Stuff that PR consultants just do
25th April 2023
How to damage a business with one social media post
One errant post on social media can potentially bring any business crashing to the ground in a matter of hours – as one growing restaurant chain in the Midlands has found out to its cost.
In November 2017, an Italian restaurant hit the headlines for fanfaring a £200,000 investment that paved the way for the opening […]
The National Lottery’s comms team should be sacked
Almost exactly a year ago, I praised the National Lottery’s PR team for an outstanding performance at the Rio Olympic Games, which, in my opinion, outshone the achievements of the likes of Sir Mo Farah, Sir Jason Kenny and the Brownlee brothers.
But, 12 months on, if the same team who were responsible for such an […]
Women in bikinis – a guaranteed PR winner
Death and taxes top the list of life’s certainties. Coming a close third it seems is the fact that any marketing or PR campaign featuring women in underwear, bikinis or very little else will be a sure-fire hit.
We can debate the rights and wrongs of this until the cows come home, but never has the […]
Tis the season… to be worried about your firm’s reputation
We’ve all seen those “the dos and don’ts of the office Christmas party” articles that appear in the media each year – and I must confess I’ve written a few of them in my time, as it’s a great PR tactic.
You know the ones:
– don’t photocopy your arse
– don’t slap your bald boss’s head
– don’t […]
Saying sorry is a great way to defuse a PR gaffe
I’m so impressed with a lady called Sally for turning a right royal cock-up into a PR triumph – simply by calling me to say sorry.
I know it’s a small thing but I was well hacked off when my contact details appeared in the CC line of a round robin email by Sally’s company wishing […]
Fans furious at O’Hara howler tweets
For those of you who don’t know much about me personally, I am a very proud and fanatical supporter of Wolverhampton Wanderers football club.
But I have to say that I was more embarrassed than proud when I recently heard that one of my beloved team’s players had made a monkey out of the club by […]
Stingy shops count cost of Christmas fund refusal
When three high-street chains made national headlines for refusing to contribute towards a festive appeal to help pay for the Christmas lights in a small Dorset town, it was clear to anyone in public relations that not only was their Christmas spirit lacking but also their PR sensibilities.
According to reports, the local branches of WHSmith, […]
TripAdvisor cheat trips up on fake hotel reviews
Glowing reviews on TripAdvisor about your hotel, B&B or restaurant can do wonders for business.
But, as we’ve so often seen time and time again, if those reviews have been manufactured with the self-serving purpose of misleading potential customers then it could spell PR disaster for virtually any establishment that gets caught red-handed.
We always advise clients […]
Tweet delete no PR saviour
For those of you who think that Twitter’s message deletion facility is the perfect get-out-of-jail card against misguided Tweets that you post in haste then think again.
Once you’ve clicked on the ‘Send’ button and released your message into the public domain it could already be too late to remove it before someone retweets your post […]
Use Twitter hashtags at your PR peril
If you’ve ever considered making use of the Twitter hashtag as part of a social media campaign then you’d wise to consider the dangers of hashtag hijacking before putting your company reputation at the mercy of a cynical online community.
Sometimes it can almost seem that for every successful hashtag marketing endeavour there is another one […]
How the Beeb got it so wrong
It was the BBC’s perfect PR opportunity to showcase its credentials in a year in which it would play a pivotal role in covering several major broadcasting events.
But after a weekend of endless puerile commentary, inane stunts and dumbed-down celebrity-driven drivel, the corporation’s reputation is once again on the line following an avalanche of complaints […]
Priceless cello in photoshoot calamity cover-up
It was a photoshoot straight out of a PR comic strip and the stuff of public relations nightmares.
So when we first learned about the calamitous fate of a PR photo session, in which a priceless Stradivarius cello fell off a display table and broke in two, we did admittedly have one or two chuckles amongst […]
Water companies fumble with feeble excuses
It has been dubbed the wettest drought in history. People are being forced to put sandbags outside their homes. At the same time, the public is being urged to conserve water because of severe shortages of supply.
Somehow it seems that the water companies have completely lost their PR marbles, as they persist in fobbing us […]
Why Wolverhampton Wanderers’ relegation is new chapter for PR disasters
I bet Gerald Ratner is breathing a huge sigh of relief today.
Because a new chapter is being hastily added to the encyclopaedia of PR disasters and it will be dedicated to Wolverhampton Wanderers’ owner Steve Morgan.
For years, Ratner’s self-induced, overnight obliteration of his high street jewellery store empire has been held up by most PR […]
VisitBritain poster proofo a proper PR embarrassment
At Octopus PR, before we send out any of our public relations material, we always get it checked out by our own regular proofreader first.
And it’s not hard to see why we do when you look at the PR humiliation that the UK’s official tourist board has suffered as a result of an embarrassing proofo […]