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.
Dissecting the Spin Doctors
I’ll be taking part in the Radio Academy debate on Spin Doctors in the Gibson Building in Rathbone Place next Wednesday at 6.30 p.m., joined by Katie Hopkins, who founded her own consultancy after saying ‘No’ to Alan Sugar in The Apprentice, and the politicial blogger Guido Fawkes. The chair for the event is Jeremy Vine. We will be discussing, with an emphasis on how it concerns radio, whether spin doctoring is a dark art or an important part of the communication process, what positive and negative impacts spin has had on the political process, the calls for American-style televised…
Fixing the Polls
Bearing in mind what I wrote in yesterday’s post about transparency and trust, it doesn’t really help that there are still PR firms out there who will go to any lengths to be popular. Seventy Seven PR recently put up an adhoc poll to find out which PR firm people admire the most. A nice little NB on their blog site calls for honesty – “if you can AVOID voting for your own agency, it might make it a bit more interesting. We can’t police it, of course, but go on, give it a go…”. Sadly, iit seems that this…
Of Sweat and Politics
Politicians may have a lot to sweat about at the moment, but the appearance of actual sweat can knock back their image management incalculably. The Guardian published a piece on this today, with reference to the MP Bill Rammell’s sweat-drenched appearance on the BBC a couple of nights ago, and asked for my opinion on the matter. Click here to read the story.
Truth, Nakedness and PR
A career in PR always provides challenges – certainly I am cautious about some of the work I’ve undertaken and have, in retrospect, had to face out some of the poorer decisions I’ve made, such as promoting alcopops. With this in mind, it’s interesting to see that the Climate Camp 2009 protestors have targeted Edelman for its work with Eon and the proposed Kingsnorth coal-fired power station, standing naked in Edelman’s HQ and demanding transparency. They want to ‘expose the naked truth behind Edelman’. All well and good; transparency is the watchword of the PR industry now, and will become…
Lord Mandelson, Louis Vuitton and Bags of PR Hell
The Daily Telegraph’s Tim Walker asked me for my opinion, in today’s paper, on Bernard Arnault’s response to Lord Mandelson’s insistence that the Louis Vuitton bag he was photographed with last week wasn’t his… “Bernard Arnault responded with a polite “merci, mais non” when I asked him if he would care to comment on why Lord Mandelson should have felt the need to clarify that the Louis Vuitton bag that he was pictured beside at Gatwick airport last week did not in fact belong to him. “Mark Borkowski, the ubiquitous brand manager, tells me it was probably a wise call…
My Edinburgh
Here’s an unedited version of the piece I wrote for yesterday’s Independent, on My Edinburgh. Trawling Edinburgh Festival for the sites of my old publicity stunts, celebrated in the #Twithibition I have just launched, has been a contemplative experience. The stunts celebrated 25 years of mischief, but that was then. What is now? I thought it worth considering how the Festival has evolved as I trekked around the city putting up posters. I have been going to Edinburgh for years and there is always much that is astonishing, vibrant and beautiful on offer at the Festival – of this year’s…
Stunts and the Art of Celebrity Maintenance
Today’s Independent features a story about stunts at the Edinburgh Festival, mentioning me and a number of other Edinburgh stuntsters, notably Malcolm Hardee. The article uses a number of the stunts that made it into my online and on the streets #Twithibition, as well as a number of more recent stunts and is a good, brief guide to the great stunts of Edinburgh past and present. “PR expert Mark Borkowski , who is a veteran of the Fringe, has a record as colourful as Hardee’s, having been responsible for launching the extreme, chainsaw-juggling, circus group Archaos on an unsuspecting Edinburgh…
PR Gaffes in Fashion Retailing
The Daily Telegraph asked for my opinion yesterday on the ruling against Abercrombie & Fitch, who were found to have “wrongfully dismissed and unlawfully harassed” Riam Dean, a 22-year-old woman with a prosthetic limb who was shuffled off the shop floor last year. “Mark Borkowski, a leading brand and celebrity publicist, said: ‘This is probably one of the biggest gaffes by a fashion retailer – it is a disgrace and a PR nightmare. ‘When people are confronted daily with pictures of heroic soldiers returning from Afghanistan with missing limbs, people will look at this case and think that Abercrombie &…
Improperganda: The Great Edinburgh Stunt #Twithibition
I have just launched Improperganda: The Great Edinburgh Stunt Twithibition, a whole new form of exhibition, especially for the Edinburgh Festival, featuring 11 eye-catching posters commemorating some of the greatest stunts to have graced the streets of Edinburgh and utilizing the conversational, interactive power of the internet The #Twithibition is a manifold, interactive marvel – the posters can be viewed, assuming they’ve survived weather, vandals and other flyposters, on the streets of Edinburgh in the places where the stunts happened. They can also be viewed on Twitter by searching the site for #twithibition. Most importantly, the exhibition can be added…
Unidentified Flying PR Agendas
I’m intrigued by the Daily Mail’s leap to the defence of computer hacker Gary McKinnon and am certain that there’s a certain PR agenda underlying their campaign on his behalf. Whilst it is utterly in keeping for the Mail to campaign to keep the trial of a man with Aspergers Syndrome in the UK so that he can live a semblance of the life he had and see his mum from time to time – a man who claims that the only reason he hacked into US military networks was to discover if there was evidence of UFOs to be…
Andy Coulson: Tapping in to the Tories
As the former editor of the News of the World turned PR man for David Cameron, Andy Coulson’s appearance before the House of Commons culture, media and sport select committee the other day was always likely to be difficult – this is a high-pressure enquiry into the phone hacking scandal. His performance was a masterstroke, however – a blend of careful honesty and equally careful image management. Coulson came across as forthright and honest – and he looked relaxed in a suit that could easily have graced the pages of GQ. Importantly, he did not battle the MPs he was…
Backpacker is cleared of faking bush ordeal to make £100,000
AUSTRALIAN police have spoken out against claims British backpacker Jamie Neale faked being lost in the Blue Mountains National Park in order to sell his story to the media. The 19-year-old, who slept under shelters made of bark and lived on kangaroo berries for 12 days, sold his story to Australian television for £100,000. But police, who were initially suspicious, say his account rings true – and is one of the greatest stories of survival ever heard in the region. As Mr Neale left hospital yesterday, still slightly dazed and with suspected pneumonia, Police Commander Anthony McWhirter said he had…
Rebranding Sarah Brown
The Independent ran an article on the rebranding of Sarah Brown and asked several people their opinion on her efforts, including myself – see the excerpt below. To read the full article, click here. “The publicist Mark Borkowski, a prolific user of new media, believes that Sarah Brown has shown herself far more adept in this area than her husband could ever hope to be. ‘She is operating in areas where he doesn’t have any hope of generating traction,’ he says. ‘He cannot YouTube, she can. He cannot Twitter, she can. Gordon can’t generate sympathetic votes, she can, particularly from…
The News of the World: Tapping on Heaven's Door?
It seems, of late, that sleaze is a gift worth giving and that it’s for life, not just for Christmas or for politicians. The latest example – the News of the World phone tapping scandal – is, in Variety’s slanguage, a “dramedy”. It has the potential for seriously succulent consequences, which might be deeply costly for News International. The potential scale of the scandal is enormous. Most agents and celebrities will be trying to find out if Nick Davies’ research is robust, wondering if they are one of the thousand celebrities whose phones were hacked. If nothing else, the alleged…
Michael Jackson's Funeral: The Greatest Show on Earth?
And so Michael Jackson is to be put to rest – or his physical form is at least. There is no doubt that his name, his brand and his image will live on for as long as it makes money. Death is merely a chapter break in the life of Michael Jackson – it’s not a full stop. The allegations of paedophilia that haunted Jackson’s final years have all but disappeared and now is the time for a show to close that chapter of Jackson’s life – a show to end all shows and to begin new ones. The funeral…
The Art of Careful Twittering
I was asked for my opinion on how to maintain an online presence by the Guardian, for a piece published yesterday, looking at the ways you can be vetted by employers through postings to Facebook, Twitter etc. Here’s an excerpt. “Publicist Mark Borkowski encourages his clients to make good use of the web, though he urges caution. ‘You wouldn’t go into a pub and scream out ‘I’m drinking a pint of lager’, but if you sit in a corner and do some people watching, others may join you and have a conversation. It’s the same with the net. The way…
The looting of Michael Jackon's brand
The media post mortem following Michael Jackson’s death, which shows no signs of abating, has unearthed some astounding observations. With the tearful tributes, the questions about cause of death, the demand for a second post mortem, potential custody battles over his children and the absence of any will and testament, I can’t help feeling that the greatest tragedy in this whole sad affair, is the unadulterated exploitation of a man who was clearly disturbed and at the mercy of a number of charlatans. Of course show business is exactly what it claims to be – business – and it’s always…
Michael Jackson the media circus – Jacko v Princess Diana
I have asked my old mate Roger Edwards, who used to be marketing director of Wembley Stadium, to provide me with his own reminiscences on the Michael Jackson circus from the time he worked at Wembley. It is still surprising to consider that fifty nights at the O2 would have translated as five nights at Wembley in Roger’s day – something a little more manageable for Jackson, though not necessarily, given how very frail he turned out to be. Wembley Stadium is now owned and run by the FA so its priority is football. The FA have always been an…
Don’t rely on a cunning stunt
Using shock tactics at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is less likely to garner publicity in this desensitised media age, argues PR guru Mark Borkowski The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is nearly upon us. And to prove it, should proof be needed, the first stunt of the summer has aroused a flurry of media interest and rattled the comedy commentariat. It’s not surprising that there has been a fuss, given that the stuntster, comedian Lewis Schaffer, chose to hang the stunt on a surgical strike at the heart of Edinburgh, attributing some deeply scurrilous quotes to the dame of the theatrical aristocracy,…
Bespoke team serves ace in attempt to rebrand Andy Murray at WimbledonBuzz up!
Andy Murray prepares for a practice session surrounded by his team of coaches. Long tipped as a possible Wimbledon champion, it is not only Andy Murray’s game that has vastly improved. The relaxed demeanour, iconic all-white kit and trim haircut on show this week are a long way from the surly teenager with unruly curls who first inspired those predictions of greatness. The makeover is a by product of an ambitious master plan by the company formed by Simon Fuller, the impresario behind the Spice Girls, David Beckham and Pop Idol, to turn him into a global sporting icon on…