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.
You Name It
Every morning I wake up and wonder what kind of opportunities the day will bring. As a publicist, I have to be careful what I decide to get involved with. I read in the The Mirror today about the campaign to keep the memory of Charlie Thompson alive. She was the 13 year old girl who was hit by a train and killed in 2005 and now her parents are encouraging people to write her name all over the world in her memory, and so far “Charlie” has been written as far away as Outer Mongolia and Australia. All pictures…
Rest in Peace cuddly Boris
Sad news, the mighty Boris Yeltsin has passed away and has moved on to take his seat in the great Politburo in the sky. I had the privilege of meeting Yeltsin in Moscow in 1996. I was on a recce to see the Moscow State Circus before it visited London in the summer of 1987. I had the pleasure of hyping their season in Battersea Park – now that is another story. One evening on the trip I found myself with various circus grandees at the lavish flat owned by Valentin Gneushev, a prominent Russian circus choreographer, in the heart of…
African Beauty
Following on with the weird and wonderful in circus PR, I was told about a rather audacious act by the famous German publicist Wolfgang Mayer. Mr Bertram Mills, a known circus proprietor, returned from Africa in 1930 with a host of thrills and freaks for his Olympia Circus. Bertram employed Wolfgang Mayer to publicise the event as sales were sadly lacking. What this circus needed was a main attraction. Mayer put his thinking cap on and came up with the idea to find the most exotic and rare artiste that England had ever seen. She came in the form of…
LORD LAIDLAW LAID LOW
Millionaire Conservative donor Lord Laidlaw has declined to set a date when he will end his tax exile and failed to comply with a condition for a peerage set three years ago. The Borkowski poet in residence took this as a perfect opportunity for a tongue twister… Lord Laidlaw paid for a peerage it appears but Lord Laidlaw’s made sure his tax bill disappears. To Lord Laidlaw radar is something to duck under. Lord Laidlaw’s strayed far with his tax free plunder. Lord Laidlaw’s made for Monaco with his money. Lord Laidlaw’s swayed more by being somewhere sunny. Lord Laidlaw’s…
What Katie does next
What Katie does next is critical to her future. by CLAIRE SMITH THE nation, and indeed the world, continues to be enthralled this week by the question why two twentysomethings who met at university have decided to split. In the absence of any concrete information from either Prince William or Kate Middleton, speculation continues to be the order of the day. http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=598832007
Anyone for PR?
In the first episode of the new Harry Enfield / Paul Whitehouse series, there’s a sketch in which an antique dealer is trying to exploit a rather stupid Notting Hill “yoga whore”. Sarcastically, the Enfield character suggests that the woman should take up a career in interior design. The woman replies: “Actually, I’ve just had some business cards printed, so I am an interior designer”. Enfield looks at the card and then throws it in the bin. This reflects the current media world, which seems so overpopulated with PR companies that think they are a PR company because they have…
Windsor v Middleton
The newspapers are crammed with every theory under the sun about the end of the royal romance. We always expect royal romances to be to be like fairy tales, but over the years they have morphed into fables that have been truly grim, with no happy endings. Surely the papers should be ecstatic that William is single, instead of using psychologists to fathom out why the royal affair has ended. The media are now freed up to write about where William is going, where he’s gone, who he’s smiled at, who he’s seen out with, who was she, is she…
IF WILLIAM HAD MARRIED KATE MIDDLETON
“Caring Kate Middleton acted like a new mum to Prince William…” The Sun, Monday, April 16 If William had married Kate Middleton he’d have made a ghastly error, akin to fighting fire with fire as in the war on terror, a repetition of the worst traits any royal family possesses like dressing up as Nazis or wearing women’s dresses or actually supporting Hitler or sleeping with your horse or calling Chinese “slitty eyed” or serial divorce or sucking Texan oilmen’s toes or writing helicopter books or sleeping with the servants or conducting telephone sex or starting wars around the world…
A final word on Iranian hostage debate?
At the height of Vietnam, pretty much all a war correspondent in search of a story had to do was hop on a chopper, land in the middle of the war zone and find a story to file – and they were usually pretty quick in coming. Access was free and easy and the relationship between army and media was more akin to a wary “us and them” relationship. All this changed in the wake of the Falklands conflict and the Gulf War. In these conflicts, a brave new world was brought about, one of embedded journalists and strictly controlled…
I smell a stunt!
Sorry if this is going to come as a shock, but I smell a stunt! No one wants to believe it is a stunt, because we are always prone to hoping, more often than not against the usual flow of hope, that a bit of movie history is alive and well. However, may I be the first to doubt the legend of Cheeta? The newspapers have been inundated over the last few days with news of the celebration for Cheeta the Chimp’s 75th birthday. Mark it in your diaries for next year; the lovable primates birthday was on April 9th…
No More Heroes #2
Radio 5 Live Weekend News Broadcast on – Sun 08 Apr John Pienaar at the helm talks to Mark Borkowski about the PR fall out as the 15 British military captives who were released by the Iranians are authorised by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to sell their stories
Mark talks on BBC Radio 5 live about Keith Richards claim
Mark talks on BBC Radio 5 live about the reaction to the headlines surrounding Keith Richards claim that he snorted his dead father’s ashes.
DULCE ET DECORUM EST PECUNIAM A PATRIA ACCIPERE
It is good and proper to accept money from your country. The Borkowski poet in residence on the British hostages in Iran selling their stories on release. Death or glory, sell your story, take the media tycoon shilling. The eagle has landed and it’s money minded. Don’t fight just make a killing. If you flunk the mission don’t seek permission, find the media at a dash. Give name and rank and serial rights to whichever paper hardest fights and offers up most cash. Let them talk to your brother, to your weeping mother, let them talk to your friends as…
No more heroes?
As someone who has been involved part and parcel in the modernisation of PR under the influence of the Murdoch papers, the internet and 24/7 news and who has watched from the inside as celebrities took to selling their stories to the press in the same manner as a butcher sells sausages, I am inclined to hang my head in shame in the wake of Britain’s Iran hostages selling their stories to the press. I was raised to believe that you gave name rank and number in such situations, that a professional soldier was just that – a professional. They…