And the winner is....

Following considerable effort to demonstrate the work we do for our clients on just two pages, we submitted our entry for this year’s AMEC industry awards earlier this year. The six months passed very quickly and as winter appeared to arrive, so did the awards evening. It was certainly very enjoyable and made all the more special by our silver award for our work with Bupa, to add to the collection. Beating off stiff competition in this B2B category, the judges commented that we had positioned ourselves as “true advisers, offering honest help for the client.” This is exactly what we aim to do so it was nice to have that recognized. Now we just have to find some more wall space!

Media spotlight on Jamie

Jamie Oliver is back on our screens with his latest mission ‘Jamie’s Ministry of Food’ which demonstrates his use of public relations tactics. A clever stunt was to set it in Rotherham where plain-speaking Julie Critchlow was last filmed supplying children with junk food whilst Jamie was fighting for healthy school dinners. However, when faced with a football stadium full this idea backfires and only a few are tempted to try his steak sandwich, and more importantly his ‘pass it on’ experiment. You have to admire his tenacity when he returns to the stadium and inspires the men who came forward, with his visual display of the philosophy. His programme has been slated in the media for “stereotyping the northern working classes as intellectually challenged junk-munchers” and John Gilding, leader of the Conservative group of Rotherham council defended his town amid the concerns of stereotyping. Yet it's Julie, who seems intent on Jamie failing, that led him to the town in the first place. However, one thing he has certainly achieved is media coverage and the start of a debate around this important life skill, which has to be a good thing.

Battling into the blogosphere

In the midst of the current economic crisis, both the Labour and Tory parties are turning their crisis management techniques to their own reputations first. It was reported in PR Week that they are applying tactics to the blogosphere – that risky ground where anyone can rise up as an influential voice, damaging the reputation of an organization. However, if harnessed well it can be another powerful tool in the armory of public relations strategies. The Conservative party is using a local blogger charm offensive at its annual conference this week for example, having identified the key influencers.

This increasing reliance on social media provides a challenge for those involved in media content analysis and we have a range of solutions which we can discuss with our clients. The blogosphere is a vast arena to get to grips with, making evaluation all the more important for assessing the impact your public relations programs are having. This challenge facing public relations firms was succinctly put by Ashely Friedlein at e-consultancy.com:

“Traditional PR was mostly about focusing lots of effort on a smaller number of key influencers, for example journalists at a national or trade press, whereas online PR is now more about the intelligent and efficient distribution of content, management of conversations, monitoring of hundreds if not thousands of media outlets, and measurement. A good online PR would be like a spider at the centre of a web sensing and reacting to the slightest reverberations across its network and moving fast to capitalise on opportunities as they arose.”

Tennis to have an image coach

I was interested to read in PR Week that Max Clifford has been hired to ‘help shed tennis’ middle-class image.’ Having been the lucky ballot winner of front row seats at the spectacular final recently I can safely say that he will have a tough job with tickets such as mine at £90 a head and the price of a salad at around £15. I’m not complaining; it was worth every penny (perhaps not the salad) but being a ticket holder at this prestigious event for the first time I was struck by the difference in experience between the determined member of the famous queue and the honored ticket holder. For anyone who has stood in that queue, and I have done my fair share of queuing in the past, you can wait for hours on end, generally in the rain (if you’re me) and then you can queue again once in the grounds in the blind hope that you will get a return for one of the main courts. It takes about as much determination and willpower as it does to win Wimbledon. The class divide is then further emphasized by the Debentures who pay a high price for guaranteed tickets and their own exclusive restaurants.

The suggestion that tennis could be used to coax children off the streets and get them fit is a great idea and also good public relations spin as it fits the agenda of tackling obesity and crime in young people; topics which regularly feature in our media industry analysis. Whilst I’m all in support of making tennis free of charge at local authority tennis courts there is a long way to go to tackle the image of exclusivity which is propelled by events such as Wimbledon. Champagne and strawberries anyone?

Terminal 5

I had the misfortune to fly out of T5 in the midst of the chaos of the opening week. Although painfully delayed and some shocking incompetence I resisted to turn the knife via the blog - I thought that others were doing a pretty good job in creating the latest case-study in how not to handle crisis communication. It was therefore with some trepidation that I arrived for my flight to Geneva this week.

The whole experience was nigh on perfect, passing seamlessly through security to the gate, with time to buy a couple of items from smiling shop assistants. The return leg proved equally impressive, taxiing on to a stand in good fashion to sailing through passport control without a hint of a queue. As a media evaluator it got me thinking, well you would expect nothing less. Where were the good news stories about the turnaround of the terminal? - have the good ladies and gentlemen of BA and BAA been told to keep their own counsel for fear of reminding the potential customer of the previous 'challenges'. Or is it the media are simply not interested in a good news story and would rather sharpen their knives on another victim (another slice of M&S anyone?).

Media analysis on Murray

Andy Murray’s image has suffered some blows in the past particularly for his jokes deriding England and his emphasis on his Scottish heritage. In the build-up to the tournament two years ago he joked he wanted "anyone but England" to win the World Cup which didn’t go down too well south of the border and this jibe at Henman was misrepresented in the papers. A little media training would have been helpful here and indeed Andy took on a PR agency earlier this year.

Public relations in sports are notoriously precarious as reputation is based on a concoction of personality and results. It was Murray’s seemingly dour personality which has been criticized in the past as many commented that he doesn’t smile enough. There was a glimmer of a grin as he turned the match around last night beating Richard Gasquet and as he started to make his long comeback suddenly the crowd had something to cheer about. It seems the fickle public are backing him now he’s winning because let’s face it if he makes it to the semis we’ll see him as British and, as Murray commented: “once I got ahead they got behind me more than they ever have before.”

This was in stark contrast to reports earlier in the tournament that there was “hardly a painted face, union jack, Saltire or ill-advised red, white and blue ensemble in sight.” They may go as far as to put it down to his strong Scottish determination if he continues to do well, which would prove that a message can be turned on its head. It just goes to show how reactions can change overnight based on performance, which is something we often find when measuring PR impact.

As for Murray’s image it’s been said that he’s been advised to be more like McEnroe than Henman yet one spectator commented: “I preferred Henman’s personality. He belonged to a time when Tennis was a little more refined.” Henman fitted in as he was more the English gent, though he was at times criticized for being just that and labeled “boring.” The firey Scot is slowly rallying the crowd as Boris Becker remarked: “the whole country is now expecting greatness from him.” I’m backing him, but then I am half-Scottish!

A few words say it all

To mark Gordon Brown’s first year in office, The Guardian published the article ‘Brownspeak: the year in words’ which takes a look at his statements in response to key events throughout the last, shall we say eventful, year. As experts in media industry analysis we are naturally adept at evaluating key messages and have identified a telling change in tone during this ‘year in words’. What starts as a confident, determined, moralistic tone becomes progressively more apologetic and uncertain as times goes on with the latest comment regarding the elections starting on the vague note “perhaps”.

Perhaps it’s time for Gordon to employ some tactics of crisis public relations as his reputation is in trouble and therefore strong, honest statements are called for. As journalist Jackie Ashley comments: “Inside No 10, they are planning for a new autumn offensive. Brown's core theme will be pared back to "fairness" and he will try to admit his mistakes more openly and, in effect, ask for a second chance.” Let’s see what he has to say as his second year in office unfolds.

In May 2007 on announcing his taking over of the premiership
My father was a minister of the church. For me, my parents were - and their inspiration still is - my moral compass.'

In Downing Street as prime minister, June 27
'On this day I remember words that have stayed with me since my childhood and which matter a great deal to me today, my school motto: "I will try my utmost."

First speech to Labour conference as PM, September 24
'This is our vision: Britain leading the global economy by our skills and creativity...drawing on the talents of all to create British jobs for British workers.'

On the election that never was, October 9
'I considered an election but my first instinct is always to keep on with the job of governing and to set out my vision for the future.'

On the nationalisation of Northern Rock, February 18
'The right move at the right time for the right reasons'

On the U-turn over scrapping the 10p tax band, April 23
'I don't think I've been pushed about at all. What I've done is listen and made the right long-term decision.

On disaster in the local elections, May 4
Perhaps I've spent too little time thinking about how we can get our arguments across to the public.

To the suggestion he might step down, May 4
I am resolute and determined, and I've got convictions and ideas, and I'm not going to be put off by a few days' headlines.