I spent most of the night studying the entries for the MediaGuardian Innovation awards, an idea cooked up by the MediaGuardian to celebrate innovations in the media industry. I’m judging the PR and Brand Identity sections and I have to admit I found the homework a depressing task. Hopefully, when the judges all gather to…
I had an enjoyable evening last night, pontificating to 300 PR souls at the Old Cinema at Westminster University. The event was in “a public conversation with my old mate Trevor Morris”, who prompted me to respond to issues that were pertinent to modern PR. The final half hour of the evening was taken over…
Here is an interesting snippet from Spinwatch taken from The Japan Times, November 21, 2007 “A report written in 1959 by Mark May, a Yale University professor and expert on psychological warfare, detailed the extensive operations by the United States Information Service (USIS) in Japan after the end of World War II. The report was…
At the end of each year, the Campaign for Media Democracy stages the “Falsies Awards,” to recognize the people and players that take spin and propaganda to new lows. I have been told that 2007 is a vintage year and has some all time lows. Corrupt PR practice in the US plagues the media across…
Out of the jungle and into the spotlight for Cerys Matthews Cerys Matthews might have sung “It’s all over the front page” in trademark song Road Rage, but the same could not be said of her in recent years. Until three weeks ago, that is, when the former Catatonia singer joined the gaggle of famous…
When ever I walk across the Paddington Station concourse I marvel at the genius of sale promotion agencies that regularly use the space. The art of great sales promotions is to connect a brand with potential customers in a creative and engaging fashion. I was drawn to the current Brazil promo at the busy commuting…
I learn from a Guardian obituary http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,2216886,00.html that Verity Lambert has shuffled off to the grand TV studio in the sky. Many years ago, I developed a situation comedy with a dear friend and journalist Peter Freedman. Peter did most of the hard work and penned a pilot script entitled “Hype” It was a factual…
My old friend Joe Staggs sent me a link about an American TV company soliciting for pranksters for a reality TV show. http://pranks.com/2007/11/26/so-you-wanna-be-on-tv/ The question is, is this in itself a post modernist prank? It could be a prank to out prank pranks, after all, it’s Monday morning and I’m still confused from the weekend…
What a depressing week – I hope the coming weekend will erase the memory of the last 5 days. From data cock ups to sporting ignominy a battalion of incompetents have presided over a series of lamentable events. The nation is left with a clutch of black ostrich feathers to wave at the cemetery gates….
I heard today on the radio about a PR company in Chicago, Empower Public Relations, which has made office gossip a sackable offence. When Sam Chapman started his small company, Empower, it was partly because he left a company where vicious backbiting was an epidemic. He felt it damaged careers and morale. I whole heartedly…