Mark Comments in the Press.
With a keen eye for cultural trends and a depth of insight honed through years of experience in the public eye, Mark stands as a beacon of clarity in a world often shrouded in confusion.
Mark’s commentary is both thought-provoking and incisive, inviting audiences to see beyond the surface and engage with the complexities of our times.
More Maynard Nottage movie news
As I mentioned yesterday, there’s a star name being attached to a possible Maynard Nottage biopic – and that name has been revealed in today’s Daily Mail, in Richard Kay’s column. He says: “Uber PR Mark Borkowski’s rediscovery of Twenties Hollywood publicist Maynard Nottage has caught the eye of actor Dustin Hoffman, who wants to play the notoriously hard-drinking womaniser on screen. “For his best-selling book The Fame Formula, Borkowski researched the life of Nottage, the Forrest Gump of his era whose talents stretched from touring with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show to indirectly helping the Nazis adopt black shirts…
A weekend with Maynard Nottage
The frenetic 48 hours at the end of last week turned into a furiously busy weekend, coping with the response to the Times’ article suggesting that Maynard Nottage was a hoax. I have been fielding calls from producers interested in buying the rights to the Nottage story (there’s at least one director interested in the project, who has an A List star in mind to play the part of Nottage); answering emails of support from a great many people, including Victor Lewis Smith, Piers Morgan and Steve Jaffe; writing a letter of response to the Times (click here to…
Cheltenham Festival via A Good Read
I had a busy but invigorating weekend at the Cheltenham Festival of Literature, promoting The Fame Formula on Saturday and discussing my favourite book with Sue McGregor and Terry Jones for BBC Radio 4’s A Good Read in the great stone wedding cake that is Cheltenham Town Hall. I was astonished at how busy it was, especially on the Sunday – the Festival seems to attract a great many people, what with its mixture of book-writing celebrities, poets, journalists and surprise visits by relaxed-seeming prime ministers. The Fame Formula event went well – between 60 and 70 informed and interested…
The Fame Formula hits Canada!
Johanna Schneller and I were speaking on the Canadian CBC network’s Q arts, culture and entertainment show yesterday, about the ways to maintain a celebrity brand, alongside Suzanne Somers (who is mentioned in The Fame Formula thanks to her association with Jay Bernstein) on how to maintain life as a star brand and Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh. The podcast is now available to listen to – if you’d like to hear it, click here.
Lee Atwater politcal spinmeister
Please watch the BBC 4 doco on Lee Atwater the Darth Vader of the Republican Party. Atwater’s tactics were legendary described as unethical and dirty, he was widely regarded as a near-brilliant political operative who helped the likes of Bush Pt1 and Reagan get into power. Its currently on the BBC IPlayer
Burger King public relations "U" turn
Last December, Burger King generated some positive PR chatter when it signed an EU undertaking to end fast-food advertising aimed at the under-12s. Well, that hasn’t lasted. I have just noticed that the food behemoth is preparing to launch a global campaign for kids next month with a toy promotion featuring characters from The Simpsons. The incentive offers a free toy with every Kids Meal. Tactically, they have softened the idea by proclaiming that the toys can be played with individually and “are not dependent on the collection of a set”. No feverish collection frenzy, eh? They know full well…
Thrills, spills, reviews, readings and parties
Thrills, spills, reviews, readings and parties: it’s been 60 days since The Fame Formula came out and it’s been a rollercoaster ride. And, with Festival season upon us, there’s much more to come. In the brief pause as the rollercoaster climbs up another slope, before I rush on down into the Festival season, it’s time to reflect on what’s happen and bask in the memories in the last heat of the Indian Summer. It seems much longer than 60 days since the book hit the shelves in a flurry of press and radio, from local radio to the Jonathan Ross…
More from the Fame Formula juggernaut!
A busy day yesterday, starting off at the Groucho Club at eight in the morning. I was taking part in the Editorial Intelligence/HarperCollins panel. The discussion was: Does the Media Break More Celebrities than it Makes? I was joined by Clarence Mitchell, who represented the McCann family throughout their tribulations; Rachel Johnson, who writes for the Sunday Times and just happens to be Boris’ sister (“I won’t mention the B word,” she told the audience) and Mary Riddell, the assistant Editor at the Daily Telegraph. The chair was Peter York. It was a fascinating discussion – Mary Riddell was just…
Twitter Takes Flight
Twitter takes flight Twitter made global headlines when James Buck, a graduate journalist, was arrested in Egypt for taking photographs of an anti-government protest earlier this year. On his way to the police station, Buck used his mobile to send the message “arrested” to 48 followers on Twitter, which ignited a worldwide campaign to get him released. From that moment, the PR world woke up to the idea that microblogging (Twitter offers a text-based posting system of up to 140 characters in length) could wield a powerful global influence. Most recently, Twitter has been used by Barack Obama to show…
Kentucky Fried Stunt
My Google alert threw something interesting up this morning: KFC officials used an armored car to move a scrap of paper from one secure location to another on September 9 th, guarded by a former New York police detective. Why? Because on it, Col. Harland Sanders had scribbled his original recipe for quick-to-prepare chicken, a trade secret so heavily guarded that supposedly only three KFC executives have access to it at any one time, two that know the recipe and one who keeps the keys to the safe. They’re not allowed to travel on the same plane, car or train…
The School of Night Launch The Fame Formula
The launch party for The Fame Formula last Friday, by the side of a steaming pool in the glorious Artspa at Lower Mills Estate near Cirencester, went, if you’ll forgive the pun, swimmingly. The much-missed Ken Campbell, who passed away a week ago, was supposed to have been at the launch to perform, but his School of Night came anyway and improvised gloriously on themes, topics and publicists in the book. They were challenged to write and perform instant sonnets about T.R. Zann and Harry Reichenbach, amongst many other things – here’s a video of one of the results of…
Fame Formula at The Space, Brighton
Came back from a talk about The Fame Formula at The Space, Brighton’s monthly arts and media event in Joogleberry Playhouse last night, on the slow train. The train was the only slow thing about the night, thankfully. There was a fantastic spirit at the event – about 250 people showed up and asked interested, interesting questions. There was no posturing whatsoever, just a really good vibe. Sold some books too, which is always a good feeling. It was great to have Miranda Sawyer travel down there to chair it, too. Wayne Emms, who runs The Space events, always gets…
Yet more emissions from the Fame Formula juggernaut!
The Sunday Telegraph published an excellent review of The Fame Formula by Jenny McCartney, alongside Look at Me by Peter Whittle, yesterday; a small chink of light in a day mostly coloured by the death of my old friend Ken Campbell, who helped me launch the book only a month ago. Jenny McCartney enjoys an insider’s view of how celebrity got where it is today In the past decade, the British hunger for celebrity has grown to frenzied proportions: the public now consumes its ready-made stars as quickly as a bag of crisps. Yet who is it that first shapes…
Further emissions from the Fame Formula juggernaut!
Reviews of The Fame Formula are still rolling in – here are a couple of good ones from the net. Fame corrupts and corrodes, giving people a license to behave badly, writes Geordie Grieg in the Big Book review of The Fame Formula at The First Post website, “Andy Warhol got it spot-on when he talked about everybody’s 15 minutes of fame. Not only about the desire for fame but its extreme brevity: on the whole fame fades frighteningly fast. “Which makes fame, as seen through a provocative celebrity merchant’s tale about Hollywood’s manipulation of image and publicity, deliciously bittersweet….
Olympic propaganda
As the news broke that parts of the Beijing Olympic opening ceremony had been faked, the friendly face of China was looking increasingly like a prefabricated PR mask. It was certainly unfortunate that little Lin Miaoke, who won so many hearts with her stirring rendition of “Ode to the Motherland” as the Chinese flag entered the stadium – turned out to be a fake. The real songbird, whose crooked smile fell short of the image of perfection that the Chinese had wished to present, had been locked away out of sight while the other girl performed an elaborate mime. Then…
Fame Formula radio appearances part 2
Here’s another selection of links to radio appearances talking about The Fame Formula. To listen to Mark speaking about The Fame Formula on On the Record with Eric Schwartzman, a regular podcast available on iTunes telling the story behind the story – mainstream journalists, influential bloggers and podcasters talking in depth about how technology is changing the news media business – click here. To listen to Mark speaking on Radio Heat, click here. To listen to Mark speaking on Radio Manx, click here. To listen to Mark speaking on BBC Radio Nottingham, click here. To listen to Mark speaking on…
More reviews for the Fame Formula
The Daily Mail ran a second review of The Fame Formula last Friday, reproduced below until it goes online and can be linked to, by Lydia Slater under the Critic’s Choice banner.
The Times Online Fame Formula interview
Times Online are running an audio interview with me on their arts and entertainments page in a prime position on the page, just below an exclusive extract from My Little Armalite. It’s running under the headline The Greatest Publicity Stunts Ever: PR wizard Mark Borkowski talks to Hardeep Singh Kohli about the geniuses of hype. You just need to click on the link to download the podcast interview. It was a pleasure talking to Hardeep again; his enthusiasm for the book was palpable. To get straight to the page in question, click here.
The Fame Formula on the Radio
The press coverage of The Fame Formula has been phenomenal; not least on the radio, as you’ll discover if you listen to a few of the files linked below. More files will be posted as they arrive. To hear Mark on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, discussing celebrity alongside author Christopher Brookmyre, click here. — To hear Mark on BBC Radio 5’s Simon Mayo show, presented by Colin Murray – whose opening statement proves he really gets the book – click here. — To listen to Mark discussing The Fame Formula on BBC Radio 2’s Jonathan Ross show, hosted by…