Smacking a gift-horse in the mouth
Like greedy children stuffing themselves sick with party bag chocolate, the Academy award nominees and their accountants are set to discover that nothing in this life comes for free
Why do PRs carry the can?
When something goes wrong, it’s always a ‘PR disaster’, and it’s not fair, says Mark Borkowski Every now and then, someone knocks up a list of “the most unpopular professions”, and journalists get to write about themselves for a change. Hacks, to whom the prefix “seedy” now seems to have become irretrievably attached, invariably top…
No Business is worth monkey business
Pepsi’s latest ad has roused the ire of an animal rights group because it features a chimpanzee, but both sides stand to gain from the resulting publicity Pepsi cannot have failed to second guess the reaction in the wake of the banned Puma ad
Chartered Institute of Public Relations
How do you pronounce the acronym CIPR? Let’s think. It looks like the front half of one of my favourite hotels, the Cipriani in Venice. Yes. I think ‘chipper’ is the right way to say ‘CIPR’, and a quick glance at Partridge’s Dictionary of Slang reveals that since 1837 ‘chipper’ has carried the meaning ‘WELL…
Spin docs take a funny turn
… Falling into this last category, presumably, is PR supremo Mark Borkowski (below). ‘What on earth was the Privy Council thinking … How does one take the news that the Institute of Public Relations has gone all legit and become the Chartered IPR? Last week, after 50 years of trying (apparently), the spin doctors’ union…
Dispatches: A riot of their own
Who says there’s no such thing as bad publicity? Try telling that to the marketing executives of Ikea today. So successful was the hyping of Thursday’s new store opening in north London, that it turned into a disaster of spectacular proportions.
KNEEL!
Not a whisper, not a word, not even an inkling. Nothing. When my mobile went ‘beep’ this morning with the hot news courtesy of my MediaGuardian alert . I was genuinely astonished. Perhaps I’m flattering myself here, but the old ears are supposed to be pretty well cued-in at ground-level, the personal radar suitably calibrated…
Bruised, he may be. But you can't write off Max Clifford
PR: Bruised, he may be. But you can’t write off Max Clifford Fellow showbiz publicist Mark Borkowski says the Clifford brand will survive the Hamiltons’ victory 06 February 2005 http://news.independent.co.uk/media/story.jsp?story=608106 Max Clifford has worked in publicity since 1962 and has forgotten more than most media teenies know. He understands all about the really famous as…
Necessity is the mother of reinvention
‘Doing a Sharon Stone’ is not necessarily the best way to revive a flagging career, If the star of your celebrity has faded to a crepuscular glow, your best option is to do something that will make the public see you in a completely new light. This is the advice that two Hollywood agents have…
A new front is opened up in the cola wars: diet-conscious men
… The PR consultant Mark Borkowski believes that in the longer term, diet cola brands will have to face wider issues than whether a drink contains sugar. … By Ciar Byrne, INDEPENDENT Media Correspondent 01 February 2005 http://news.independent.co.uk/media/story.jsp?story=606545