Rhys Ifans has been commanding attention for all the wrong reasons, testing the very limits of the notion that there is no such thing as bad publicity. There can have been few publicists who didn’t experience an internal cringe on behalf of the luckless PR that had to deal with his catastrophic interview with The Times….
I heard today that Howard Zieff had died – a name I’d not really encountered before, despite the fact that he’d directed a few breezy comedies like Private Benjamin, starring Goldie Hawn – but the obituaries made me sit up and take notice. It turns out that, when he started out in advertising, he was…
Despite showing signs of suffering from autophobia my Fame Formula publicity bandwagon trundles on… Turning up at Sky News at the crack of dawn to review the papers was fun and so were my chats with Fred Macauley, George Lamb, Steve Wright and my wife’s favorite Tim Smith. The bad news is that the Sunday…
Tucked up in a tiny radio studio, I spent the morning doing a set of radio interviews – BBC Radio Oxford, BBC Radio Humberside, Northsound Aberdeen, BBC Radio Cumbria, BBC Radio York, BBC Radio Sheffield, BBC Radio Manchester, BBC Coventry & Warwicks, BBC Radio Kent, BBC Radio Nottingham, Radio Manx Isle of Man, Heat Radio,…
With a profile piece in The Independent and an extract from book in The Guardian today, the promotion for my book has really started. I have already done a number of interviews and have some more lined up, but what I notice most is that it’s very odd being on the other side of the promotion…
Coldplay have gone through the usual modern mechanics of releasing a record, giving away their first single as a free download – pretty obvious stuff really. In fact the whole promotion feels lightweight, polarizing critics and fans. It feels as if it’s more about attempts to make Chris Martin become an edgy pop star with…
Every paper has featured the story about the picky piglet who doesn’t like walking in mud. It’s a great stunt which I believe was originally set up to promote a sausage making business. Someone has given the story to a news agency which has sold it in to the papers but sadly, with no reference…
Watching the new BBC 4 drama, The Mad Men, which began last Sunday, I think this brilliant series will do a huge amount to promote cigarette smoking. Every person in every scene, including a gynaecologist, is fagging it . I know it’s the 1960’s and authenticity is important, but I get the feeling that one…
When ever I walk across the Paddington Station concourse I marvel at the genius of sale promotion agencies that regularly use the space. The art of great sales promotions is to connect a brand with potential customers in a creative and engaging fashion. I was drawn to the current Brazil promo at the busy commuting…
Walking to work this morning I was accosted by a small skinny man dressed as a boxer complete with a head guard. He thrust a flyer for a new fitness centre called Gym Box into my empty hand . The bright leaflet was a manifesto declaring the virtues of this happening jointI I put in…