Boris’s speech (or should I say standup routine?) trampled on convention, political correctness and expectation with reckless abandon at the Conservative Party conference this week. For most, cycling through a rolodex of staff party jokes would not be the immediate protocol for a major leadership convention. Boris, however, seems to take a page or two out of Shakespeare’s book: ‘Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.’ The PM may don the metaphorical motley but his performance was anything but foolish.As I explored in a recent presentation to investors in Mykonos, Boris understands that, to be a leader, one has…

Trump is coming back. Will he still rule social media? It’s easy to imagine that a populist without a platform is like a bull without horns—an aggressive but impotent force in a political landscape as attention-addled as our present one. Thus, some may have concluded that Trump—who has been permanently suspended from Twitter and temporarily banned from Facebook—would lack the mobilising power for a 2024 campaign necessary to oust Biden. However, amid recent reports that Trump’s team is surreptitiously paying teenagers who run meme accounts to support his 2024 bid, it seems all but certain that the ‘Twitter president’ will find…

There’s an epic irony to the ‘Nirvana Baby’ suing the band for exploitation for using a photo of him at 4 months old on the cover of Nevermind.As many pointed out on Twitter, the fact that in the offending photo he is grasping for a dollar bill is eerily symbolic, but there’s another currency driving this odd and somewhat sad story: fame.The fact is that – whether through ComiCon, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, or recreating the Nevermind photo as an adult- Spencer Elden has been happy to use it as the basis for a steady career as a Z-List curiosity.His…

Since its inception in 2001, the so-called ‘War on Terror’ has occasioned some memorable images from American leaders. But the most recent image to emerge—President Biden as a solitary figure, old, isolated, and presiding over the disastrous American withdrawal from Afghanistan, represents a new low for Presidential self-fashioning in the social media age. We are far from the triumphant Henry V at Agincourt. This, instead, is the aged and isolated Richard II: ‘let us sit and tell sad stories of the deaths of empires’.  Though it was historically overhasty, one understands that Bush was trying to project strength and decisiveness with…

Idea porn happens when a group of people gather in a silo, usually a brainstorming situation, to develop a crowd-pleasing concept. This group gets so excited by the potential incarnation of an idea that their collective desire spirals into something almost sexual – a kind of orgasmic glee that overrides the reality of the potential downside. To stymie the likelihood of this occurring, we have a concept we call the Brainstorm-Reality gap: the gulf between the idea porn that would be perfect were it not for the practical, logistical and financial constraints of reality, and those within the realm of…

In the aftermath of England’s loss at the Euros, a wave of disappointment swept across the country. This was followed, distastefully, by acts of hooliganism that saw Leicester Square littered with broken glass bottles and witnessing unsightly acts of public indecency. Yet, what nobody had been prepared for was the shocking racism that reared its ugly head online and targeted black British players for being the reason behind England’s defeat. Much has been said on the topic. It does not require yet another perspective to realise that this is a wake-up call for us as a country. That we have a long way…

I’ve been thinking about Gareth Southgate and the quiet effectiveness of his leadership style.Our contemporary understanding of leadership is often formed through constant exposure to loud, colourful demagogues (Johnson, Musk, Trump. While it’s hard to deny the success of this style, it’s not the only one whose stock is rising.England men’s football team’s historic victory over Germany this week was built on pragmatism, professionalism and humility. It was boring but unproblematic and effective, and that’s the essence of Southgate. The secret to his success? Firstly, his conduct; intelligent and personable, he’s also humble and uncontroversial; he doesn’t drag opponents or…

We live in a world where a single, high-profile act can obliterate billions in a company’s value. Remember when Elon Musk smoked a joint on talk radio—Tesla’s shares fell by almost 10%. Ronaldo’s ‘Drink Water’ moment at the Euro cup shows just how much damage bad publicity can do.  Nonetheless, Ronaldo’s Coca-Cola snub is the most extreme instalment in this saga of highly fragile, highly reactive share values for big public companies, having knocked off $4 billion in market value with the sweep of a hand. But the bigger story here is the shifting sands under the old way of doing sports sponsorship…

The post-match press conference has yielded as many iconic moments as it has sporting clichés: I’m thinking of Kevin Keegan’s infamous ‘I will love it’ rant, former Leicester City manager Nigel Pearson’s ‘ostrich’ tirade, and, further afield, Mike Tyson’s ‘I wanna eat your children’. With the press conference come a fair share of gaffes. One understands, then, Naomi Osaka’s reluctance to engage in this high pressure format, which—depending whether win or loss—finds athletes either at their most exuberant heights or at their most vulnerable lows. It also gets coaches when they’re in the firing line. (And sometimes they come out with gloves off.) In…

I found myself staying up late watching a profoundly depressing Question Time last night. What emerged, amid discussion of Boris’s cash-for-curtains deal with an anonymous private benefactor, was that the audience expects such behaviour from politicians and are much less scandalised by graft than one would think. People cheered as an audience member passionately defended Boris’s right to ‘get deals done’ using whatever means necessary, the applause of the virtual audience serving as an eerie digital death knell for the integrity of politicians.Years ago, this kind of scandal might have brought a politician down. What has changed? Is it the…

Furore among football fans this week as news leaked that 12 of the world’s biggest clubs were breaking away from the sport’s governing bodies to form a ‘European Super League’ (ESL).The revelation wasn’t so much announced as dropped like a ballistic missile and has, both operationally and in terms of potential fallout, been a disaster for those involved. In reputation terms the ESL is 3-0 down, in danger of having its entire first team squad suspended and on the brink of a violent pitch invasion…all before kick-off. If that image doesn’t hit home, make no mistake, this is one of…

It’s being described as ‘the worst IPO in London’s history’. What can we learn from Deliveroo’s historic flop? The public’s perception of their values played no small part in the poor performance.Sure, the money-men are blaming various details about the IPO process. Deliveroo’s advisers blamed short sellers for the plunge; others say Deliveroo priced its offering badly.I suspect something simpler. By the time trading started, no one was confident about Deliveroo’s guiding principles. Concerns about the gig economy have been mounting for months. Deliveroo’s treatment of its workers as ‘self-employed’ raised questions not just about their guiding principles but about…

From recent headlines and tweets, you’d think that Piers Morgan was over and done for. Sure, he’s baited controversy in the past, his critics say, but now he’s gone too far… The backlash he’s sparked means he will never float again. A man who has made an art of being cancelled in the traditional sense of the word is, finally—the thinking goes—cancelled in the new, more robust sense of the word. Never again shall this toppled statue find another plinth.In this instance, the triumphalism of cancel culture needs to be checked against recent history, and those who think of cancellation…

Over here in the UK, the story of Meghan and Harry’s tell-all interview is all-consuming. Expectation has only intensified as it draws nearer. But what about in middle America, where people have already seen it?We circulated a survey which brought to light some interesting findings.We reached out to young people mostly in the middle of America—the Midwest, Texas, and the mountain states—and found that Meghan’s testimony played well amongst Gen Z. Firstly, about two-thirds of those surveyed had watched it already in full or had seen parts of the interview online.This is interesting when compared to another survey—amongst women mostly…

Woke parents are applauding Hasbro’s announcement that it will create a gender neutral Mr Potato Head, simply called, Potato Head, as cultural conservatives everywhere are whining about the latest example of political correctness gone mad. Meanwhile, people are suddenly talking about a toy that, like so many Micronauts and Chatty Cathies, could easily have been bound for the dreaded Island of Lost Toys. The only question is what will they do with the profits.The toy industry has always done a great job of injecting their products into the cultural consciousness by baiting controversy. Suddenly, Mr Potato Head has become the…

A look at the communications and reputation management rationale behind the major champagne deal confirms it as smart business for both parties:Today the news broke that French luxury giant LVMH has purchased 50% of Jay Z’s Armand de Brignac ‘Ace of Spades’ champagne. The deal has generated global business news headlines and has been applauded as shrewd negotiation on both sides by the vast majority of commentators. A communications and reputation perspective of the deal confirms this consensus.LVMH are really buying cultural capital. Jay Z is arguably one of the most culturally significant figures of the 21st century so far; he…

I love technobabble in space movies. One of my favourite scenes from Apollo 13 is when Tom Hanks recreates the infamous, ‘Houston, we have a problem’ moment, which I remember hearing on the radio as a child. What follows is a barrage of technical language and spaceship jargon that only an engineer at Space X could fully understand. It gives an air of authenticity to the scene—the writers had only to take the transcript from the original Apollo 13 mission to come up with, ‘Houston, we’ve had a MAIN B BUS UNDERVOLT… I’m going to try a PGNCS reset… Roger,…

Captain Sir Tom Moore—whose fundraising efforts raised an incredible £33 million for the effort against COVID-19—has died at the venerable age of 100. Though his legacy is undisputed—he is a war hero whose optimism and lust for life inspired the nation—the story nonetheless has an ambivalent resonance, not least because Captain Tom’s legacy will be manipulated by those who use patriotism and war rhetoric as a screen for their own failings. Despite what the cabinet would have you believe, the campaign against COVID is not a war against an ‘invisible enemy’. I do not mean to knock Tom’s efforts by saying…

In the past week, individual traders have shown that they too can use a tactic from the hedge funds’ arsenal, and put on the ‘short squeeze’—on Wall Street itself.But if this is going to be more than a story about David v. Goliath—the big, tech-savvy investment giants v. the sparky, individual traders of the internet—Wall Street will first need to look outside of its bubble and see the world through the eyes of its new opponent.This is the story: an online community of traders—many of whom, as the New York Times points out, have opened brokerage accounts only after losing…

Pfizer just unveiled a new corporate identity, completing a lengthy process. Thousands participated in focus groups, hundreds of possible designs were considered, and multiple agencies and brand consultancies gave their ideas. The company wants to communicate that it’s no longer just a pill. The new design is meant to represent the new technology they offer, as well as a more wholistic approach to wellness and prevention.No doubt, these are all important things for the brand to convey as it transitions from being merely a pill-maker to a pioneer in new science and treatment. And the new logo is OK. However,…