Mark My Words Blog
Welcome to ‘Mark My Words,’ the digital sanctuary where insight meets intrigue, and commentary sparks contemplation.
Delve into the dynamic world of PR maverick Mark Borkowski as he unravels the threads of media, culture, and communication. Mark’s blog is a treasure trove of industry wisdom, offering a backstage pass to the inner workings of publicity and the ever-evolving landscape of modern media.
Joey Skaggs, Giant Bras and the Origins of Creativity
I’ve recently been running around on a kind of UK Tour, delivering a new presentation in Gateshead, Brighton and various locations in London for a range of industry events in between the rigours of my day-to-day duties. One advantage of the thinking that goes in to this kind of offering is that along with the new ideas I discover and devise, I am reminded of some of my favourite pieces of wisdom. Amazing quotes and thoughts which get pushed to the back of my mind are suddenly thrust back in front of me- and my audiences- a couple of times…
PR in Pole Position at the Media Business Course
Last Thursday, I was fortunate enough to be asked to present at the Media Business Course in Brighton for the fourth year running- the only PR, I’m told, who has ever had the invitation extended. Usually, it’s a day of great value to me: being pushed up in front of the surprisingly intimidating face of the media industry’s freshest bright young things forces myself and others to ruthlessly update our thinking and present totally new material each time. This year, however, something was missing. As per usual, I totally reworked my presentation, but found myself surrounded by other speakers from…
Frankie Cocozza’s Meltdown is an Unrestrained, Uncontrolled Toxic Mess- It’ll do Wonders for the X Factor, though Little for M&S
The X Factor’s token Rock n Roll hairbrush Frankie Cocozza was splashed in lurid glory all over the red tops this morning: you can’t beat a good old fashioned tabloid coke scandal. Especially when it comes courtesy of Frankie, the boy who wanted to be a mashup of Richards, Moon and Shelley. The question, however, has to be where the duty of care lies as the show washes its hands of Frankie at the precise moment he becomes more useful to them offscreen than on. I’ve written about the show a lot on this blog: it’s always thrived on controversy….
Update: Like the Protestors, the Story Surrounding St Paul’s is Going Nowhere
Since I last penned a brief note on the St Pauls occupy London shenanigans, it seems there’s been some new story almost daily. The resignation of two senior church officials, the alleged 48 hour deadline, the declaration that the protestors are here to stay, the threat of legal action by the city, comments from both sides of mainstream politics (including Jonson’s memorable exhortation ‘In the name of God and mammon, go’) and now, finally, a silence-breaking Observer article by Ed Miliband. In between the possibly hypocritical condemnations by the Tories, the possibly equally hypocritical support offered by Labour, the regulations…
Alex Hall: Unfortunate, Out of Her Depth and Beyond Salvation
The performance of Alex Hall, Jeremy Clarkson’s now-infamous-once-gagged ex, on ‘That Sunday Night Show’ last week was a classic example of the dark underbelly of the kiss and tell process. Your publicist finds an op, you do it no matter what, and you end making a quick facial omelette. It’s like Faust’s pact with the devil except even more boring to watch as it’s acted out. Hall was somehow savaged by a panel which contained, amongst others, professionally ineffectual wall hanging Louis Spence and Chiles himself, the world’s least threatening man. Even worse: she has achieved the exact opposite of…
St Paul's Needs to Tread a Path Between Cringe and Whinge
In a publicity battle between a bunch of kids protesting against the most up to date bugbears around and the Church of England, the playing field isn’t exactly level. Watching St Paul’s trying to do PR is a bit like watching your Aunt Enid dance at a wedding: it’s somehow anachronistic, disjointed, just plain wrong. At the end of the day, the church are damned if they don’t and damned if they do. They did the right thing, at first, by allowing the protestors space, but they now look indecisive and ineffective. On the one hand, you have a group…
Stripping For Votes Could Work, Just Nobody Tell Theresa May
The video of Polish politician Katarzyna Lenart stripping for votes has generated the kind of online buzz that other party political broadcasts (and I use the term in its loosest sense) could only dream of. Shot on what appears to be a pretty low grade camera and featuring a swivel chair that wouldn’t look out of place in the head office of a packaging company in Slough, it looks a bit like something you’d find on Babestation at 3am. Still, at least she doesn’t stoop to airbrushing. The knee-jerk reaction is to dismiss this out of hand. It’s not just…
The Blackberry Debacle Was a Wake-up Call for Opaque Businesses
So, everyone, panic over. Our liftime’s answer to the Irish Potato Famine or the sacking of Rome is at an end. I refer, of course, to the great blackberry blackout. At the time of writing, my emails are now fully functional once again after a mere 3 days, 23 hours and 45 minutes. Given that I was spouting curmudgeonly comment on the event on Daybreak, and in the Metro and the Evening Standard, you’d have thought they might have sorted me out a bit quicker. You can imagine my chagrin when it turned out I was the last one in…
Mike Tindall and the Folly of the Front Pages
Somewhere in the heart of New Zealand, the England team will be shaking off hangovers, disengaging themselves from the arms of dwarves and former family friends, and getting psyched up for training prior to their all-important clash with France. While Mike Tindall’s injury excludes him from the final team, his presence will be felt nonetheless. A little while ago, I posted a short note warning that, following reportage of an early wild night out across the tabloid press, the England team faced potential PR disaster should they fail to perform. This week that’s been stepped up and nailed down with…
The Pride Of Britain Awards Show How A Good Tabloid Can Still Connect
I went along to the Mirror’s Pride of Britain Awards (airing tonight on ITV at 8) the other night, and in addition to having a bloody great night it got me thinking about how a good tabloid can get things exactly right. The Mirror’s repeated airing of what is a classic piece of event TV is pitch perfect. This is event TV- as are Britain’s Got Talent or the X Factor, for instance- because it gathers and broadcasts true, impactful stories in a major instance, drawing together disparate audiences and engaging them in irresistible conversation. Like the funfair sideshows of…
Dave Trott: Hot on Advertising, Not on PR?
I respect Dave Trott. He is an Ad man and Guru of considerable stature I read and liked his book Creative Mischief. Usually, Dave provides clear thinking and words of wisdom. I’ve been preoccupied; I missed his recent CampaignLive blog Stuntvertising. I read the post, my heart sank. This got my goat; “Normally I’m not a fan of ‘stunt’ advertising. The sort of thing that only runs once, in one place. Hardly any real consumers ever see it. This is really more PR than advertising.” http://davetrott.campaignlive.co.uk/#ixzz1ZtOCZRUw So Dave, please tell me what you really think of PR? Actually, please don’t…
22nd November: Mark Borkowski to Deliver Presentation at Microsoft's Imagine 2011 London
This November 22nd, Microsoft will seek to excite and entice key customers with a major, thought-leading conference: Imagine 2011 London, featuring a 40 minute presentation from Mark Borkowski. Microsoft are taking major shifts towards constructing and presenting a clear brand narrative, and Mark will be helping them on their way with a presentation about how true and truthful narratives can boost brands, build profiles and shift units. This will be packaged with insight on the history of storytelling and examples from Mark’s years in the thick of celebrity and the media to deliver a resounding, thought provoking and thoroughly entertaining…
21st November: Mark Borkowski to Feature as Expert Speaker at 'Handpicked Media Gets Social'
On 21st November, Mark will feature as an expert speaker at Handpicked Media Gets Social, Handpicked Media’s largest blogging event to date, at RIBA in London. Mark will be helping hordes of top bloggers grow their profiles- and their readership- with an innovative and entertaining presentation on the power of the brand narrative. Mark will provide the perspective of a seasoned PR professional and current industry thought leader to drive the ambition and understanding of these talented writers to new heights.
10th November: Mark Borkowski to Speak at Gateshead 'Marketing- The Art Of' Conference
On November 10th, Mark will be delivering a Key Note speech at this year’s ‘Marketing, the Art Of’ conference in Gateshead, where he’ll be unleashing a powerful address on the true, transparent brand narrative. The conference this year focuses on the rise of digital marketing. Mark will argue that, with the rise of social media and other online forums, everyone is now a commentator. As such, it has never been more important to co-ordinate communications strategies into the kind of coherent, flexible, responsive narrative that PRs understand better than anyone. Illustrated with examples from the arts, and backed up with…
Rory Weal and the Brand Narrative Quandry
(You can also read this post in the Huffington Post, here) The excitable and ubiquitous coverage of ‘labour boy’ Rory Weal following his appearance at the Labour Party Conference on Monday said a lot about the power of narrative. From Melanie Philips’s enraged dismissal of his ‘mantra of hate’ in the mail to the Guardian’s moving video content, everyone found something to grab them about this 16 year old child of the welfare state turned political prodigy. It’s hardly a surprise: his back story looked pitch-perfect. Following a divorce two and a half years ago, his family home was repossessed…
Arch West: The Final Chip off a Very Old Block?
It’s a great story for anyone who’s obsessed by the showmanship of selling: Arch West, the great Frito-Lay marketing exec and inventor of Doritos, has been covered with his beloved chips in his final resting place. West came from a long line of great retail mavericks who had the fire and the guts to tap into the popular consciousness and then harness it instantly and recklessly, with scarcely a thought for the opinions of shareholders and other boring considerations. I know my banging on about the golden age of showmanship is something you see a lot on this blog, but…
The Ceri Rees Story: Validating Chinese Government Policy?
The tale about Ceri Rees- an upbeat but apparently mentally challenged woman allegedly repeatedly invited to appear on the X Factor for the sole purpose of ratings-grabbing rejection- has really captured the tabloid imagination yesterday. This has the shape of something that could seriously run and run. The latest Mail piece by Richard Price, which (in its online form) incorporates nearly 2000 words of surgically targeted attack on the show, including interviews with a hapless carer of Rees’s and a spokesperson for mental health charity Mind. It would make it without question into my list of “top ten examples of…
Lib Dem Conference: A Leaky PR Ship With No-one Manning the Hull
In his Today programme interview with Justin Webb yesterday, Nick Clegg’s intended, unflappable nice guy image was showing the kind of serious wear and tear that can only result from a shortage of publicity muscle and back room support. By turns repetitive and needlessly confrontational (over the question of Italy, for instance, he veered back and forth before tersely interjecting that noting the difference between Britain and Italy was ‘a statement of the obvious’), he answered questions like a man in HomeBase asking after a product he’s forgotten the name of. When you’re getting rattled by Justin Webb, you know…
ThaR(WC) She Blows: A PR Iceberg Drifts Onto the Horizon for the England Boys
The Mail’s coverage of a particularly wild night out for England’s Rugby World Cup lads today- in which Chris Ashton wrestled dwarves and Mike Tindall took a ride on a motorboat (if you catch my drift)- should set alarm bells ringing in any media-savvy mind. Other than raising an eyebrow at Tindall’s quasi-infidelity, the paper stops short of making any definite moral pronouncements. However the language is telling: ‘questions were being raised’, ‘what will the wives and girlfriends make…?’, ‘it was clear that a lot of money had been spent’. This is the distinctive sound of the, still mighty, British…
The Saatchi & Saatchi Fuck Up Shows Why Storytelling is Best Left to PRs
For those who’ve not heard, a Saatchi & Saatchi campaign for client Toyota has led to a $10m suit being filed against the ad firm and the car company, as well as various individuals connected with the campaign. The campaign, which allowed people to sign up their friends to be ‘pranked’ with a serious of worrying emails from one of 5 colourful fictional characters, was a bungled attempt by the Saatchi suits to make the world’s most boring car company look radical. This is a textbook example of why forging the brand narrative is best left to the publicists: the…