This week saw the launch of a tasteless (boom, boom) advertising campaign for Burger King featuring Piers Morgan, the man we all love to hate (although, admittedly a bit less that Simon Cowell) and, well, very little else.
The former editor of the Daily Mirror and the News of the World appears lying naked in front of an open fire in the billboard adverts, with nothing more than a scrap of fabric to cover his, ahem, modesty.
At Media Mentor, we always reiterate the importance of key messages to our clients. I wonder if Burger King is confused about key messages? Read the rest of this entry »
Something happened on Radio 4′s Today programme which could mark a change in political interviews from now on. The emperor’s clothes suddenly disappeared. When John Humphries in exasperation asked the Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liam Byrne for a straight answer to a straight question, the answer he got was the usual political fudge. But this time, everybody – Humphries, Byrne, and the audience, saw it for what it was – a refusal to tell the electorate what its Government was doing. It would have been a normal, if unsatisfactory exchange a year ago. But in June 2009 it has become totally unacceptable. Later that day on Radio 4, Media Mentor’s Paul Murricane was interviewed on the PM programme. Presenter Eddie Mair wanted to know if companies like Media Mentor could train politicians to be honest. The answer Paul gave was crystal clear: the old ways of avoiding the question are dead and gone. Being honest is essential – but it may take some politicians quite a while to get used to it.
So the Electorate Has Spoke. And in response, those Labour politicians still standing have rounded vigorously on the extremist parties who snatched their votes. The new MEPs are “appalling” “dreadful” and “beyond the pale” (is that a pun?? – ed). Well, they’re right. Media Mentor has no difficulty in saying publicly that we would never accept the BNP or any other racist organisation as a client (not that they have asked…) But the mainstream parties, for which we believe the party of Government still qualifies, just, have got it wrong. They shouldn’t be attacking the miserable extremists. They should be admitting openly and honestly that they let this happen because of their failings. Here’s how you spell it Gordon: mea culpa. Meanwhile the leader of the BNP is given the prime slot on Radio 4′s Today programme: nearly seven minutes, and all before Labour Deputy Leader Harriet Harman was allowed to speak. Nick Griffin is not a total berk. A total Burke once said: “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing”.
The swine are on holiday. Widespread opinion is that swine flu may grip the world with a vengeance this autumn, giving pharma companies a handy period to grow enough vaccine. The NHS will be on full alert. But here’s a statistic you don’t see too often: Birmingham University researchers have quizzed more than 1,000 health workers and found as many as 85% are likely to be absent if a flu pandemic hits. The NHS is planning on an absence rate of 10% – 35%. They’d failed to take into account the fact that NHS staff will stay at home to care for family members, even if they themselves don’t get the flu. Effective handling of an outbreak will depend on generating trust and confidence amongst the public, so that the NHS’s plans work well, and crisis is averted. These days people respond well to honesty: I liked the quote from the report’s author Dr Sarah Damery: “The problem is that there are no easy answers.” Refreshing! She’ll go far.
He’s done it again! Jeremy Paxman’s most famous interview came when he asked Michael Howard the same question seventeen times. Fast forward to Tuesday 2nd June 2009 and here he is again, asking Williiam Hague the same question more than a dozen times. Watch it by pasting this into your browser: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/8080379.stm
The Grand Inquisitor once admitted that his approach to all interviews with politicians was “why is this lying b*****d lying to me?” A healthy approach, we agree. But the killer tactic of repeating, and repeating, and repeating has, in our view, the opposite effect to what is intended. It makes the interviewee look good. Particularly in the case of Michael Howard – watch it by pasting this into your browser: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/7740130.stm . In each case, as the politician finds a way to respond without accepting Paxman’s point of view, they show themselves to be mentally agile. We have a sneaking suspicion that Paxman knows this.
Oh so nearly right…a well designed marketing document thumps on Media Mentor’s desk this morning. Just as well – it comes from a design company. But read on…”I met many clients whose impressions of the graphic design business has been based on previous experiences of the creative process being shrouded in jargon, solutions post rationalised… (my italics). Erm, isn’t that jargon?
“This blood fest has got to stop,” said since-suspended UK Justice Minister Shahid Malik after details of his parliamentary expenses were revealed in The Daily Telegraph.
And a blood fest it most certainly is. The British media is in full frenzy.
If anyone doubted the life-or-death importance of getting your message to the public right, look at the hapless plight of the right honourable members who sit in Westminster, and anywhere else the taxpayer will pay them to hang their hats. On Friday, the day that Justice Minister Shahid Malik was suspended pending an enquiry into his expenses, BBC Radio Scotland asked Media Mentor’s Paul Murricane to come into the Newsdrive studio for a five minute interview to explain to listeners what MPs should say to win back public confidence. Read the rest of this entry »
Even the world’s best known billionaire hippy can get it wrong. Richard Branson was persuaded to take part in a Virgin Trains TV advert to publicise the new high-speed link between Glasgow and London. What better than a Hitchcock-style cameo blink-and-you’ll-miss-it teaser appearance as a jolly workman on Glasgow Central Station platform? What could possibly go wrong? Everything, apparently. The photos of Branson covered in tatoos, his teeth blacked out, looking like The Thing From The Black Lagoon is not the image most Glaswegians have of themselves, apparently. Outrage from the Scottish press of which the politest remarks were “Scruff At The Top” and “Patronising”. It certainly earned the rail boss massive free publicity – but at what price? We won’t know until he gets home to London and back to his dear wife. Who hails from…Glasgow.
LOS ANGELES, April 28 (Reuters) – Swine flu chatter spread swiftly through blogs and social network sites like Twitter and Facebook on Tuesday while U.S. cable news networks’ saturation coverage of the outbreak gave way to a major political story.
“As the number of swine flu cases continues to climb, so does public interest in the (flu) outbreak. Americans are looking for more information on the outbreak and specifically for symptoms to look out for,” said Heather Hopkins, analyst for Hitwise, which tracks Internet usage. Read the rest of this entry »
