If you want proof that stunts are an art form, your best bet is to head down to the Tate Modern’s Pop exhibition and take a long, hard look at the Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons exhibits. Here are two prime examples of early stops at one of the stations of the cross of Consumerism,…
Using shock tactics at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is less likely to garner publicity in this desensitised media age, argues PR guru Mark Borkowski The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is nearly upon us. And to prove it, should proof be needed, the first stunt of the summer has aroused a flurry of media interest and rattled…
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…
Global media flocked to the island Some stories are as much about public relations as they are news. This week marked the culmination of one of the greatest examples, which has left the PR industry gasping in admiration, says Ian Hall. In a blaze of publicity, more than a thousand media organisations around the world…
Whilst I have no wish to denigrate the sense of loss the families of the 150 or so people who have died in Mexico must be feeling, I suspect that the reporting of the supposed Swine Flu pandemic is more hysterical by far than it needs to be and may in fact cause more problems…
Search for a slogan. Oxfam is asking the public to write four memorable lines to be displayed on digital billboards around London. But how hard can it be to bash out a catchy, punchy, effective slogan? Ravi Somaiya: The Guardian, Monday September 29 2008 How difficult is it to write an advertising slogan? Oxfam will…
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…
Hats off to Electronic Arts for having the balls to stage a marvellous publicity stunt. You know they are onto a winner when a stunt is branded “irresponsible” by MPs. The PR caper was to give away £20,000’s worth of fuel at a petrol station in north London as part of a promotion for a…
News has come in that Apple are attempting to sell iPhones in Poland by paying actors to queue outside the stores to whoop up interest in the all-singing, all-dancing phone which is released there on Friday. According to Reuters, a spokesman has said: “We have these fake queues at front of 20 stores around the…
John Pinette is one of the funniest stand ups I have seen in years. This oversized routine is dominated by frustrations about food cafeteria lines and the modern day morons. After 24 hours in Edinburgh, I’m beginning to turn into him! Pinette talks about someone in a restaurant queue saying “how big is your small?”…