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.
THE PLASTIC DEATH OF PLASTIC GIRL
The Borkowski poet in residence remembers Anna Nicole Smith
DON’T BOGART THAT GOVERNMENT
David Cameron allegedly smoked cannabis at Eton 25 years ago. The Borkowski poet in residence wonders how this revelation may change his approach to reaching power. “This is a challenge and an opportunity for David Cameron. He is young, he is an ironic idealist, he still has his hair… he could make the Conservative Party seem new and radical… Perhaps the Tories can become the party of our “generation of change”. It would not be a bad idea.” William Rees-Mogg, The Times, February 12 Don’t bogart that government my friend, pass it over to me. Don’t bogart that government my…
WHAT AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE CAN TELL US ABOUT MARKETING TODAY
It’s been a good year around the world for the outdoor media market. Unlike Britain – where we are still flogging campaigns that win awards rather than consumer cut through – publicity connoisseurs have feasted on a new generation of living outdoor ad sites, retail theatre and publicity stunts that capture front pages. This hunger for wild and wacky stunts to engage the ad weary punter, has never been so vital.
CELEBRITY VENN
Kylie Minogue and Olivier Martinez have split amid rumours he had been unfaithful. Olivier has been linked to a series of other women throughout the couple’s four-year relationship. The Borkowski poet in residence takes a look, from a male perspective, at how this sort of behaviour can help consolidate fame. It takes some saliva to be a survivor in the world of celebrity venn where instant attraction beats natural selection and sex is the new form of zen. Cross fertilisation for the good of the nation is a game all celebrities play. Starlet dates starlet. Fame is a harlot. You…
Harry Reichenbach's blindfold stunt drivers
Harry Reichenbach loved to use stunts to usurp commercial enterprise. He keenly kept an eye on the media and anything that was getting a lot of attention would be targeted with one of his left field stunts. Harry had used stunt drivers in the very early years to publicise fair grounds and circuses, but with a difference. He would blindfold the driver and get them to drive around blind. A placard on the car would advertise the travelling fair ground attractions. Reichenbach then became involved in the Hollywood movie business and he began using stunt drivers to promote movies. In…
A BAD CASE OF DRY ROT
The Borkowski poet in residence asked a builder his opinion of one of the major topics of the day and wrote this as a result…
CASH FOR HONOURS
“Tony Blair’s chief fundraiser and confidant Lord Levy was arrested for a second time yesterday on suspicion of perverting the course of justice over his role in the cash for honours affair.” The Guardian, Wednesday, January 31 If any email encryption bears Lord Levy’s inscription then the cards will come tumbling down and if the fragrant Ruth Turner has been on a nice little earner Tony Blair will answer to the Crown. Allegations of sleaze brought the Tories to their knees and into a state of meltdown Will Labour fare any better if the law digs up a letter connecting…
CRADLE OF GLAMOUR
After the success for the pharmaceutical company, Moran was employed by a lesser known modelling agency in Arkansas. To push this agency, Moran needed a real point of difference and after much thought, he created what became known as the “Cradle of Glamour” for a photocall. The idea was to create a Garden of Eden in the Arkansas sunshine where more thoughtful, nature loving girls who also happened to be the models for the agency, learned how to make the most of what mother nature had given them. One class included how to make up your lips, how you drew…
GRACE UNDER PRESSURE
Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty won Celebrity Big Brother last night. The Borkowski poet in residence celebrates her victory. Get ready for the jet set, Shilpa Shetty. You survived Big Brother without being petty and with magnanimity unalloyed forgave Jo, Jade and Danielle Lloyd. Get ready for the high life, Shilpa honey. You won Big Brother, now you’re in the money. Should you want or need it the world is yours; surviving abuse opens certain doors. Enjoy the attention, Shilpa Shetty revel in the flash bulbs and confetti. You’re what celebrity should be about; grace under pressure not just tits ‘n’…
Jim Moran and the school of beauty
Jim Moran was employed to publicise a cosmetics arm of a major U.S. pharmaceutical company. Instead of the usual run of the mill celebrity endorsement, Moran decided to give the idea some intellectual thought and put a back story to the photo call that he organised. Moran used the well known “Delia Collins School of Beauty Culture” in his photo shoot which took only 20 trainee beauticians each year. At the school, the trainees learnt all about the anatomy of beauty and all the major bodily functions. Thus, the idea of beauty therapy was sold, coupling cosmetics with health. It…
Wireless publicity stunt
One of the biggest money spinners in PR at the moment is the contract for HDTV. Back in 1938 it was another technological break through that was in the headlines, albeit less hi tec. The radio exhibition at London’s Olympia was set up to promote radio hardware in an attempt to get more people to buy a wireless. The U.S. publicist Jim Moran was hired by PIFCO to come up with an idea and so he created a photo call with an ingenious idea. He got teams of char women to clean the entire exhibition centre’s floor while listening to…
Gone with the Wind-up
I have a gentleman named Paul Rigby to thank for a letter he sent me, informing me of one of Jim Moran’s genius stunts in Hollywood. Apparently Moran, who was wanting work in Tinseltown, approached a couple of Hollywood film studios to pitch for business. He posed as a Lithuanian film producer, even learning a few key phrases in Lithuanian, and then spent two weeks with a voice coach so he could speak English with the correct Lithuanian accent. Moran came up with the idea of remaking Gone With The Wind, set in an Eastern European country, and to Moran’s…
IS ALL CELEBRITY BIG BROTHER PUBLICITY BAD PUBLICITY?
Channel 4 is on a roller coaster ride. Every hour this week a new scenario shifts the media agenda and the current interest in Big Brother is at an all time high. The media and the public has been fixated – and transfixed – by the bullying and supposed racism in the house. And whether it is going to derail Jade Goody Inc. Is this all just publicity fall out or manna from heaven? We will soon discover if all publicity is bad publicity? Front page news, radio phone ins, bloggers and the Houses of Parliament are all debating whether…
JENNIFER, JENNIFER
Jennifer Aniston has recently begun walking around her Los Angeles mansion in a deep sleep and then waking up confused and bewildered. Friends of Jennifer, 37, believe she has started sleepwalking because of stress in her personal life. The Borkowski poet in residence begs to differ. Jennifer, Jennifer, sleepwalking queen, are you rehearsing your roles on the silver screen as you walk round your mansion, eyes shut and snoring or are you dreaming of men who’re no longer adoring? Jennifer, Jennifer, bewildered and lost, do you quest after fame regardless of cost? Are you sleepwalking because men have been less…
BIG BROTHER’S LITTLE RACE ROW
The Borkowski poet in residence takes a look at the aftermath of the racism/bullying hoo-ha surrounding Celebrity Big Brother. From the Houses of Parliament to the streets of Dehli debates are now raging about Channel 4 telly and specifically the show we thought was dead in the water. Now Celebrity Big Brother has every single reporter frothing and slavering for a small slice of news about Shilpa, Jade Goody and her ignorant views She’s not racist precisely, she seems too stupid for that, but she certainly doesn’t realise her stock could fall flat when she exits the house in the…
Taking a Tiny Break
The German Publicist Wolfgang Mayer created a publicity stunt that could have gone down in history had it not been for the unfortunate timing. Mayer was employed to turn around the fortunes of a little known caravan holiday company located in Bergen, north east of Hanover, who were interested in promoting long distance travel holidays to their clients. Mayer employed a team of the finest Bavarian craftsmen to create a miniature sized, fully working car and caravan to show at the London Open Air Exhibition in 1939 in order to promote these long distance caravan holidays. The exhibit was shown…
BIG BROTHER SOUP
The Borkowski poet in residence comes over all Jamie Oliver after watching more Celebrity Big Brother than anyone should have to cope with. Take a pinch or two of 70s pop singer an ounce of bubbly blonde two teaspoons of scrofulous rock star a soupcon of gay man. and mix gently in a sterile environment. Grate in, like nutmeg, the withered husk of reputation left to the Miss World competition. Whilst you are stirring, dip the toe of one crusty film director into the mix and then remove it. Get a sieve – a big one – and sift egos…
THE INT’RESTING GAME
The Borkowski poet in residence managed to tease an interview out of David Beckham on the announcement of his move to Los Angeles Galaxy for a quarter of a billion dollars. It’s time to a be a bit int’resting and remodel my career on Pele and George Best; get American footie into gear. The money will be int’resting – Victoria’s very happy. The paparazzi all speak English there; we hope they’ll be positively snappy. I’ve got to up my game a bit both on and off the field; in LA, int’resting’s not enough – more must be revealed. So I’m…
Vegas & monkey: a welcome revival
Vegas & monkey: a welcome revival. Two paths that come together on one journey shape a new dimension of meaning and possibility, a co-creation of power and passion. http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/
Dogged but doomed
Animals and children always carry a health risk for publicists and “Pastorale Kennels” realised this to their cost in the 1930’s. “Pastorale Kennels” was a well known breeding kennels in Minnesota in the 1930’s, who commissioned a clever idea for a picture to advertise themselves in other American States. Before one of the biggest kennel club shows in the U.S, as a publicity stunt, seven Old English sheep dogs were harnessed together to pull a sled, instead of the usual huskies. However, the sheep dogs got loose from the sled and ran off. Unfortunately, they ran onto a train track…