Bearing in mind what I wrote in yesterday’s post about transparency and trust, it doesn’t really help that there are still PR firms out there who will go to any lengths to be popular. Seventy Seven PR recently put up an adhoc poll to find out which PR firm people admire the most. A nice…
A career in PR always provides challenges – certainly I am cautious about some of the work I’ve undertaken and have, in retrospect, had to face out some of the poorer decisions I’ve made, such as promoting alcopops. With this in mind, it’s interesting to see that the Climate Camp 2009 protestors have targeted Edelman…
The Daily Telegraph’s Tim Walker asked me for my opinion, in today’s paper, on Bernard Arnault’s response to Lord Mandelson’s insistence that the Louis Vuitton bag he was photographed with last week wasn’t his… “Bernard Arnault responded with a polite “merci, mais non” when I asked him if he would care to comment on why…
The Daily Telegraph asked for my opinion yesterday on the ruling against Abercrombie & Fitch, who were found to have “wrongfully dismissed and unlawfully harassed” Riam Dean, a 22-year-old woman with a prosthetic limb who was shuffled off the shop floor last year. “Mark Borkowski, a leading brand and celebrity publicist, said: ‘This is probably…
I’m intrigued by the Daily Mail’s leap to the defence of computer hacker Gary McKinnon and am certain that there’s a certain PR agenda underlying their campaign on his behalf. Whilst it is utterly in keeping for the Mail to campaign to keep the trial of a man with Aspergers Syndrome in the UK so…
As the former editor of the News of the World turned PR man for David Cameron, Andy Coulson’s appearance before the House of Commons culture, media and sport select committee the other day was always likely to be difficult – this is a high-pressure enquiry into the phone hacking scandal. His performance was a masterstroke,…
The Independent ran an article on the rebranding of Sarah Brown and asked several people their opinion on her efforts, including myself – see the excerpt below. To read the full article, click here. “The publicist Mark Borkowski, a prolific user of new media, believes that Sarah Brown has shown herself far more adept in…
It seems, of late, that sleaze is a gift worth giving and that it’s for life, not just for Christmas or for politicians. The latest example – the News of the World phone tapping scandal – is, in Variety’s slanguage, a “dramedy”. It has the potential for seriously succulent consequences, which might be deeply costly…
I was on the Today programme at 8.40 this morning, with Phil Hall from PHA Media, discussing Simon Lewis’s new role as director of communications for Gordon Brown and how he might turn Brown’s premiership around. A challenging role, as Phil and I agreed, especially given that he has to follow in the footsteps of…
Could the tabloid-friendly sight of Cristiano Ronaldo and Paris Hilton in a Los Angeles nightclub the night before the footballer’s Real Madrid deal was confirmed be a coincidence? Originally published on the Guardian website Call me a cynical old publicist but I have to admit that I am hardly surprised to see Cristiano Ronaldo spread across…