There’s very little that Mario Balotelli does, or doesn’t do, that fails to make the headlines – think fireworks in bathrooms, emergency toilet breaks at a Manchester school, flashy vinyl car wrapping, never mind his on-field antics!

Pushing that catalogue aside, it was actually a radio interview with the footballer’s agent that caught my attention and got me thinking about the whole issue of reputation management.

Mino Raiola – deemed by some to be controversial himself – claimed last night that Mario might quit the UK, following a four match ban for an alleged stamp on Spurs midfielder, Scott Parker. Raiola was inferring that Mario is being victimised because of his ‘colourful’ reputation.

As someone who’s tasked with handling reputation management for other people, I started to wonder whether we actually make a conscious decision about steering our reputation, or whether it just naturally evolves.

Personality plays a huge part, particularly when it comes to individuals such as Mr Balotelli. But, how often do businesses sit down and decide on how they’d like to be perceived and whether their current image is appropriate or not? As a PR consultancy, it’s pretty high on our agenda, but for many it’s probably not.

In Mario’s case, he seems to thrive on his ‘bad boy’ reputation, so I guess he should take the rough with the smooth. I’m not suggesting that an edgy, unpredictable and frankly volcanic reputation would work for a business, but it’s essential to have a clear identity that you’re willing to stand by and exploit to the max.

I suspect that Mino’s little outburst is just another deliberate chapter in the life and times of the Man City striker.

Happy New Year!

No, I’m not a little slow on the uptake (despite what some would have you believe) – today marks the start of Chinese New Year.

As well as being a convenient excuse to stuff my face with prawn crackers and chow mein, this particular Chinese year resonates with me on a more powerful level. 2012 is the Year of the Dragon and, having been born in a previous dragon year (1988), this can only mean one thing: success!

The same goes for all of you born in 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976 and 2000. Hurrah for us!

It’s impossible to overstate the importance of the coming year to a large swathe of the world’s population. In a period of population decline, the Chinese government is hoping that birth rates will increase dramatically in the coming year, thought to be the bringer of wealth, wisdom, courage and power. In 1988 and 2000, the number of babies born in Singapore spiked by 10 per cent as more couples wanted to have children born in what is widely believed to be the most powerful zodiac year. It seems my own parents may have been swayed by this thought… (yuk).

With such a landmark zodiac year ahead of me, I’ll be in Chinatown on Sunday, seeing in the new year with a little extra gusto and an extra helping of dim sum – just for good measure, you understand…

Happy Year of the Dragon!

This week, seven Peppermints donated a day to help out at Manchester-based charity The Mustard Tree.

Upon the Peppermints’ arrival we were given a tour of the charity’s facilities, and introduced to some inspirational people along the way, before being divided up for our day’s duties. Emma and David whizzed off to help the van drivers with the daily donation collections; Alice was sent to exercise her culinary skills in the kitchen, preparing lunch for 50 people on a budget of just £15; Haydn and Joanna offered advice to those who were actively seeking work in the ‘job club’; while Aimee and I were tasked with a creative challenge involving The Mustard Tree’s upcoming launch of a new branch in Eccles.

It’s all part of ‘Project Peppermint’ – a programme centered on Peppermint’s pledge to dedicate time to the wider community and charitable organisations. The day we spent at The Mustard Tree was also a chance to gain a rare insight into this inspirational charity and witness the amazing work the staff perform day to day.

The time we spent at The Mustard Tree was a truly humbling experience. What struck me most is how easy it is to give up a day to carry out voluntary work, but how much difference your time can make to the charity. It just goes to show that a small amount of effort can provide an enormous help, while also being lots of fun. There are so many ways to help out at The Mustard Tree – I heartily recommend anyone to get involved. I promise you won’t regret it!

Another disconcerting sign of the times. University leavers are now being charged up to £100 a day for the privilege of gleaning the work experience that they hope will be their golden ticket to employment.

The logic is that small or otherwise inaccessible companies can now be compensated for throwing open their doors to graduates desperate to secure a job.

One of the positions on offer at Etsio, the website behind the initiative, is £100 a day to carry out “administrative work at a vitamin-selling website”. This seems like a profoundly bum deal to me.  Leaving to one side the fact that “administrative work” is not necessarily a phrase that would light a potential employee’s fire, a single day’s work is neither here nor there. So the graduates will presumably have to look at forking out hundreds of pounds to amass any meaningful work experience. Clearly, something that only those with well-off parents will be able to afford.

As an employer (and a mum who will one day be gunning for her own kids to be given a break), I’m eager to help out this generation of graduates who have it so much harder than I ever did. Hence the number of graduates and even sixth formers who we welcome for a week’s taste of PR. Many of them have been outstanding and an absolute delight to have around. Some, to be frank, not so much.

Why a week?  Because anything less is largely a waste of time for both parties. Why not the months on end that many beleaguered graduates work at some companies, without being paid a penny? Because it’s immoral and exploitative.

There’s no getting away from the fact that accommodating work experience is a time-consuming and often inconvenient business.  Finding something constructive and educational for your visitors to do, briefing them, handholding them, feeding back to them, and then – frequently – redoing what they’ve completed… that’s a big ask for an already stretched account handler.

But the lovely letters of thanks we regularly receive from young people convince me that it’s worth it. So, thanks all the same, but we won’t be charging for work experience.

There are lots of sore heads at Peppermint Towers this morning – but they’re more than worth it.  For the second year running, we scooped the silver award for Outstanding Public Relations Consultancy at the CIPR PRide awards last night…so to say we’re over the moon is an understatement! We were up against some really brilliant agencies so we’re especially delighted to have our team recognised by the CIPR.

A big congratulations to every one of the finalists and winners – we have a lot to be proud of in the NW.

Bravo to our friends at The Drum who have added a record-breaking twist to their upcoming events calendar.

Later this month, they will attempt to break two Guinness World Records at their UK Event Awards and Social Buzz Awards. Appropriately, the event industry will aim to toast a new record for the world’s longest relay of ‘Cheers!’. Meanwhile, their social media counterparts are aiming for ‘tweet’ success when they attempt to set a record for the most people birdcalling in one place.

The activity will, of course, be supported on social media with hash tags and the like to create a real buzz around the events. Award Season is in full swing and as the ceremonies compete to attract entries, sponsorship and attendees, we think this idea is just the ticket!

‘Not on Facebook? It still has a fix on you’ is the headline that’s grabbed my attention this week. It was a piece about how the world’s biggest social network is building-up data about people who haven’t even signed-up yet.

There were also some ‘shocking’ facts about existing users – apparently, Facebook keeps every message and tagged picture even after we’ve deleted it from our account! So, that’s what it’s just filled its humongous data farms with in Sweden!

Your contact details can be culled from friends, you’ll be linked to anyone who has ever searched for your name and there may already be tagged holiday snaps of you, despite the fact you’ve never given permission for this.

When you look at this from a civil liberties perspective, it does seem extreme that non-users have already unwittingly created a Facebook profile of sorts. But I, for one, wasn’t massively surprised.

When you think about it – why would Facebook delete any of this precious data? Remember that Facebook doesn’t charge you to log-on and tag those pictures of your friends. Every scrap of its value, and the success it’s achieved, is down to the mountains of data and size of the communities it’s managed to build. This is what allows it to go on to sell very cleverly targeted advertising that makes the company its billions and zillions.

The reason we like Facebook is because all of our friends are on there, so there has to be some element of give and take. There’s no doubt that people do tend to be a bit laissez-faire in what they post online as they feel it’s not permanent. For me, rather than scaremongering about a surveillance state, we need to ensure that we’re educating ourselves to post information that we’re happy to hand over to Facebook and the like. 

You only have to go back a couple of generations to find examples of people who were worried about handing over information to machines and organisations that we now accept as a daily fixture. My Grandma won’t even use a cash machine or bank card, because she’s worried the robots will nick off with her pension! So, if the social networks are watching our every move, let’s just make sure we keep an eye on what they’re up to too.

With much hugging (and, yes, the odd tear) the Peppermint team recently waved off the lovely Melissa. She’d spent 15 months with us on a student placement, and has now returned to the land of uni to complete her PR degree.  Melissa is a gold-plated star who smiled every single day of her placement, even when that involved shovelling steaming manure at Peppermint Patch, our allotment.

Here are Melissa’s reflections on her stay, via an email I just received from her:

“During my time at Peppermint I totally fell in love with PR, thanks to the incredible experience I had working alongside such an amazing team of PR professionals.  I will always be proud to say I was once a Peppermint.”

The desk where Melissa sat is now languishing in disuse.  It’s currently propping up nothing more than a succession of homemade cakes (today’s offering: millionaire’s shortbread, courtesy of Lucy’s boyfriend).  With new business rolling in, that desk is itching to be occupied by a sparky account manager or exec, with the smile to match.

If you think that desk has your name on it, drop us a line.

Last night, the Peppermints were treated to an evening of incredible cooking by our very own MD, Suzy. In a bid to capture the last of the summer, we were invited to a barbecue at Jean-Philippe and Suzy’s house, where we were able to celebrate our most recent award nominations – as you can see, flat caps are obviously this season’s must-have outdoor cooking accessory!

Not only barbecued foods that were on the table: roast lamb, cous cous, tagine and roast potatoes had also been prepared – just in case the Manchester weather prevailed!

A fantastic night was had by all – we’re still full this afternoon!

On Friday, the Rugby World Cup kicks off in New Zealand. Although it’s been fairly well publicised in the media, there hasn’t been anything like the frenzy that accompanies the football equivalent – which is slightly illogical, considering that the home nations tend to be more successful at rugby than we are at football!

I know rugby will never attract the same mass appeal that soccer does and there are various theories why this is. Some say the rules are just too complicated to understand and others see it as a game for toffs and ‘rugger buggers’. Football may be more popular, but I’d argue the so-called ‘Beautiful Game’ could learn a lot from rugby in PR terms.

Yes, rugby has had its fair share of scandals and PR problems – the most notable one being ‘Bloodgate’ in 2009 – but it doesn’t attract the criticism that football does on a regular basis. It’s well-known that rugby players have to address the referee as ‘sir’, ticket prices for games are reasonable and there’s no segregation on the terraces at matches, with a genuine camaraderie – if not respect – between rival fans.

There’ll be people who say it’s the confrontation and aggression that make football what it is, but it’s also a turn-off for many fans. Couple that with increasing ticket prices and I’d guess that many supporters will just stop going to games.

Football is our national sport and, even though rugby and cricket may enjoy spikes in popularity, that’s not going to change any time soon. There’s a lot football can do to engage with its fans more effectively. People complain about clubs being ‘out of touch’ and I think they’re right.

Every business knows the importance of listening to its target market and keeping its stakeholders happy. If you don’t, they’ll go elsewhere and the business of football is no different. With the World Cup – and a fantastic PR opportunity for the sport – about to begin, could rugby now be looking to win the affections of disillusioned football fans?