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.
Hats off … the Wispa-ring campaign
Its not often that praise is handed out in the notoriously bitchy world of PR, but I was pleased to see read this blog today paying tribute to our Wispa campaign http://t4w.blogs.com/spinningaround/2007/08/hats-off-the-wi.html. Thanks to James Gordon-MacIntosh of Seventy Seven. James has often encouraged me to sit on panels and talk about my work and I rate the efforts of his the consumer agency which is part of Fishburn Hedges.
Too Soon for Queen Camilla
The potential presence of Camilla at the forthcoming 10-year memorial service for Princess Diana dominated the media for a number of days. Was it a PR disaster or just a hapless attempt to further assimilate the Duchess of Cornwall into the hearts and souls of British royalists? http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/organgrinder/2007
Smokers' Delight
All today’s papers have reported on Winnie Langley the defiant smoker who celebrated reaching 100 yesterday. Pictured lighting up from one of the candles on her birthday cake, Winnie, from Croydon, was reported to have been smoking for 93 years and has no plans to quit just yet. Surely this is good news for the tobacco industry which is constantly having to make people aware of all the dangers of smoking. I’m sure that some tobacco industry executive saw that she was a great publicity opportunity, knowing all too well that most smokers want to believe that they will be…
Brissenden's blog
I have just discovered my old pal John Brissenden’s blog its a joy and a treasure. Read it http://johnbrissenden.wordpress.com/
Grey Power
Unbelievably the “wrinklies” public image has had a face lift this morning across the media. Usually it’s a hopeless task for poor PR folk who are heroically attempting to peddle the joys of the over 60’s. Valiant attempts to sell old age often stumble chiefly because of the media’s obsession to remain attractive to the young and the cool. The barrage of hype embodies lame attempts to remain stylish – 80 it seems, is the new 40. Grey power or silver surfer, the comms world is thick with sound bytes to coerce and cajole. Well trust me it’s all changing!…
Fuss About Nothing
Would be celebs are so transparent when trying to keep their name in the press. It amazes me just how crazy things have become when a slew of stories with the yawn factor hit the pages of the press. Emily Maitlis, shock horror, showed too much leg when she was promoting the news. Kate Moss has been spending nights at Claridges with supposed ex, Pete Docherty when he should be banged up. Ingrid Tarrant was spotted with former The Bill actor, Scott Maslen who’s about to join the cast of Eastenders. The ex marine enjoyed a drink in a coffee…
The Whisper on Wispa: Never Underestimate the power of 1980's nostalgia
I have received a flurry of emails from fellow PR friends and journalists who have realised that Borkowski is behind the relaunch of Wispa. Many erroneously think we created an online campaign to bring back Wispa. We designed a press campaign informed by the amount of on line pressure groups that had been running for over two years, to twist Cadbury’s arm to bring back this favourite. On the last count there were 360 individual campaigns across Bebo, My Space and Facebook as well as countless YouTube sites hosting the famous eighties Wispa commercials. This organic desire, fuelled by nostalgia…
Lame and Lamer
Another lame publicity stunt this morning – a youthful police constable riding a skateboard. I assume this was an attempt to make plod more cool with kids. This scam is nearly as creative as Great Western Trains announcing on Monday that they are employing a poet to amuse the punters at stations around their network.
Rogue PRs
More or less every time I sit down with a journalist these days, I hear about some more appalling PR conduct. The problem with the PR industry is that it’s unregulated, so anyone who can afford a website or a business card can set themselves up as a PR agency. That said, there are a number of companies who employ in house PRs who seem as bad as the charlatans who scavenge for business in the freelance PR world. The latest gaff involves a press exec at a record label who is representing an artist about to release a new…
The battle of Heathrow
Downing Street has warned climate change protesters near Heathrow that any disruption to the running of the airport would be “unacceptable”. Great news – at long last an outbreak of civil disobedience. Clearly the action of the Camp for Climate Action, is a publicity stunt, I am optimistic that the controversy will raise a debate on the important issues that society must address. The recent draconian treatment of other protesters has been shocking. I pray that the long arm of plod does not throttle the voice of the eco warriors
This has to be a PR scam
Surgically alters thumbs to better use iPhone Written by James Benfly http://northdenvernews.com/content/view/922/2/ Thomas Martel, 28, of Bonnie Brae is a big guy. So he has a hard time using the features on ever-shrinking user interfaces on devices like his new iPhone. At least, he did, until he had his thumbs surgically altered in a revolutionary new surgical technique known as “whittling.” “From my old Treo, to my Blackberry, to this new iPhone, I had a hard time hitting the right buttons, and I always lost those little styluses,” explains Martel. “Sure, the procedure was expensive, but when I think of…
Edinburgh Fringe news
I have a Edinburgh Fringe client that is a genuine South African Sangoma or Witch Doctor. It seems that he feels the need to ritually slaughter a live chicken on stage on the full moon next week to bring The House of the Holy Afro theatre production at the Queens Hall in Edinburgh good fortune! I am sure the SSPCA will not have any objections. The Sangoma is very sober, apparently it is normal practice in South Africa to sacrifice a white chicken to bring good luck to a first night.
Flea circus
I am very excited – I have just bought a flea circus. It orginated in Alaska and has arrived by courier just after three today. The fleas were trained by an Eskimo called Charlie Pastolik. Most Eskimos, who have nothing to do during the long winter nights spend months training their sledge dog fleas.
Gang Culture
The moving speech made yesterday by the grieving Barbara Reid on the second day of the inquest into the death of her son Jessie James, touched me. Jessie was a boy who clearly did not want to get caught up with the local street gang culture, and it seems that he was murdered for rejecting the gangsters. Should all of us involved in promoting the panto style glamour of this type of street culture not reflect on our promotional tactics? Too many record labels fashion brands on this culture. Game developers blatantly play with elements of criminal activity highlighting a…
Lame PR
I see Lindsay Lohan has been admitted to treatment again… is anyone with a pulse actually interested? It really underlines the point that Ms Lohan’s publicist must really be clutching at straws if this is the best they can come up with. If we go back to the great Hollywood publicists, we could learn some tricks. Howard Strickland was one such publicist and a day in his life would include the following: Hustling off Loretta Young to Europe who was pregnant with Clark Gable’s child, to hide her bump and take the heat of the press. At the same covering…
It will be nigh on impossible for him to work in television again’Jack Malvern and Nicola Woolcock
Chris Langham will never act on British television again, publicists predicted yesterday after the actor became the latest celebrity to be tainted with downloading child pornography. Mark Borkowski, of Borkowski Public Relations, said that Langham would suffer a similar fate to Gary Glitter, the glam rock singer who was jailed for four months for possessing indecent images. “You can’t lift the very dark cloud that will follow his career,” he said. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article2189530.ece
Water Works
Being an (un)lucky resident of Gloucestershire, I have now been hit by the lack of water. Hundreds of families are without water and the unrest in certain areas of Gloucestershire has been caused by the lack of customer care from Severn Trent Water. The big corporation business has more loyalty to its shareholders than its customers. It’s profit that matters, not customer care. I wonder what compensation Severn Trent Water will offer for this inconvenience. Severn Trent Water closed down many of the pumping stations that are dotted all around Gloucestershire in order to centralise operations with one enormous pumping…
Football Fever
Yesterday’s Asian Cup Final in Jakarta and the repercussions in Iraq, provoked news correspondents from the BBC to claim that Iraq’s defeat of Saudi Arabia had temporarily united the divided country. Iraq beat Saudi Arabia 1-0 yesterday and celebratory gunfire was heard in Baghdad. Thousands of Iraqis had been following the match in Indonesia on TV and then rushed out into the streets to celebrate the victory all over Iraq, dancing in the streets and waving their national flag. These days, corporate sponsors of the game either forget or don’t really understand what the game of football can actually achieve. …
Heinz lands in the soup over sex claims
Lyndsay Moss – The Scotsman. It was a marketing man’s dream: Heinz Cream of Tomato Soup was not only one of Britain’s iconic food brands, it also improved men’s fertility. Heinz yesterday trumpeted university research which showed that eating its soup could “give guys extra oomph”. But the soup’s rise from kitchen cupboard staple to must-buy superfood proved shortlived after The Scotsman contacted sceptical fertility experts and the company admitted it had overstated the research, which it had partly funded. http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1177742007
Bumper Summer for PR Stunts
What an extraordinary week. Outside it’s pissing down – and it’s also raining PR masterstrokes that would find their way into any publicity hall of fame.Frankly it was not a good start, as yet another lacklustre PR survey was trundled out on behalf of a faceless insurance company. Yawn – one in five of us do not feel safe in their own home at night, while a third of householders have weapons at hand to protect themselves from intruders. The facts were quoted all over the media, but sadly there were only a handful brand mentions to connect the survey…