How the mighty battle with the forces of news

February 8, 2010 – 6:03 pm by Emma

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It seems the PR penny has finally dropped in the Jones household. While watching Something for the Weekend, my fiancé (a life-long English teacher) turned to me and said: ‘I bet the PR company’s not happy with that’. He was referring to the rather lackadaisical performance by a young actor, who seemed nonplussed about where he was, where he’d been, and why he was on the show.

While we’re not in the game of managing people, per se, we are in the business of building brands and the people who sit behind them. Each has similar challenges. Stick a young twentysomething on live TV and you have to hope and pray that he says all the right things. Send out a highly manicured release, set up an interview and arrange a picture and again, it’s in the lap of the gods as to what a journalist chooses to do with it.

As PRs our fate often lies in the hands of others. We can prep, research and write the greatest of releases, but if the news agenda conspires against us, or the person chooses not to perform, then even the mighty is likely to fail. Think of all those hardworking executives who had their fantastic stories lined up last week for a rigorous sell-in, only to be scuppered by a certain Mr Terry whose love life even managed to shift Haiti and MPs’ expenses from the front pages.

We’re constantly battling with forces beyond our control, but I guess what doesn’t kill us makes us more persistent and creative (oh and stronger).


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Why are so many wanna-be PRs called Kirsty?

February 4, 2010 – 3:41 pm by Suzy

Sorting through stacks of CVs from graduates this morning, I experienced a Groundhog Day moment. It was the spooky familiarity of the names at the top of the CVs that did it. You see, there was an astonishingly high preponderance of Kirstys there. Not to mention a disproportionate number of Sophies, Amys and Emmas.  It’s got so confusing that the team is having to distinguish those hopeful interviewees as ‘the Kirsty with the short blond bob’ or ‘the Amy with the longer blond bob’.

What, I asked myself, does this mean?  Are the Kirstys of this world pre-destined from birth to be sparky, communicative individuals who suit PR as a career?  Do all Amys have a good eye for the English language?

PR is often accused of being an overwhelmingly white, middle-class, female-biased industry – and judging by the names in my in-box, this holds true and shows no sign of changing in the coming years.

Is anyone else out there finding that they’re being overrun with the ubiquitous Kirsty?


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Twitter: A New Political Revolution

January 29, 2010 – 3:56 pm by Ellie

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The nation watched with baited breath today, as Tony Blair took the stand in his own defence of the Iraq invasion. Whilst the merits of his support for the war are sure to be relentlessly questioned and harshly criticised over the next few days, the facts revealed in the Chilcot inquiry are likely to be already widely known. The Iraq war was the most closely covered episode of Tony Blair’s Prime Ministerial career, which got us Peppermints thinking about the impact of the internet on political reporting.

The age of the Internet has changed forever the nature of governance. Even on the eve of the Iraq invasion, back in 2003, the public was able to follow every decision and development, in as close to real-time as had ever been possible before. Today, the intensity of coverage is even stronger, with Number 10 posting policy updates, as they happen, across its Twitter platform.

For those employed to PR the actions of governments and politicians, this has been invaluable. It allows them to reach out to sections of society commonly less inclined to involve themselves in the political process. It allows minute-by-minute trumpeting of good policies and defence of bad ones. And most importantly, it prompts and facilitates discussion. People no longer have to have read today’s newspaper to be up-to-date on the latest policy decisions; just pop onto your Twitter page and find out how it affects you!

Discussion, transparency, information and inclusion are buzzwords on every party’s manifesto; they’re all invaluable in the promotion of democracy and good government. No wonder, then, that social media now plays such a key part in that promotion.


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A Hollywood gloss on Haiti appeal

January 26, 2010 – 5:15 pm by Jessica

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Each Peppermint begins the day by digesting the world’s news along with their tea and cornflakes. We leaf through each newspaper sharing ideas and keeping up-to-date with what’s going on. Since January 13, the tragic earthquake in Haiti has been at the epicentre of the world’s media agenda and yesterday morning was no different.

“I bet there were some tongue-tied women when Daniel Craig answered the ’phone,” said a fellow Peppermint, as she pointed to a picture showing enough A-list celebs to put the Oscar guest list to shame. It was coverage of the charity telethon in aid of the Haiti appeal this weekend.

At first I felt my nose wrinkle at the thought of toothy celebs dominating so many column inches when the subject matter is so serious.  However, on reflection, we see PR campaigns every day that use celebrity endorsement to raise clients’ profiles, so why shouldn’t the same strategy be applied to such a worthy cause?

The objective is to raise a heap of cash for the appeal. The strategy is to use a bus load of Hollywood’s finest. The result is reams of easy-on the-eye coverage. And that has garnered the attention of all those readers who flick without pausing over the stomach-churning images of death and destruction we’ve seen relentlessly over the past week or so. All in all – a job well done.  So congratulations celebrities, media and to all who have donated so far!


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Men in mascara? Not if it’s from my make-up bag!

January 25, 2010 – 4:29 pm by Jenny

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So it’s clear we’re living in a metrosexual era, but is the alpha male about to disappear all together? Dannii Minogue’s boyfriend has come in for some stick today for his curiously pink and shimmery pout, and a recent survey reveailed that one in ten British men have confessed to using their better half’s make-up.

As a lover of all things that bronze, shimmer and gloss, and equally as a girl with plenty of gay mates, it’s not something that particularly surprises me. In fact, knowing the confidence boost I get from a bit of pampering, sharing these pleasures with the boys is something I’m all for. Having said that, in my mind there’s a big difference between a dab of concealer and a full face of slap – I still like my men to be men!

It’s been hard not to notice how much the men’s cosmetic industry has grown recently. If you flick through the men’s glossies or have a browse on online health and beauty pages, you’ll see the big beauty power houses really giving their men’s ranges an advertising push. Jean Paul Gaultier has produced Monsieur, a make-up range for men and, on the high street, Superdrug is stocking ‘guyliner’ and ‘manscara’. Who knows – perhaps there’ll be a deal for make-up wearing Alex Reid when he leaves the Big Brother house?!

It seems that men have finally cottoned on to the benefits of a little pampering and are no longer ashamed to book themselves in for a session instead of sneakily using our face masks in the privacy of the bathroom. And why not? I’m all for cleaner smelling and fresher looking men, just as long as their new beauty regime comes out of their own pocket and not out of my make-up bag!


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