence House. In order to promote the latest instalment in…
When, in 2010, David Cameron described commercial Lobbying as the “next big scandal” in British politics, he drew attention to a strange truth. The work of the commercial lobbyist has all the necessary triggers for popular British outrage, not least because it’s conducted by a tightly networked elite behind closed doors. Despite this, the public…
Last week, six members of Greenpeace ascended their way into the history books during fifteen hours of sheer sweat, muscle and no doubt emotion, as they scaled The Shard to draw attention to Shell’s plans to drill for oil in the Arctic. It was a bold, inspiring, beautiful action, that did the thing that all…
As Britain hails a new hero in the shape of Wimbledon great Andy Murray, it’s natural to wonder what impact his victory will have on him from a PR point of view. The genius of Simon Fuller and his team at XIX Entertainment, managers of the tennis star, is that they are building a brand…
There’s an exhibition on at the moment at the British Library entitled Propaganda: Power and Persuasion. A much maligned term these days, thanks to the work of Herr Goebbels & sons (which is presented in all its horror/glory in the exhibition), propaganda also has a less sinister heritage – the term entered common parlance when…
“Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.” So said Benjamin Franklin, a man who knew a thing or two about the activities of the state and its miscontents. He recognised the haste with which word spreads once a secret gets out, particularly when the information contained is shocking or surprising –…
A railway safety advert that’s been tunefully taking Australia by storm has penetrated the international conscious after winning the ‘biggie’ of the advertising world: the Cannes Lions Grand Prix. The ‘Dumb Ways to Die’ ad is beautifully simple and has all the hallmarks of a great, modern campaign. It’s funny, it’s catchy, it appeals to…
There was a news break from the FT on Monday which reported “Starcom Mediavest Group has signed a huge advertising deal with Twitter” representing hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue over multiple years for the tech company. Wisely, Twitter and Starcom declined to discuss the financial details of the agreement. According to the FT,…
The special one, the mighty Jose Mourinho is back, and with a bang. Love him or loathe him, he is box office. He always reminds me of the legendary Brian Clough: he has the god given talent to deliver a narrative and focus attention. He is the master of the soundbite, his manner excites, beguiles, bewitches,…
Rhys Ifans has been commanding attention for all the wrong reasons, testing the very limits of the notion that there is no such thing as bad publicity. There can have been few publicists who didn’t experience an internal cringe on behalf of the luckless PR that had to deal with his catastrophic interview with The Times….