Entries Tagged as ‘Opinion’

3 March, 2010

Virals – Always a good thing?

Viral is regarded as something of a swear word at PN Towers, and most people who have mentioned it in front of the digi team have been forced to join in the mantra of ‘viral is not a strategy, it’s a tactic’. We also have this handy sign pinned to the wall to remind people [...]

1 March, 2010

Why PR isn’t to blame for football’s woes

Last week Portsmouth and England footballer David James’s regular column in the Guardian blamed what he calls an ‘army of PR people’ operating in the industry for the recent football-related media storm. He claimed that their role is to ‘dupe’ the public into holding ‘unrealistic expectations’ about their role models.
James claims he is ‘too honest [...]

12 February, 2010

Payment in Kind for PR: the facts

By Simon Spencer, Commercial & Legal Counsel
PR Week’s article concerning “payment in kind” as a remuneration mechanism to reward successful bidders for the Olympic Games PR work is a space worth watching.
Whilst non-money trading or barter is hardly something new and many billions are bartered across the globe annually, it is not often that it [...]

10 February, 2010

Toyota comment: update

By Neil Bayley, crisis and issues specialist
In last week’s PR Week mag I was quoted with my thoughts on the Toyota crisis. My comment was submitted on Monday, when the crisis was just beginning to hit the media.
Things have clearly moved on at pace since. It’s escalated to front page national coverage. The negative comments [...]

4 February, 2010

Why Toyota’s response wasn’t good enough

By Neil Bayley, crisis and issues specialist
If ever there’s a time for crisis communications for Toyota, it’s now. The company’s hard-fought reputation for quality has taken a battering in the last two weeks, their share price has dropped 25% and yesterday the government official responsible for car safety in the US suggested Toyota owners leave [...]

3 February, 2010

The papers aren’t dead

You could almost hear the bells of doom clanging, well just about over the sharpening of knives as Innovative Media PR declared that, once and for all, traditional media was nearly dead (at least in America).
Following the results of a survey conducted by Adweek and Harris Media, the digital specialists were stated that, as only [...]

2 February, 2010

Don’t blame PR for the decline of journalism

By Chris Nee, social media planner
It seems to be an online inevitability that public relations professionals are exposed to open, often cruel criticism from journalists who feel aggrieved at their treatment by sections of the PR industry. The open public arenas of social media allow arguments to flare up, battle lines to be drawn and [...]

28 January, 2010

iPad: Why hype always leads to a fall

We got as excited as everyone else about the Apple launch (see our post about the iPad hype). Despite our years of consumer technology industry knowledge we really thought the new gadget, when it was revealed, would be hailed as the saviour of everything from the newspaper industry to Pop Tarts. But, of course, we [...]

24 January, 2010

Apple iTablet / iSlate: anatomy of a PR coup

The Apple  iTablet / iSlate – what is it and what does it want? No one knows, everyone’s just very excited. Here at PNIQ we were more fascinated by the reaction to the announcement, which built to a head throughout the week. It’s amazing how little you have to do if you’re Apple and, of [...]

19 January, 2010

Time for the press to stop having butter fingers

By Keith Taylor, director
In the Daily Mail this week leading heart surgeon Shyam Kolvekar claimed that only banning butter could save young adults from heart attacks and clogged arteries.
Educating people about the risks of eating saturated fat is great, but the issue I have with this is the mixed messages. Consumers receive a constant barrage [...]