In less than 24 hours there have been seemingly dozens of Labour ministers and supporters telling us that The Sun's campaign to back the Tories in the next election doesn't matter. To use a cliche 'he doth protest too much', if you really don't think something matters, then it's fine to say so, but then you move on to communicate your message and try to get past the negative coverage you received.
The problem is that Labour are the ones who keep reminding us that the newspaper with the biggest circulation in the country has just backed the opposition. They should probably know better than to give the Tories free publicity. Anyway you can watch someone tearing up a newspaper here on the bbc site!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8283549.stm
Wednesday 30 September 2009
Wednesday 23 September 2009
Airbus' Smooth Operator
Someone choosing his words very carefully this week is Airbus' Chief Commercial Officer, John Leahy.
Panorama reportedly sent a journalist along to a press conference that the aircraft manufacturer were hosting this week "with the sole purpose, it seemed, of extracting disobliging remarks about the Irish motormouth and his airline" according to the Times' City Diary, referring, of course, to Ryanair's Michael O’Leary.
The Panorama journo was clearly out to provoke, questioning Leahy incessantly about reported run-ins with O’Leary. But to his credit, when asked whether it true that Ryanair had agreed, and then walked away from an order, Leahy carefully replied, “yes, but that’s business”. Then, when it was suggested that Airbus would not be accepting any more orders from Ryanair, Leahy refused to be drawn on the subject, nipping things in the bud by telling the reporting not to put words into his mouth.
Although he had to concede that Michael O’Leary "plays hardball”, I think it's fair to say that Leahy did well under such provocative questioning. I wonder if Michael O'Leary would have faired so well had he been in that line of questioning...
Panorama reportedly sent a journalist along to a press conference that the aircraft manufacturer were hosting this week "with the sole purpose, it seemed, of extracting disobliging remarks about the Irish motormouth and his airline" according to the Times' City Diary, referring, of course, to Ryanair's Michael O’Leary.
The Panorama journo was clearly out to provoke, questioning Leahy incessantly about reported run-ins with O’Leary. But to his credit, when asked whether it true that Ryanair had agreed, and then walked away from an order, Leahy carefully replied, “yes, but that’s business”. Then, when it was suggested that Airbus would not be accepting any more orders from Ryanair, Leahy refused to be drawn on the subject, nipping things in the bud by telling the reporting not to put words into his mouth.
Although he had to concede that Michael O’Leary "plays hardball”, I think it's fair to say that Leahy did well under such provocative questioning. I wonder if Michael O'Leary would have faired so well had he been in that line of questioning...
Monday 21 September 2009
The Dark Side of PR
There was a brilliant story in the news a few days ago regarding a ‘Jedi’ in Bangor, Wales, who was asked by staff in his local Tesco store to either remove his hood or leave the store. He claimed that the hood was part of his religion and as such he was being persecuted by being asked to take it off. As a result he is seeking legal advice and planning to boycott that store.
As if this wasn’t enough of a story (although we acknowledge he says he claims staff were rude and of course discrimination should never be laughed at), the response by Tesco’s spokesperson was sheer genius: “He hasn’t been banned. Jedis are very welcome to shop in our stores although we would ask them to remove their hoods. Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda and Luke Skywalker all appeared hoodless without ever going over to the Dark Side and we are only aware of the Emperor as one who never removed his hood. If Jedi walk around our stores with their hoods on, they’ll miss lots of special offers.”
We suspect that this member of the press office might be a (not so) secret Stars War fan as well!
As if this wasn’t enough of a story (although we acknowledge he says he claims staff were rude and of course discrimination should never be laughed at), the response by Tesco’s spokesperson was sheer genius: “He hasn’t been banned. Jedis are very welcome to shop in our stores although we would ask them to remove their hoods. Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda and Luke Skywalker all appeared hoodless without ever going over to the Dark Side and we are only aware of the Emperor as one who never removed his hood. If Jedi walk around our stores with their hoods on, they’ll miss lots of special offers.”
We suspect that this member of the press office might be a (not so) secret Stars War fan as well!
Tuesday 15 September 2009
Here come the girls? I don't think so.
I'm disappointed. 'Here come the girls'? Please.
I've just read an article on the This Is Money website that suggests that the real reason women earn significantly less than men is because they are too afraid to ask for more.
I'd previously put this down to inherent sexism in the workplace (sorry) but a survey of 5,000 men and women by the Office of National Statistics (published in women's mag Grazia)suggests that whilst men are continually asking for payrises, women are 'too scared' to even approach the subject with their boss.
'The handful of women who had dared to ask for more admitted it was 'the most stressful thing they had ever done'. But men do not suffer from the same inhibitions' which would explain why 'a typical man who works full-time enjoys a salary of £31,485, which is more than £8,500 higher than a woman's salary of £22,964'.
I'm disappointed because, sadly I think it's true.
We can't blame men for using their initiative to ask for a payrise. But we can blame ourselves if we can't summon up the confidence to do the same.
See for yourself:
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/work/small-business/article.html?in_article_id=406287&in_page_id=10
I've just read an article on the This Is Money website that suggests that the real reason women earn significantly less than men is because they are too afraid to ask for more.
I'd previously put this down to inherent sexism in the workplace (sorry) but a survey of 5,000 men and women by the Office of National Statistics (published in women's mag Grazia)suggests that whilst men are continually asking for payrises, women are 'too scared' to even approach the subject with their boss.
'The handful of women who had dared to ask for more admitted it was 'the most stressful thing they had ever done'. But men do not suffer from the same inhibitions' which would explain why 'a typical man who works full-time enjoys a salary of £31,485, which is more than £8,500 higher than a woman's salary of £22,964'.
I'm disappointed because, sadly I think it's true.
We can't blame men for using their initiative to ask for a payrise. But we can blame ourselves if we can't summon up the confidence to do the same.
See for yourself:
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/work/small-business/article.html?in_article_id=406287&in_page_id=10
Wednesday 9 September 2009
Errrr, can you see the camera?
The BBC have a clip of Cameron and Hague seemingly discussing whether the recent Afghan elections were rigged.
http://tinyurl.com/ls2q9h
Admittedly there is some confusion about whether this is genuine or not i.e. was this a way of ‘leaking’ a story or do they really mean what they are saying but either way it doesn’t look like the best thing to be doing.
Our advice; always assume the cameras are on and always assume the footage might be made public!
http://tinyurl.com/ls2q9h
Admittedly there is some confusion about whether this is genuine or not i.e. was this a way of ‘leaking’ a story or do they really mean what they are saying but either way it doesn’t look like the best thing to be doing.
Our advice; always assume the cameras are on and always assume the footage might be made public!
Tuesday 8 September 2009
Oooops!
Kingfisher had a bit of trouble yesterday when they accidentally sent out their results to the City, almost two weeks early!
Lucky for them they were pretty good numbers so their investors have reacted well. Mind you, we bet someone is regretting the ‘Send All’ button on the email system. Read the whole story here on Times Online:
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing/article6825645.ece
Lucky for them they were pretty good numbers so their investors have reacted well. Mind you, we bet someone is regretting the ‘Send All’ button on the email system. Read the whole story here on Times Online:
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing/article6825645.ece
Friday 4 September 2009
Duelling Gentleman Crowe
Great story on the beeb today about Mr. Crowe:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8237512.stm
It seems that rather than punching the journo who upset him, this time he challenged her to a bike ride! The plucky journo did at least go through with it – and lost, falling off her bike at one point.
Still, just goes to show that even if you get a hard time in the press you can turn it around to your favour.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8237512.stm
It seems that rather than punching the journo who upset him, this time he challenged her to a bike ride! The plucky journo did at least go through with it – and lost, falling off her bike at one point.
Still, just goes to show that even if you get a hard time in the press you can turn it around to your favour.
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