Creativity is King

If you want your PR to stand out, it's got to be creative: unique, mindblowing, original and exciting. Anything else will just get lost in the crowd. See PR Week's article on creative techniques - and watch out for the 6 hats technique in the Consumer Campaigns tutorial.

Andrew Marr blasts the bloggers

Is 'citizen journalism...the rantings of very drunk people late at night' as Andrew Marr claims, and are bloggers merely 'inadequate, pimpled and single'? Or do they have opinions and information of value to citizens, and therefore play an important role as part of the media? These are important questions when PR professionals decide whether to include bloggers in media relations, and if so, who? See PR Week's take on this in the Editor's column this week, as Danny Rogers asks whether citizen journalists need a thicker skin...

Murdoch monopoly?

Mark Thompson, Director General of the BBC, warns of the potential "abuse of power" if Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation is allowed to buy the remaining 61% of BSkyB, achieving 100% ownership and a larger share in British broadcast media than the BBC. Clearly ascribing to a theory of liberal pluralism - which we will cover in the traditional media lecture - Thompson says this could lead to a "significant loss of plurality in our media market" and asks Vince Cable, the Business Minister, to block the deal. However such reference to power and dominance tends more towards theories of the political economy of the media and contextual analysis. See the media lecture for more explanation...

Fashion furore PR stunts

Mel B is the latest in a long line of celebs to use fashion to promote a product - sometimes it's themselves but in this case it's the London screening of her new reality YV show 'It's a Scary World'. The catsuit idea 'backfired' when it became see-through under the glare of flash bulbs - but Mel B's phenomenally fit body carried it off - resulting in a publicity coup for an event that otherwise may have gone unreported as 'just another launch event'. She follows in a long line of celebs using fashion to stand out from the crowd and generate publicity - as we see Matt Damon's pregnant wife Luciana Barroso sport a leopard print dress, or Halle Berry's famous Oscar's gown, or Liz Hurley's famous safety pin dress - or indeed, David Beckham's sarong

Shoot the Bear

Go to You Tube - look for Shoot the Bear. Do it. Great use of social media. And I know what will be the first word you type in...

At last - Alzheimer's lobbying pays off

I mentioned in my first lecture that I was heavily involved with a public and private lobbying campaign across the BBC and national press, but focussing on the Daily Mail. I was working on behalf of one pharmaceutical company, but in conjunction with other pharma companies, and the Alzheimer's Society, to change the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) decision to prohibit prescribing of Alzheimer's drugs until symptoms were advanced beyond the basic stages. Doctors, carers, patients and the clinical evidence argued that earlier prescribing would delay symptoms longer and allow carers and patients to come to term with the disease and make arrangements for their futures. Such lobbying has lasted 5 years.

Today, NICE finally revised their decision on this...

Pigeon PR

10 racing pigeons, each laden with a USB stick carrying a 5 minute video, flew the 120km from a remote Yorksire farm to Skegness before even a quarter of the same file had been transmitted via broadband over the distance. The PR stunt aimed raise awareness of lamentably slow broadband speeds in certain areas of the UK, supporting public lobbying to BT and the UK Government to live up to their promises of fast broadband across the UK. The event was reported across the BBC TV and radio news, and local press. A good example of creative thinking to point out an issue in the public eye.