As Britain hails a new hero in the shape of Wimbledon great Andy Murray, it’s natural to wonder what impact his victory will have on him from a PR point of view. The genius of Simon Fuller and his team at XIX Entertainment, managers of the tennis star, is that they are building a brand…
Margaret Thatcher’s great spin man Bernard Ingham knew a thing or two about pragmatism. He kept himself out of the Westland Helicopter Crisis as he knew that even a whiff of his involvement would damage Thatcher. And he was surely very glad of the off the record Downing Street briefings that kept his name out…
The protagonists dress as if they were auditioning for jobs as cruise ship entertainers. The atmosphere has all the excitement of a wet Wednesday in Bognor; as for the pace of the game itself – well, put it like this: a bad game on a slow day makes the average funeral procession look like the…
By Amol Rajan Tuesday, 19 August 2008 Britain’s Olympic heroes in Beijing are being circled by increasing numbers of sports agents, multi-nationals and image consultants desperate to cash in on their new-found fame. Behind the scenes in China’s capital, newly crowned champions, from the swimmer Rebecca Adlington to the cyclists Bradley Wiggins and Chris Hoy,…
By Nick Harris in Beijing She won by miles, and shattered the world record. She took her second gold of the Games, to become the most successful British swimmer in a century. Fellow swimmers were calling her Dame Becky yesterday, as Team GB headed for its best-ever Olympic weekend. So how would Rebecca Adlington celebrate?…
“Watch out… Wilko – Habana’s so quick he’s been racing cheetahs in preparation for South Africa’s World Cup clash against England this Saturday. And nearly winning! The speedy Springbok player publicised the launch of a wild cheetah census with a race against the fastest animal on earth.”
Michael Tchong has written an interesting paper on his site Darwin on Steroids: his claim is that while 75% of Americans object to steroid use, Marion Jones is part of evolution SAN FRANCISCO — 08-Oct-07 — Marion Jones is capturing headlines with an alleged admittance that she used steroids. A Friday poll of Facebook members…
Yesterday’s Asian Cup Final in Jakarta and the repercussions in Iraq, provoked news correspondents from the BBC to claim that Iraq’s defeat of Saudi Arabia had temporarily united the divided country. Iraq beat Saudi Arabia 1-0 yesterday and celebratory gunfire was heard in Baghdad. Thousands of Iraqis had been following the match in Indonesia on…
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…