Putting The PR Into F1 March 20, 2008
Posted by paulprdixon in : PRandom, Sport PR , add a commentAs some of you know, I have been a big F1 fan since I was young lad. So when my article, “Putting The PR Into F1″, was published this week in the features section of leading F1 news portal, PlanetF1, you can imagine I was pretty happy.
To read the story, click below. Cheers.
Thaksin: A Football Crazy PR Pro March 14, 2008
Posted by paulprdixon in : PR in the UK, PRandom , add a comment* This post was originally written for ‘Off The Record’ - AC Capital Strategic Public Relations’ blog
Thaksin Shinawatra - the deposed Thai Prime Minister - is not someone I particularly like. Ask any fellow Manchester United aficionado if they agree and your answer will be a definitive yes; following the telecoms tycoon’s ousting in a 2006 military coup he decided to throw his Baht at Manchester United’s local rival, Manchester City. And then he recruited former England manager Sven Goran-Eriksson, who has done a fantastic job, as team manager.
The Thai and the Swede share a turn-around in fortunes. Where one has recently returned to Thailand (kissing the Bangkok tarmac on his arrival) with the blessing of the newly elected Prime Minister from the pro-Thaksin People’s Power Party, the other (also deposed from office) has undergone a transformation himself, at least on the football field.
But this is where the similarities end. ‘Slippery Sven’ made himself tabloid-fodder (and still is) during his tumultuous England reign for scoring off-the-field more than on it. Thaksin, on the other hand, has been described as a ‘PR genius’. I don’t like what Thaksin has achieved at Manchester City. But with my PR hat on, I agree that this guy is in the Champions League spot when it comes to public relations
His record, home and away, is outstanding. Effectively harnessing the media to build his power base amongst the villages and factories, Thaksin’s successful populist campaign propelled him to victory in the 2002 Thai elections. Known to have a hat-trick of quotable quotes up his sleeve, in 2007 the ousted Thai PM famously told CNN: “I don’t believe that this can happen again in the 21st century”. In the British media almost all his photos show a goal-post-wide smiling Thaksin proudly wearing the famous sky-blue Manchester City scarf.
And now back in Thailand, he is using Manchester City as an effective tool to prop up his own image in a country which shows live Premier League games in its cinemas. On his return home a few weeks ago, not only did Thaksin kiss the tarmac in front of the assembled press, flanking him were two Manchester City players here ‘to coach Thai children’. This is PR PHD stuff.
But Thaksin does have his PR critics and has been accused of failing PR 101: to communicate effectively with all your key audiences whilst being consistent to your brand i.e. don’t lie and make promises you can’t keep. But the guy isn’t a John Rendon, Thaksin is a politician and politicians don’t always care about passing their PR mid-terms.
Now back in Thailand and ostensibly claiming that he is done with politics, Thaksin faces corruption charges; but it’s a formality that he will be cleared. Critics fear that his return is a calculated step towards regaining power. From a PR perspective, this certainly seems the case; he knows more than most that perception management is a key facet in his political rehabilitation.
As for the somewhat rehabilitated ‘Slippery Sven’, he will be hoping some more of Thaksin’s billions of Baht will be coming Manchester City’s way. I however will be hoping that Thaksin takes his eye off the football for a while, and be spared the laughable ‘Blues can dominate the world’ headlines that have become ubiquitous in local Manchester media over the last year. Come on You Reds.
Beijing Olympics: Clooney sets Omega Alarm Bells Ringing March 12, 2008
Posted by paulprdixon in : Crisis Communications, Media Focus, PR in the PRC , 1 comment so farGeorge Clooney, the Hollywood superstar turned celebrity diplomat for the day, is making the headlines for pressuring Omega – a Beijing Olympics sponsor – to speak out about China’s willingness to exchange crates of weapons for barrels of Sudanese oil regardless of the Darfur genocide.
All cheers, but for how long?
Clooney, who is on Omega’s celebrity endorsement list, set the watchmaker’s alarm bells ringing by stating to the BBC: “I have talked with Omega (about China) for over a year and will continue to talk to Omega. I have and will go to the places I and China do business and ask for help.”
Omega, part of Switzerland’s Swatch Group, demonstrated its timekeeping and communications credentials with a fast and effective response; clearly Omega (whose logo appears on Beijing’s Olympic countdown clock in Tiananmen Square) is doing its homework on the PR time-bomb ticking away as the ‘Genocide Olympics’ draws closer.
Its response, from Swatch Group chief executive Nick Hayek, delivered all the elements necessary for a successful media hose-down. As this blog has said before, employing the CAP principle (Concern, Action, and Perspective) is what gets you out of trouble with the media – not a provocative hand in the camera accompanied by a ‘no comment’ that seems to work so well in Hollywood movies. (more…)
Embrace social media for effective crisis management March 3, 2008
Posted by paulprdixon in : Crisis Communications , add a comment* This post was originally written for ‘Off The Record’ - AC Capital Strategic Public Relations’ blog
For effective crisis management, companies and organizations susceptible to crises involving human injury and loss of life should have already set-up a ‘dark site’ - a previously hidden page displaying key contact information for relatives and friends of the victims and to provide key data and information to the media. A dark site should be set up so that it can be made instantly available when a crisis strikes.
Last month, I was saddened to learn that a Venezuelan passenger plane, operated by local carrier Santa Barbara Airlines, slammed into a steep mountainside in the Andes - killing all 46 people on board.
With my PR hat on, I visited the Santa Barbara Airlines’ website curious to see if the Venezuelan airline was running a sophisticated crisis communications response – at least in terms of using the Internet as a tool in crisis management.
As the page loaded, I didn’t see a holding statement or contact number; instead my eyes saw an image of a snow-capped mountain with the slogan, “Tenerife is even closer too”, wrapped around its peaks. Geography lesson: Venezuela is as mountainous as Holland is flat. And at Merida airport, where the plane took off from before crashing, pilots are specially trained how to navigate through the local
Andes terrain. (more…)