Edelman’s wonky 2011 Trust Survey
I love Edelman’s annual Trust Barometer, not least because it offers year-on-year comparative data. But its findings should come with a health warning. Read on ›
The PR business has largely advised institutions to ignore or denounce the seismic shift in public opinion that led the USA to Trump and the UK to Brexit. Some PR professionals have also urged their clients to align themselves more closely with the very agendas that sparked the mass public backlash. But Biden's narrow victory over Trump demonstrates that instead of healing divisions this strategy has made society even more polarised. There is a crying need for the public relations business to help bring people together, to put an end to the disunity within our societies. Here I examine some of the underlying issues. I also suggest some alternative approaches to today's increasingly ineffective corporate PR strategies, mantras and fads. More »
Latest posts
In honour of Chernobyl 25 years on
Chernobyl was my Big Story: it was my life for a while. But it must fascinate any PR. It has it all: crisis communication, reputation management, single-issue campaigners and misleading media reporting. Read on ›
Why WikiLeaks is bad news…
Here is a piece on privacy, transparency, trust and the problem of WikiLeaks that I published at the beginning of 2010 (February 1) which deserves another outing as the year ends. Read on ›
Messrs Cable and Assange: The media’s holy fools
There are two media hullabaloos resonating right now: Business Secretary Vince Cable was stripped of some decision-making powers after telling undercover journalists he had “declared war” on Rupert Murdoch; WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange now claims The Guardian has betrayed his secrets. It makes me wanna chant “long live the media!” Read on ›
Time to redebate sustainable development
Jonathan Porritt’s, Britain’s leading environmental campaigner, speech to the Royal Society in London this week is entitled The Growth Fetish and the Death of Environmentalism. Here’s why PRs should take him seriously, if only to debunk him. Read on ›
England never stood a chance with FIFA. Good.
Britain’s David Cameron just spent three days schmoozing the unschmoozable FIFA bigwigs. But did he and Prince William really delude themselves that their assorted PR team, powerpoint presentations and charm could bring the 2018 World Cup to England? Let’s hope not. Read on ›
“Deadly Spin” is mere spin
The author of Deadly Spin, former PR man Wendell Potter, is posing as a whistleblower with something useful to reveal. But a quick look at his book’s main theme suggests that he’s talking nonsense about his trade because he doesn’t like its paymasters.
PS essay in “A Sorry State” (it’s a book)
My essay on corporate image building forms part of a new book from The New Culture Form, A Sorry State: Self-denigration in British Culture, edited by Peter Whittle with a foreword by the historian Michael Burleigh. You are welcome to attend the launch event: see below. Read on ›
Coca-Cola’s sponsorship is all about them
Hands up who hasn’t known for years that Wayne Rooney of Manchester United is a “bad” boy. If Coca-Cola has not got its hand up, I accuse it of humbug or worse (plain stupidity). Read on ›
Starbucks’ PR tweets stink
I’ve just laughed out loud at Lucy Kellaway’s Weekend FT story about Twitter, and Starbucks’ allegedly smelly toilets, that’s now doing the rounds as Lavatorygate. Read on ›
