I should have known: Oprah takes the viral video to a whole new level

How did I miss this?? No sooner did I flag one well-organised viral video than somebody points out that Oprah did something similar... but A LOT, LOT bigger. She also roped in the Black Eyed Peas to help out. Get her and her gold phone!

Two great viral videos: Talksport and Flip cameras...

Jon Silk on good PR

Good to see former colleague and unofficial poster child of social media Jon Silk already up and running, in front of camera in his new home at Waggener Edstrom (where they clearly make people work in early-20th Century classrooms).

Here's Jon discussing what makes good PR, it's worth listening (and over on ReputationOnline his comments are pitted against journo Will Cooper from NewMediaAge) ...and no, there's nothing incriminating on the blackboard behind Jon, I've already checked. (Continues after the clip...)



I know what you're thinking... 'he used to be much better with that other bloke' - but you'd be badly wrong about the dissolution of that shortlived double act. See (WTF were we thinking?):

If you're going to tell a joke, don't be the punchline

As a PR man I love a good visual stunt... but please, just make sure it's not going to end up making you the laughing stock.

Hats off to all those Manchester United fans who threw beachballs onto the Anfield pitch following the intervention of an inflatable in Liverpool's previous game.

But for the not inconsiderable matter of a comprehensive 2-0 beating it was a classic jape. Hopefully it cheered their journey home.

Oh No She Di'unt!!??

Here is the new Microsoft Windows 7 Advert. Pay particular attention to second 17 through 18 (flagged by the excellent World's Leading)... (continues)



Er... she couldn't have done...could she? Well listen again... this time just to that clip (and then take the poll on the right)...

Me, on More 4 News: Talking Twitter, Moir, Guardian, Mail

I was on More 4 News last night discussing the recent spate of online activism which has highlighted the power of the blogoshpere and more specifically Twitter.

It was an interesting piece, ranging in discussion from Stephen Fry's role as the unelected 'president' of the Twitterverse - and the power he wields - to the events of last week; most notably the Carter-Ruck v the Guardian debate and Daily Mail columnist Jan Moir's trial by Twitter. (In the interests of copyright abuse limitation, I've just paste in my bit...)

Discussing Jan Moir's Stephen Gately controversy on Sky News

Following the coverage throughout the day of Jan Moir's controversial column on Stephen Gately (see: Daily Mail tones down Jan Moir headline and Jan Moir, London Underground: ‘I’ve got a Twitter and I’m not afraid to use it’ from TheMediaBlog.co.uk) I was invited onto Sky News alongside Matthew Todd, the editor of Attitude, to discuss the issue and the role of Twitter in publicising the controversy.

London Underground's "sling him under a train" approach to customer service

I sense a storm in a social media cup is a brewin’ for London Underground today following an account of incredible rudeness by a member of staff towards an elderly customer which is doing the rounds of the blogosphere (original account here). There is also a video capturing the final stages of the spat.

Irrespective of provocation – though we’re told there was little if any – it’s probably not advisable to ever raise your voice to a paying customer. Oh, or suggest somebody “sling him under a train”. This is not just because it's tantamount to assault but because you never know who might be filming, or who is likely to blog about the experience. UPDATE (12:32pm): Predictably, the mainstream media are now picking up the story. And the Mayor is also now on the case following a lot of Twitter activity around this issue.

BBC misses ‘couldn’t buy this kind of coverage’ factor

The BBC's Panorama debacle has been well covered this week, but it seems the BBC is still badly missing the point.

Talking to PR Week, the BBC's head of comms John Shield said: “We are an extremely busy comms operation. So, we are grateful to our professional colleagues at Ryanair for driving publicity for the show.”

Er, ...brilliant.

So it’s a lose-lose? Which makes…. er, a win, somehow for the BBC. Not only did the Beeb give a gleeful Ryanair the kind of coverage it couldn’t buy but even more people witnessed Panorama’s fall from grace than the BBC had initially anticipated.

Way to go John. That’s living alright!

Now the Beeb is at it again this morning with coverage of the ASA’s ban on adverts for Actimel ‘good bacteria’ yoghurt drinks over claims they were particularly good for kids.

The debate is predominantly about ad-speak which you'd have thought most consumers are cynical towards anyway. So the net effect is lots of discussion about Actimel while the nation eats its breakfast, stating the yoghurt certainly isn’t bad for you, and may be good for you, just not in quite the way that was claimed.

Mmmm Danone.

Ryanair puts in the glory blows to floored Panorama

As predicted, last night’s Panorama 'revelations' about Ryanair did little to dent the reputation of the airline (all things being relative) but did raise plenty of questions about the BBC. There was no story, nothing new about the claims and it came across as a rather weak piece of television that left the programme and its journalist looking adrift from anything that resembles quality journalism.

Of course this was all against the background of Ryanair nobbling Panorama before the programme even aired.

Not content with victory of course, Ryanair is now putting the boot in. Much as I dislike the company though, I do have to admire this soundbite:

“Last night’s programme was more Bananarama than Panorama. The BBC had no case, no facts and no clue. The only benefit it provided to viewers was the 1.1million free seats Ryanair will give away as a result of its false claims.”

…because you see, Ryanair claims to be giving away 100,000 free seats for every erroneous claim made by Panorama - 11 in total, which it refutes one-by-one here.

A nice stunt.

The angst of the creative in the face of the stupid: "Think of it as a foot in the door" ...

I defy you not to laugh… unless you are easily offended by bad language:



A big hat tip to Dan Ilett for flagging that one.

How not to engage…

Back in my days on the editorial side of the fence I was often on the receiving end of this pitch:

“We want to do something that looks like advertising, smells like advertising… hell, it IS advertising, but here’s the kicker, the catch, the twist if you will - we don’t want to pay for it… So, what can you do for us?”

The answer of course was: “Nothing, but I can put you through to somebody in sales.”

I no longer receive such pitches - nor do I peddle them, for obvious reasons - but they haven’t gone away. A former colleague of mine, Dan Ilett, now founding editor of the hugely successful Greenbang has recently been explaining the difference between editorial and advertising to some pretty big names in the energy space (that’s utilities, not Lucozade).

It makes for a good read. Though from this side of the fence I'm surprised PRs would ever attempt to so blatantly diminish, in the eyes of paying clients, the value of genuine editorial. That's the stuff that's supposed to be difficult to get into... that's why companies traditionally spend more on PR than advertising.... oh, hang on...

Elsewhere I see others struggling to engage effectively with the blogosphere and media alike. Ruth Mortimer at Brand Strategy flags a particularly good example.

What 'bar room brawler' Ryan Air can teach us and the BBC about PR

I made a commitment some time ago to never again fly Ryan Air, having flown with them from London (actually closer to Ipswich) Stansted to Valencia. Personally, I would rather have tried swimming there.

So it's fair to say I'm not a fan, but that’s not to say I’m not willing to learn from them. Normally the lessons we learn from Ryan Air of course are of the ‘how not to…’ variety, but the budget airline’s run-in with the BBC’s Panorama is a text book lesson in crisis PR – though from a school that isn’t for all tastes.

Ryan Air has published all correspondence between itself and the BBC ahead of the programme (you can find it here, for now) revealing a number of things. (Thanks to Mark Pinsent for flagging.)

Firstly, Ryan Air offered the BBC an uncensored interview with outspoken CEO Michael O’Leary. The BBC declined.

Having sat on both sides of the journalist/PR divide I see this as a coup for Ryan Air. Of course the BBC wasn’t going to accept that offer. It could never guarantee that, and I’m sure Ryan Air knew this.

I’m sure O’Leary would have behaved impeccably but no editor can ever guarantee something won’t be edited for any number of reasons. But that is now by-the-by. Simply by making the BBC decline the interview, Ryan Air can now assume some moral high ground and claim the broadcaster did so in the interests of bias. For a public increasingly informed by an anti-BBC media, that will play well.

Secondly, throughout the correspondence Ryan Air has referred to a “hatchet job” being carried out by Panorama, making repeat references to an apparent bias or axe to grind at the broadcaster. And ahead of broadcast the phrase “hatchet job” is already becoming synonymous with Panorama. Currently a Google search for: "hatchet job" "Panorama" "BBC" yields 2,180 mentions and counting - now, that can't be good for a programme with the world’s longest running reputation for quality TV journalism.

And thirdly, as any closing-time brawler will tell you, Ryan Air has taken the important measure of getting in the first punch, bringing its “hatchet job” accusations to a head the day of the broadcast. It's not pretty but it's effective - which in many respects may be how Ryan Air would like to be regarded.

As The Independent notes, neither side emerges from the disclosure with much credit, but that is against the backdrop of a Ryan Air reputation which has far less to lose than the BBC.

An interesting aside to all of this regards Panorama’s own understanding of PR. An email from a Panorama staffer suggests Ryan Air, and specifically O’Leary, is actively “anti-PR” in approach.

The BBC type doubtless drew this assumption from all the coverage Ryan Air receives branding it “cheap” and “budget” – admittedly with all that entails. But who drives that coverage? Just look at the Google Trends chart of buzz and news coverage (right) generated by Ryan Air, blue line, opposed to Virgin Atlantic, regarded universally as a 'PR'-success story, orange line.

Now tell me who is "anti-PR".

What the BBC journalist clearly means is that Ryan Air doesn’t do shiny, fluffy PR. But it is undoubtedly brilliant in PRing its core messages (‘we’re cheap and nasty but more often than not, we’ll get you there’ to paraphrase), whether you find those messages questionable or not.

What I'm looking at right now, Pt II

Nelson's Dockyard, English Harbour, Antigua.