This weekend I’m taking part in the Battle of Ideas Festival at the Barbican- a fantastic event that gets 350 illustrious speakers from around the globe and all walks of life together to ‘shape the future through debate’. There’s a highly pertinent strand of the programme focussing on Battle for the Media, that will be…
So #Felix is no longer just a brand of cat food or a defunct cartoon character, but embodies a new marque of heroism and maverick adventure. A stuntman extraordinaire, who last night earned much sort after one word equity. Felix Baumgartner, a 43-year-old Austrian, former military parachutist, skydived into the record books. Jumping from 23 miles above the earth, Felix…
Back in August Mark predicted Prince Harry’s overexposure in Vegas would result in a significant tourism boom for Sin City, writing in his blog: ‘(Prince Harry’s) party machine focused exceptional attention on Las Vegas this week. It’s now enjoying astonishing and unprecedented Royal endorsement, the kind of patronage money can’t buy… Without spending a cent,…
Savillegate rages on today, with Mike Smith’s impassioned and lengthy rebuttal of claims of institutional sexism at the Beeb made over the weekend during an hour long appearance on Richard Bacon’s Radio 1 show. With accusations of child-abuse against the TV presenter mounting day by day, it is becoming apparent that the true character of…
Danny Rogers, the editor of PR Week, has, in a recent Independent article, highlighted a curious phenomenon blighting the boards of the majority of FTSE 100 firms. According to a recent survey, 54% of them still do not have a communications expert at executive board level. Considering that in the modern climate, most major decisions…
IKEA, the Swedish lifestyle and furniture goliath, suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous criticism on Tuesday after it emerged that the company airbrushed images of women from the Saudi edition of its consumer bible. Not surprisingly this decision has created a mega PR storm in a flat pack. Will the hue and cry harm…
Waitrose have joined the happy band of consumer brands to have a well-intentioned twitter campaign hijacked, as their #waitrosereasons hashtag found itself the source of various class-based jibes at the expense of this most well-heeled of retailers. I am still trying to work out if this was a calculated attempt to kick off a conversation….
This piece originally appeared on Scotsman.com The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are right to be taking this course of action – they’ve got to draw a line in the sand. They are boosted certainly by the current mood of the media in this country. I suspect that ten years ago we would have seen…
The long-overdue answers about police conduct during the appalling Hillsborough disaster have captured the media, and particularly the red-top, imagination. It’s small wonder- the tragedy is ingrained into our national psyche to a degree unmatched by any comparable event. Understandably, the families of the 96 have campaigned unrelentingly for justice, but the fascination extends beyond…
Vladimir Putin inspired worldwide scorn and a few great photoshops this week when he announced his plans to aid the migration of some unfortunate birds with the help of his trusty hang glider and a superhero-esque costume. In some sense, people are right to laugh- Putin is a crazed autocrat, so mad on his personality…