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.
Circus Tricks
Roland Butler, the famous circus publicist came up with a great idea to publicise the listings for local circuses. Most newspapers in Chicago would not print circus listings which was obviously very costly to the circus owners. Butler created a fictitious eleven year old from Chicago who couldn’t write from left to right so wrote upside down instead. Considered a freak, he created a great deal of interest from journalists whom Butler allowed to watch the boy writing upside down. The photographers took shots of the boy’s topsy turvy writing and of course, the journalists had to check that what…
Show Me The Record Sales
The media’s feeding frenzy on poor old Britney’s latest crisis has suggested that further slips into the pit of despair, have actually been a boon to her record sales. Clearly the media who feed from her problems balance it out by suggesting that they can gaup and plunder column inches and that somehow it does her a favour. Intimating that this type of publicity is good for record sales, I find odd – show me the proof. Some entertainment retail chain has thrown that rumour to the press and that fiction has become fact. If people stare at the car…
Richey: Forlorn figure with his life in a few plastic bags …or a 'vengeful, hateful' ex-con?
THERE was a strong wind gusting through the cornfields as Kenny Richey arrived at his brother’s rural Ohio home, ahead of tomorrow’s return to Edinburgh – delayed a day by fog. He strolled from the car, stuck his nose in the air and ambled for the front door. It is likely Richey will be heading for a six-figure windfall when he gets back, as documentary makers clamour to tell his story. His income could even soar beyond £1 million if Hollywood takes an interest, according to one media expert. Mark Borkowski, who has represented celebrity clients from Michael Jackson to…
Pianist Envy
Jim Moran strikes again; this time for a well established piano manufacturer in the U.S. He publicised the fact that Professor James Burt from Jamestown had broken the world record for continuous piano playing. The Professor sat in the window of a famous New York department store for days and nights without food or drink playing the piano. However, the deception was discovered by a local journalist who found the instrument to be a pianola not a piano, and Professor James Burt sadly had to hand back his award, but only after Moran had succeeded in getting every major paper…
Madeleine McCann the movie
The wires are hot this afternoon with the news that the family of Madeleine McCann’s have spoken to the IMG media group about turning the story of her disappearance into a film. Once again Team McCann through the brilliant family spokesman for Gerry and Kate McCann, Clarence Mitchell, has come up with a brilliant angle to keep the story centre stage. Its an old stand by to leak news about lucrative film deal talks. I am sure that there have been a number of offers to turn the storey into a movie but I doubt some of the published figures….
Hillary Clinton and her love affair with John Major's mega phone
So Hillary Clinton’s campaign has reached for a soapbox and megaphone in a desperate attempt to regain momentum to counter the compelling charisma of Barack Obama who is leading the polls. The British broadsheets are all drawing parallels with John Major who pulled his ’92 campaign up with a pair of cosmic sock garters using the same tactic. I think she might need something more substantial to bump Obama off his fast track. All the millions spent on advertising and strategy consultants have not had the desired effect, so it’s back to basics to unite support. Car park rallies addressing the…
Sleeping Beauty
Jim Moran created a great stunt for a bed company in Alabama in 1959 for their 40th anniversary. He came up with the first electrical bed which included in its design a teas maid, a television and radio and a mechanism that could elevate or lower the angle of the bed. It was a first… and generated endless pages of coverage, despite the fact that one of the models who appeared in the photo shoot was actually electrocuted. Moran managed to cover that up even though the girl was left in a coma. It had been the fault of the…
The Year In Ideas
The Year in Ideas – The Times 29th December 2007 From Islam-friendly finance to the fall of Z-list celebrity, and from the rise of supercrunching to the return of the bonkbuster, leading commentators and Times writers chart the major cultural, economic and social changes of 2007 and offer their predictions on the shape of the year ahead. The new billboard – Mark Borkowski Outdoor advertising is about to change for ever as technology and creative ambition fuse a new reality and turn the traditional medium into something unexpected. If you hoped to escape the influence of the marketing folk on…
Humphrey Bogart and christmas spin
It was a well known Hollywood tactic to change actors’ biographical information for publicity purposes. Even back in the silent era, names were changed to make them sound snappier, more attractive or less ethnic. Ages were changed to make actors appear younger and older. Height, weight and even birthdays were manipulated by the studios. One renowned case of shifting a birthday to add some kind of symbolism was that of Humphrey Bogart. Throughout his film career, Bogart’s birth date was listed as Christmas Day 1899. Later the truth came out that Humphrey had in fact been born on the more…
Spinmaster 2007
2007 will go down in history as an extremely busy year for the humble spin meisters in mediaville. There were plenty of things to occupy the media that had a PR overtone, beginning with the meltdown over celebrity Big Brother’s racist poppadom gate which gave Channel 4 a lot to think about and threatened the reality show favourite’s future. Beckham, who is never far from the headlines, was either thrusting his golden balls for magazine shoots or taking his three ring circus to California when he joined LA Galaxy. The Beckham road show will continue to generate acres of publicity…
The President's New Helping Hand
The Associated Press has reported that the next U.S. Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs will be James K. Glassman. He will replace the infamous PR czar, Karen Hughes, one of the most important people in Bush’s government. Glassman had served on the Advisory Group on Public Diplomacy for the Arab and Muslim World, and he was chosen in part because he had already won Senate confirmation. It’s interesting to see that the appointment is played down in the U.S. no large scale announcement, as this is a case of the men/women of stealth moving into position. Unlike the …
Does anyone else smell stunt?
We are all aware that Britney Spears showbiz world is more than a little bit bizarre. Well – reports suggest that Britney is in talks to star in a spoof movie. Spears has reportedly been asked to play the Virgin Mary in a modern Nativity story called ‘Sweet Baby Jesus.’ by French producer Phillippe Rebboah. No surprise that leaders of a Catholic group have fallen into the trap and are helping to make Rebboah famous by mouthing off about the project to the media. Come on it’s a publicity mechanic. .
Freddie Fields uber agent RIP – another great bites the dust.
Whilst researching my book I interviewed the great Freddie Fields, former co-founder of CMA which then became ICM, former producer and then head of MGM-UA Studios. Frankly Fields was a legend. The sad news is that he died on Tuesday and the funeral is today at 2 PM in Hollywood. It’s sad but Freddie told me back in 2006 that he was dying and said that he had inoperable cancer. He was very kind to give me so much time and to help me with my book. Freddie rarely spoke about his career but he gave me some extraordinary anecdotes…
Beckham v Mourinho: who's better at PR?
Becks may have virtually bared all for Armani, but the Special One has played a cannier PR game in the past few days. This year ends with another spectacular David Beckham publicity stunt. Not content with the three ring circus of his move to Los Angeles to sell soccer to the Americans, why not tie up with a fashion brand and flash your bits for yet more press? You just can’t keep the good stuntster down. It’s too easy to write a piece on it, but it’s too important a stunt not to. http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/
Fast Track
So Fast Track has bought Stuart Higgins Communications. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/dec/11/marketingandpr.pressandpublishing I am pleased for Higgy – an extremely effective operator. Alan Pascoe’s company has been very quiet but there was a time when Pascoe was omnipresent. I have not got a sense that he flexes muscle. Fast Track desperately need Stuartm and Pascoe will benefit from Stuart’s traction and contacts particularly with the London Olympics looming. I suggest that this clever acquisition will be used to help to harvest the opportunities that 2012 brings.
When press conferences go bad..
Ricky Hatton a publicists dream…
6",12" or 2"
A pizza chain in OZ has produced a YouTube video suggesting employees of a rival chain have small penises, in a bizarre war over the size of their tasty treats. I love this stunt which isn’t generating the ink it deserves. Eagle Boys Pizzas in Australia has attacked Domino’s Pizzas for secretly reducing the size of their pizzas, hoping it will go unnoticed by their customers, commenting that “It’s disgraceful and frankly un-Australian”. Domino’s chief executive, Don Meij, responded that his smaller pizzas were in response to similar action already taken by their largest competitor, Pizza Hut. Pizza Hut declined…
Matthew Freud's Brother in Law
Matthew Freud’s power and influence of will be boosted into the stratosphere due to the promotion of his brother in law, James. I expect the bitchy PR world will continue to take swipes at Matthew, especially when the small minds of the major PR networks finally comprehend the significance of the new shape of the Murdoch Empire and how it might aid Matthew over the next few years. I loved all the Ricky Hatton hype – his showmanship and chutzpah were irresistible. I wish his boxing skills matched his ability to connect with the media. As always, on this amazing…
Product placement a new era.
Here is an interesting feature from Tuesday’s New York Times – thank you Spinwatch for highlighting it “Product placement is hardly a new phenomenon, and the morning [U.S. television] shows long ago mastered the quid pro quo of daily television: Actors give interviews timed to their latest projects; authors are recruited as experts just as their books hit the stores,” writes Alessandra Stanley. “But the fourth hour of ‘Today’ has tipped the balance of the program. … Especially now, in the Christmas holiday marketing frenzy, it is sometimes hard to tell the NBC program from those on ShopNBC or QVC….
Media Guardian Awards for Innovation
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 debate, my winners might near in the top Clearly, many of the companies in my sector that have put their campaigns forward, on the whole, do not represent the best in class. On the other hand, they do represent the best in class in award…