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.
The return of Kylie
As the showgirl who recovered from breast cancer returns to the British stage tomorrow, writers, performers and campaigners applaud the most triumphant of comebacks MARK BORKOWSKI, PR CONSULTANT I think she certainly is a modern, popular, cultural icon. To a certain extent she is a pop entertainment phenomenon that transgresses a generation and sexuality. She’s a doyen to the gay culture and she’s someone that young girls look up to. She’s wholesome, she’s fresh, she pushes sexual boundaries to a certain level and never crosses them. She’s never vulgar and has a high sense of kitsch and style and, in…
PETA Fashion Police
Post Christmas PETA have created a publicity stunt in the States to make global headlines. People were ticketed today in downtown Chattanooga for wearing fur, leather or wool. Two PETA members wearing provocative police costumes acted as fashion police handing out citations while holding placards reading “Animal Skins Are a Fashion Felony”. PETA says it wants “shoppers to go faux and make fur, leather and wool a thing of Christmas past.” PETA have staged so many publicity stunts they deserve a huge pat on the back. The charity’s activists have dressed up as chickens, rats, carrots, rabbits, priests, even Santa…
An Inequitable Life
Charlie Drake made most of his money in the autumn of his career in seaside shows and pantomimes. His luck held until the Christmas of 1974, when he was starring in Jack and the Beanstalk at Bradford. As a publicity stunt, he auditioned local girls for one of the parts and Sue Moody, a 22-year-old housewife, was chosen. Three days before the show opened, Equity phoned to say that as Moody was not a member she must leave the theatre at once. Drake would not remove her and was fined £760, which he refused to pay. Equity temporarily banned him…
Bedbound and Fancy Free
Cultural engineering proved to be an exciting craft for the Hollywood studio publicists who created endless stories to promote actors and actresses alike. It was reported that Jayne Mansfield made everything in her house pink. She had a pink heart shaped bath installed in her bathroom, along with a pink outdoor pool. She had a bespoke pink heart shaped bed in her bedroom in which she posed regularly for photographs. It was also reported that Peter Sellers of “Dr Strangelove” and “Being There” fame, would only sleep in a bed that faced in the East West position. Lupe Velez insisted…
Christmas crackers or real turkeys? Winners and losers in 2006
In an eventful year for the media, we have seen boardroom battles and shock resignations; public acclaim and private fear. We ask a dozen industry insiders to select the real successes and failures of the last 12 months Mark Borkowski Founder, Borkowski PR The success of Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat is a cracker. It takes a British comedian to show Hollywood how to promote a movie properly. Heather Mills and Paul McCartney are both turkeys. You could tell more about the machinations and the battles between them by the PR advisers who came in and out of her life and…
Bandits with cameras
Welcome to the real world. No matter what anybody thinks about media intrusion, never underestimate its intent and determination. The fourth estate has might which has no peripheries. Noel Edmonds new friend Liz Davies was exposed to the full heat of the paparazzi yesterday? She was forced off the road twice attempting to pick her children up from her mother’s house. Then arriving home she found two photographers in full combat camouflage and balaclavas up tress surrounding her property. This is the 21st century and fame even when its not sought is a corrosive acid
Trivial Pursuit Is In The News
Trivial Pursuit is in the news; it seems that its questions are getting easier. The great parlour game has become a victim of the dumbing down of culture. Borkowski won the account to promote the game back in the early 1990’s and we retained the job for five years. Much fun was had by one and all. We came up with a concept to get the media interest where each year the annual edition was launched by a party that made national news. We researched all the new questions and bizarre items in the annual edition, and brought them all…
Horseplay, penguins and dangerous toys
Marty Weiser, the Hollywood publicist, was famous for his inspired premiere party for Mel Brooks’ cult film Blazing Saddles, which starred Gene Wilder and Cleavon Little. Mel Brooks took a risk when he allowed Weiser to stage this stupendous publicity stunt in a disused Drive In movie theatre. In keeping with the film, which was a pastiche on the old Westerns, Weiser insisted everyone turn up not in cars, but on horseback. The evening itself proved to be fraught for Weiser as nobody turned up on time and the movie producers began to berate him for it being a stupid…
I'M SURE I CAN LEARN FROM LEMBIT
“Yesterday the Liberal Democrats cemented their reputation as a party struggling to be taken seriously after Lembit Opik, MP announced that he had split with his television weather forecaster fiancee and was dating one half of the kitsch pop duo the Cheeky Girls.” The Guardian, 18/12/06. The Borkowski poet in residence considers what Tony Blair might make of this, given his current desire to bury bad news… I’m sure I can learn from Lembit and resurrect my career. I must just date a celebrity and I’ll be in the clear. Of course I’m a leader of men and if I’m…
ITV holds X Factor with 12m viewers
Mark Borkowski, a PR and marketing expert, said the public still warmed to well-made reality shows despite claims the format was exhausted from the Scotsman – “You can criticise, but at the end of the day the advertisers rub their hands with glee because they’ve got a clear identity of an audience and there is no shortage of people who want to sponsor it,” he said. “It’s event TV, everybody is talking about it and it’s one thing that ITV have got right. And, to a certain extent, so has the BBC with shows like Strictly Come Dancing.” http://news.scotsman.com/music.cfm?id=1875942006
THIS IS WHAT I DO
The Bishop of Southwark faced his congregation recently sporting a black eye after admitting that he could not remember being “mugged” following a drinks reception at the Irish embassy. Witnesses, however, say he clambered into a stranger’s Mercedes and started throwing toys on to the road. When asked what he was doing by the car’s owner, the Bishop replied: “I’m the Bishop of Southwark, it’s what I do.” I’m the Bishop of Southwark and this is what I do: I throw toys from the pram when I’m in a jam. What’s it got to do with you? Oh I’m the…
Theo Cowan
The affable and humorous Theo Cowan, was the UK first PR superstar. Before setting up his consultancy in the 1960’s he was head of Rank film publicity. The film company created the legendary Rank Charm School whose graduates included Diana Dors, Honor Blackman, Petula Clark Sylvia Syms and copied the modus operandi of the Hollywood studio system. Rank recruited pretty – and sometimes pretty talent less – boys and girls aged between 16 and 25, and taught them how to walk, behave and talk properly. Cowan made quite a name schooling the starlets in the ways of the media and…
Blair: a good day to bury bad news?
On a day of a million conspiracy theories here is another one for the cynical and the jaded to chew over. Pinch me hard but am I the only one to notice a classic example of news management today. http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/organgrinder
DOWNING STREET SPIN
“Tony Blair yesterday became the first serving prime minister to be interviewed as part of a criminal investigation when Scotland Yard officers running the “cash for peerages” inquiry questioned him for two hours in Downing Street… They stressed they had not chosen the timing of the interview with Mr Blair, leaving No 10 open to the charge that its officials had hoped to dampen the explosive impact of Mr Blair’s interview in the cacophany of other events.” The Guardian, 15/12/06 We’re burying bad news in a shallow grave because fortune favours the sly not the brave so in today’s news…
It’s an interesting life being a humble publicist.
What a surreal day following on from the after show comic glamour of the British Comedy Awards where I rubbed shoulders with Charlotte Church, Ant and Dec, Alice Beer and Matt Willis. I had a rather wonderful time seeing old pals like Jonathon Shalit with his new client Myleene Klass, Ed Fosdick who now heads up Ant and Dec’s company and the fabulous Alice Beer with her hallucinogenic puff ball skirt. I escaped third degree burns after being “monstered” by Addison Cresswell brandishing a smouldering cigar, but listened intently to the musings of “uber” criminal lawyer Henry Brandman on matters…
Giant python's flying circus
Liberating creative genius from process is one of our core beliefs. The great stuntsters knew how to take risks to generate column inches. Our client Nigel Marven is gradually becoming more famous, influenced by some of the ideas I have inspired. View enlargement His appearance at last night’s British Comedy show has made headlines this morning. Luckily his python didn’t escape into the audience. I remember the chaos caused when Jim Rose’s scorpions managed to escape from their box in the BBC’s Pebble Mill Studios. During the “after show ”party last night at the TV studio, I had to look…
Britney Spears vs Virginia Hall
Yesterday a rather interesting email popped into my inbox containing a link to a collection of photographs of Britney Spears being ‘papped’ as she got out of a limo. Britney had decided to have a hedonist night on the town with her pal Paris Hilton, sans knickers. The short skirt she chose to wear from her extensive wardrobe, indicated that she was “unaware” of the publicity stunt potential of a night on the town. Her need for publicity is a given; distorted by the adoration heaped on her by her fans that fuel her need for constant attention to identify…
So it seemed a good idea at the time!
Let’s celebrate the year by having our Christmas staff party in Amsterdam. The idea was born from a need to celebrate in the true Borkowski style. The proud tradition of Christmas celebrations has been a thing of legend with a host of venues from garages, art galleries to Indian takeaways and seedy eateries. The legend is that those who claim to be able to remember the party were not present. The detail isn’t important but the fact that there will always be casualties seems to be the important historical constant for the organisation. The gory minutiae will never be a…
Heather Yaxley cool blog
I met Heather Yaxley the other day at the Word of Mouth gig. I have been reading her blog since then and rate it as one the best PR blogs on the market. I suggest its regularly consumed. Greenbanana, it uses WordPress which this blog will be switched to in January.
Big Eat Part 2
I decided to post my vlog of the Wookey Hole “Big Eat”. Its nine minutes long but I think captures the spirit of the event. Watch me rap about the Mince Pie Marathon Competitive Eating Challenge