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.
Bloggers Delight
Simon Wakeman noticed that my burblings have been noted about Heather Mills McCartney. Mark Borkowski on role of a publicist: If you want a really interesting insight into this, it’s worth checking out this post on publicist Mark Borkowski’s blog. Mark talks in depth about the Heather Mills GMTV meltdown and the role of a publicist when dealing with a client … http://www.simonwakeman.com/ And on Hoi Polloi, I managed to get on quote of the week. Mark Borkowski, commenting on Chris Adderson’s move to publish the names of “lazy” PR flacks who spam him irrelevant pitches. “He has a star quality ……
Bruised Egos
Over the last three days a baleen of PR bloggers have added their voices to the debate kicked off by the Wired Editor, Chris Anderson. His tirade against lazy PRs is reported in The New York Times which ran an article thick with PR’s coughing up sound bites http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/05/ technology/05flacks.html?_r=2&ref=business&oref=slogin&oref=slogin I fear a few egos have been bruised. I stand by my pervious rant. http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/organgrinder/2007/10/ wired_magazine_editor_chris_an.html Let’s kick out the crap and perhaps we can start celebrating our authentic operators in the field.
Heather Mills McCartney's Halloween PR Onslaught
Forensically picking through the PR damage that is left after Heather Mills McCartney’s Halloween PR onslaught, I can only conclude that it was an emotionally crude crusade of her own design. The harm inflicted on her tattered brand after sweeping across media Ville was nothing short of catasphrophic. The screaming banshee is now a textbook example for any wannabe celebrity wrangler who can learn so much from the beleaguered star’s mistakes.
Britney… a hit?
Shock, horror, Britney Spears may have made a hit record. Her “Blackout” album has received International critical acclaim. Perhaps all the tears, tantrums and drug problems have been part of a smart publicity ploy to generate sympathy for Britney, prior to her album release. Already, the Catholic Church is up in arms about the religious themed photos in the booklet for her new album.
Is Wired's Chris Anderson right to out lazy PR spammers?
Wired magazine editor Chris Anderson has decided to list every lazy PR person who spams his mailbox with irrelevant messages. He claims that “Lazy flacks send press releases to the editor in chief of Wired because they can’t be bothered to find out who on my staff, if anyone, might actually be interested in what they’re pitching… “. He then goes on to list PR folk from Edelman to Weber Shandwick. I whole heartedly support this. It reminds me of the quote I have used before when Charles Clover delivered a great line to a publicist having read his press…
Photo (mis)opportunity
One of the greatest PR exercises after the second world war was the refugee photoshoot, where little children would be photographed amidst some war torn, bomb ridden town clutching their favourite possessions.
Archaos – semtex and juggling chainsaws
I delivered a presentation this morning at Artichoke’s Larger Than Life conference. The whole day was about large-scale ambitious productions and how to deal with particular aspects of producing events, including fundraising, logistics, marketing and specifically how to get press and media coverage for these kinds of large scale events.
CREATIVE SUPPORT NEEDED TO ENCOURAGE ENTREPRENEURIAL SUCCESS, SAYS LEADING PUBLICIST MARK BORKOWSKI
Encouraging entrepreneurs in the creative sector is vital to help safeguard and develop London as a key global hub for knowledge-based businesses, according to high profile celebrity and brand publicist Mark Borkowski.
Creative sectors should be encouraged, says Borkowski
Businesses within creative industries need more encouragement to grow, it has been claimed. According to brand publicist Mark Borkowski these types of companies should be encouraged to grow so that London can continue developing as a centre for knowledge-based businesses
When photos go wrong!
Hampshire Hampshire police thought it would be a good idea to advertise on the back of buses.
Mark talks Spice Girls
Mark talks about the Spice Girls sponsorship deal on MacAulay and Co on Radio Scotland Thu 18 Oct
Tom Cruise publicity junket
Once again fans enjoyed a Tom Cruise’s film premiere walkabout last night. The A lister pleasured his fans with a two-and-a-half-hour walkabout publicity stunt at the world premiere of Lions For Lambs. The old standby stunt might be a card he has played on numerous occasions but it still delivers the column inches.
PR week feature on 'How We Use Facebook'
Like it or loath it, Facebook is hard to ignore. Hannah Marriott spoke to four consultants about their relationship with the social networking phenomenon
Habana's publicity stunt.
“Watch out… Wilko – Habana’s so quick he’s been racing cheetahs in preparation for South Africa’s World Cup clash against England this Saturday. And nearly winning! The speedy Springbok player publicised the launch of a wild cheetah census with a race against the fastest animal on earth.”
Crucifixion of hapless celebrities
So finally, the Deloitte Report is out! Expect witch hunting and virtual crucifixions of hapless celebs like cuddly Ant & Dec. Call me a cynical old publicist but am I the only one to feel that ITV are feigning a desire to be transparent. I smell a plot.
PR Gaff
The creeping erosion of PR standards is highlighted again by some poor practice in a resultant picture caption in this morning’s Sun newspaper. Emblazeoned across the lovely Vicky Newton “bizarre” column is a promo snap of Girls Aloud all brandishing mobile phones. Clearly it was staged to promote the handset. The problem is the story and the name of the company didn’t get a check. The hook, or should I say the more compelling narrative, was that one of the pop totty had covered up her pins. Shameful that the phone PR company that was employed did not control the…
Masque of the Red Death
It is not often I get to spend the evening drinking blood, smoking opium, helping with an abortion, witnessing open heart surgery, being seduced by a prostitute, accosted by a heroin addict and having my mind read but I should expect little else of a night out with Punchdrunk. Kill to get a Masque of the Red Death ticket or beseige the BAC box office
Creative truth
PR companies will do anything to drum up business and sometimes it involves being creative with the truth. This afternoon I was delivering my thoughts on the power of word of mouth at a Marketing Week gig in leafy Kensington. My attention was drawn to the promotional flyer of a young hungry PR hot shop that excitably blathered about its portfolio of guerrilla work. The creds included a stunt they had instigated for a well-known mobile phone operator. I was surprised to learn that the event they hijacked was the launch of the Vodafone live event that we staged…
Hollywood Myths dispelled.
One of the great Hollywood movie myths, created by studio publicists, was that it was actually Steve McQueen who outran the Nazis in the Great Escape with the 65 foot motorbike jump. Over the weekend this PR myth was dispelled with the death of Bud Ekins who was a well known stunt man in Hollywood. If your movie needed a motorbike stunt, Ekins was your man and it was in fact Bud who rode the motorbike to freedom in The Great Escape. McQueen was prevented from stunts like this for insurance reasons.
The orginal hypester Rockekeller or Branson?
1900’s – John D. Rockefeller regularly gave away silver dimes in front of reporters. It instantly caught the imagination of anyone who saw the image in the mass media, turning an alien faceless money-monger into a friendly old man giving a child a dime. Image is everything… 2007 – “The billionaire entrepreneur and serial self-publicist had decided to descend 407ft from the top of the Palms Casino Hotel, Las Vegas, to promote Virgin America, a new airline offering domestic flights in the U.S. It all started so well. Strapped in a harness and attached to a cable, the 57-year-old tycoon…