Media campaign for Government tech programme

We’re pleased to be delivering a media relations and marketing campaign for a prestigious Government initiative to help UK tech companies expand in Asia Pacific.

The UK-APAC Tech Growth Programme is being run by international business development specialists Intralink on behalf of the Government and provides free and subsidised support to help ambitious companies expand in 11 countries across the region.

We’ve been appointed to market this initiative to British innovators in high-growth fields including ...


Is the FT wrong about PR?

Today's FT article – titled When CEOs should ditch the "PR polish" – has upset a lot of people in the marketing and PR business.

It’s easy to react to the headline – coupled with parts of the article recognising Ecotricity founder Dale Vince for “bucking the trend of media-managed executives” – and assume it’s a piece bashing the whole discipline of public relations. But it’s not. On closer reading, it's ...


Fire chief shows how not to handle TV interview

I just saw the BBC's interview with Dorset & Wiltshire fire chief Ben Ansell about allegations of a toxic culture in the service. It's clear Ansell had prepared - but it's an instructive example of preparation misapplied!

The BBC's Dan Johnson asked Ansell about an email from a former employee blowing the whistle on ...


Pagoda

National recognition for Asia expansion client

We're so pleased to have kicked off the New year by getting our client Intralink into a Sustainable Business supplement within The Times.

Intralink helps western businesses to expand in East Asia. And, while the pandemic has meant they've had to stop travelling to the region, instead of their business taking a hit, they found they've secured more deals for their clients in Asia than ever. It's been a surprising boost to ...


Crisis communications for care home charity

We’ve been providing crisis communications support for The Fremantle Trust, a charity providing support for older people and adults with learning disabilities.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) had carried out an inspection of one of its care homes, which highlighted significant failings. With nine other care homes in operation plus a number of additional services supporting more than a thousand people, it was vital for the Trust to defend its reputation. Publication of the CQC report was looming and ...


How to (mis)manage a personal crisis

North Yorkshire Police Commissioner Philip Allott finally quit today in the wake of his inflammatory comments about the tragic case of Sarah Everard, abducted and murdered by Met Police officer Wayne Couzens. Three big problems stand out for me in the way Allott has (mis)managed his reputation throughout his career crisis of the last two weeks. The first - and most obvious - is his ludicrous ....


6-page media feature for sharing economy startup

We’re thrilled to have helped land a glowing, six-page media feature for sharing economy startup God's Own Guitars - the only business to hire out instruments owned and made famous by the world's legendary guitarists. God's Own Guitars offers a stunning collection of iconic instruments, amps and effects - including guitars previously owned by ...


“I thought I’d just ignore it”

“I thought I'd just ignore it,” he told me. There are many cases where I’m sure this is absolutely the best policy. Junk mail. A minor insect bite. An insult from someone you don’t care about. But an approach from an investigative BBC journalist isn’t one of them. I was a bit surprised the other day when I first got the call the other day to ...


Walking off camera – huge blunder for Persimmon boss

What a blunder for Persimmon CEO, Jeff Fairburn, to walk off camera this morning when politely asked by the BBC about his £75M bonus. Clearly his bonus wasn't what he intended to be there to talk about. And, having been awarded some while back, it isn't news. But - as the biggest ever paid in ....


Terrible TV interview from Defence Secretary

I've never thought of Richard Madeley as a hard-hitting interviewer before. But he wasn't going to let Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson off the hook without answering a straight question this week about his comments that Russia should "shut up and go away" following ...


Latest media interview lesson: know when the camera is on!

Sainsbury's CEO, Mike Coupe, learnt one of the most basic media interview lessons the hard way this week: make sure you know when the camera's on! In case you missed it, while waiting for his ITV interview about ...


More media interview lessons

Another ‘instructive’ media interview!

Last week gave us another astonishing media interview - with more lessons of what not to do. Irish channel RTE interviewed John O’Keeffe of the Garda Representative Association about an investigation which found the Irish police have been falsifying breath test data. O’Keeffe looked calm enough, but ...


Media interview disaster

Lord Bell on Newsnight – lessons from another car crash interview

See the cringe-worthy interview with Tim Bell on Newsnight yesterday? Bell was interviewed by Kirsty Wark about the fall from grace of the Bell Pottinger PR firm he founded because of the shameful campaign it ran to stoke racial hatred in South Africa. It seems incredible that a figure with 50 years in the PR industry ...


Excruciating media interview lesson from Diane Abbott

LBC Radio's interview with Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott yesterday brilliantly underlines the importance of one of the fundamental rules of effective media interviews: make sure you know your core facts.


How to handle live TV interviews – a hilarious reminder!

Everyone knows the first rule for conducting a successful media interview is: Be Prepared.


Crisis for Concentrix: the mistake of not showing up

Another week, another lesson in how not to manage a deepening crisis of failures and mismanagement ...


Southern Health: How not to handle a crisis

The beleaguered Southern Health NHS trust has been lurching from tragedy to farce – with the deepening of its on-going crisis appearing largely of its own making. And its account of its actions this week have only caused further damage to its reputation.


Election cock-ups – and lessons for media interviews

Looking at the recent EU and UK council elections, we could analyse who had the clearest message and most effective delivery – but it’s much more fun to look at the blunders.