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.
Speech and drama.
Speech and drama. The furore surrounding John Humphrys’ after-dinner comments demonstrates the continuing influence of former Blair aide Tim Allan, but it may also spur the fourth estate to take the fight to the government with a sharper edge, writes Mark Borkowski He’s his own man, John Humphrys. One of the species of risk-taking, truth-seeking Big Beasts that the BBC used to breed by the score, but which are now dwindling to extinction. There are just handfuls left: Humphrys, Simpson, Paxman, Dimbles. That’s it. So who would time it oh-so-carefully to hit the news between the end of the summer…
MAYBE A MOVIE PREVIEW
I spend a great deal of time observing the art of publicity. Two grade A, 1st Class, 100% stunts this time, in fine fettle, with knobs, bells and whistles all securely attached. In both cases, be aware, you may well see precisely identical stories unfolding on your local cinema screen within a year or two. Because that’s the nature of the successful stunt nowadays.
CREDESSENTIAL
The news last week that Derek Laud emerged from the Big Brother house to be swept away by his new PR minder Christine Hamilton was only slightly surprising, not utterly so. After all, they’re both professional Tories and endangered species like that need to stick together to avoid total extinction. All the same, the old ticker sank slightly on learning that we had been so effortlessly manipulated into reassessing the Conservative Party for the better via BIG BROTHER (for heaven’s sake). Is there no spontaneity? Is there any credibility or realness to anything? Or have the PRs and the planners…
A waste of space
The nation’s biggest cultural events, like its sporting ones, have evolved over a generation into major business opportunities, but the Edinburgh festival remains a marketing desert http://media.guardian.co.uk/advertising/story/0,7492,1547995,00.html
Silly season
Ah, August, the cruellest month by far for newspapers, but usually quite a good one for publicists. Circulations plummet as readers and journalists alike flit from villa to beach, and those left behind tune to Channel 4 for the cricket while they pray for something momentous to happen on the quiet watch. This year, however, seems slightly different. There’s a serious streak in the air as Parliament (naturally ‘Closed for the Season’) smells its own impotence in the face of “emergency” measures taken to combat traitors. Non-silly Human Rights protestors, who would normally be waving placards in protest, are nowhere…
Terror PR
Terror PR Remember the ‘power surge’ story just after the London bombs went off? A strategic delay on the part of the security spin machine, says Mark Borkowski Standing in whatever shade I could find at noon yesterday, as the two taut minutes of what passes for silence in London ticked away, I considered the nature of the communications contrivance put into operation following the bombings, and that it clearly was not so much a question of what we were told as events unravelled last Thursday, as when. At least 30 minutes passed before anyone in the media was officially…
Rocking around the clock
They’re the people who keep the celebs in – and out – of the media spotlight. Mark Borkowski showcases the best PRs in the music business http://news.independent.co.uk/media/article298207.ece
I'M BACKING BECKHAM
Amid the advanced PR choreography of the British Olympic bid over the last few days, the most significant development has been the effective re-engineering of David Beckham’s career as an international sports statesman and roving ambassador for the country he leads on the football field. Yesterday’s press conference was a turning point. It showed the world a glamorous and charming Captain of England, effortlessly brushing aside the fact that he’s not actually an Olympic champion with references to his impeccable credentials as a team player and his love of the East End of London where he grew up. Teased by…
SILLY SEASON
It must have been all that mud at Glastonbury: it’s got into the system and clogged up the editors’ judgement much too soon. The Silly Season isn’t meant to start yet, not while the official Season is still running. I can see the press’s point though: gorgeous Brit-Icon Kate Moss jumping into a fake marriage with this year’s Thoroughly Bad Person, Pete Doherty, in a filthy corrugated-iron cowshed converted into a fake church at Glastonbury is hardly a story to spike, even when you read on and discover the clothing manufacturer Diesel picked up the bill for a not-so-fake wedding…
Golden oldie headlines at Live 8
Heading up PR for Live 8 was a job for an experienced hand with all the right connections – in TV, the press, music management and with the artists themselves
Golden oldie headlines at Live 8
Heading up PR for Live 8 was a job for an experienced hand with all the right connections – in TV, the press, music management and with the artists themselves http://media.guardian.co.uk/marketingandpr/comment/0,7494,1521027,00.html
NEW ADDITION TO THE MEDIA SAFARI PARK
Keen ornithologists may have gathered from last year’s publicity that the rarest bird of prey in Scotland is currently the magnificent White Tailed Sea Eagle, which did at one time die out completely. Only thanks to the introduction of some breeding pairs from Norway has it managed to cheat extinction and once again roam the skies above Highland lochs. Rarer still over the past four years have been sightings of another possibly endangered species, known so far to have a generally good relationship with publicity, although with a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ about the press lending it an easy time about to…
Does this spell the end for TV pranks?
Does this spell the end for TV pranks? … stunt which will make big-name celebrities think twice about working the crowds at red-carpet events, according to the public relations expert Mark Borkowski. … http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=680282005
War of the words
The water-squirting prank was ill-advised, unoriginal and foolish – because we need Tom Cruise more than he needs us I know we like to think we’re the cultural and financial centre of the world but do the math (as the yanks say) and you’ll see that the UK is a mere blip on Hollywood’s sales charts. http://media.guardian.co.uk/columnists/story/0,7550,1510783,00.html
Jacko's silver-haired angel
PR guru Mark Borkowski on the spin battle away from the courtroom For a while there it was touch and go in the Michael Jackson trial. It should have been clearer cut than that, really. After all it was a celebrity’s word against a member of the public. And in America there’s usually only one winner in such cases. But it all worked out in the end once the spin took over. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,1509579,00.html
From 2001 "I was Jacko's PR minder"
I thought I had taken on the dream PR job. But I didn’t realise that meeting Michael Jackson was forbidden. From the Independent 13 March 2001 A few weeks ago, I was employed by Michael Jackson. It soon became clear that what he wanted was a PR flunkey to hand out edicts and information to the press, according to the Jackson and Heal the Kids agenda.
Can Vegas resurrect the Jackson legend?
The publicists responsible for rehabilitating Michael Jackson are going to have to acknowledge that part of his legend died in that courthouse. Any publicist worth their salt should be drooling at the thought of the stunts to be pulled over the next few weeks to kick off Michael Jackson’s rehabilitation. http://media.guardian.co.uk/marketingandpr/comment/0,7494,1507059,00.html
OH, FOR A PRIVATE BOOTH.
What on earth is Cherie Blair up to? Why doesn’t she heed the sensible and professional PR advice about how to conduct herself which must surely be on tap, given her address? But no: in every government since 1997, regular as clockwork, some tacky Cherie-scandal unfolds, invariably evolving around what we are later told was a totally out-of-character trait and put down to ‘poor’ advice.
Does the mighty BP really find proper journalism so threatening?
One thing which makes huge corporations especially cross is when the media advisers they assume will help protect them from bad publicity fail to exercise proper PR housekeeping and end up landing them in sheep dip. Step forward the WPP media buying company MindShare, who recently issued a memo to the effect that BP wished to follow Morgan Stanley’s lead in expecting newspaper and magazine publishers not to run any editorial about their sector, good or bad, without a) informing them, and b) agreeing to pull any BP ads that might be running. This immediately painted BP as paranoid and…
No room for Father Jack in the Catholic church
The church needs heroes, created by the deeds they perform, not a clever stunt that just gets people talking. News that the Roman Catholic church is trying to solve a shortfall in the recruitment of priests in Westminster by advertising on beermats and in the underground is not as surprising as it should be. http://media.guardian.co.uk/marketingandpr/comment/0,7494,1497755,00.html