I can spot disguised marketing from a mile off. Call it a superpower – though admittedly less flashy than flying or reading minds. Seventeen years running my PR firm (plus a good decade before that in agency life and journalism) has put me in front of thousands of “thought leadership” pieces that were, in reality, …
When Your “Thought Leadership” Sounds More Sales Pitch Than Sage Advice Read More »
SPOILER: It Should Have Been “Slop” Cambridge Dictionary has announced its Word of the Year for 2025: parasocial. My reaction? Boring. Celebrity-obsessed. Get a grip. While Cambridge’s clever clogs were analysing our “one-sided emotional relationships with public figures,” anyone running a business in 2025 has been dealing with something far more urgent: Slop. Yes, slop …
Why Cambridge Dictionary Chose The Wrong Word Of The Year Read More »
Stephen Crean got stabbed seven times stopping a knife attacker on a train.Saved multiple lives. Then couldn’t make his Ryanair flight to Austria because… he was in hospital recovering from being stabbed seven times. Asked for a refund.Ryanair said no.Policy. Nottingham Forest FC heard what happened.Gave him £10,000 for treatment.Free season ticket for next year.Invite …
I’ve cleaned up more glossy-backlash messes than I care to admit – and one thing always holds true: campaigns that show the humans, the process, and the stakes ride out storms. Coca-Cola just gave us a timely case study. Their 2025 “Holidays Are Coming” ad went full GenAI. Red trucks, polar bears, festive animals – …
F*ck being humble – lessons in shameless self promotion from a master There, I’ve said it. F*ck Being Humble. Or rather, Stefanie Sword-Williams had the sheer guts and personality to say it live on stage in front of 1500 business owners, including your humble scribe. I’d never heard of Stef, which seems odd, given what …
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Why Joe Wicks just gave the media a masterclass in standing for something (and why most ‘experts’ won’t dare copy him) Joe Wicks has just served up a Killer Bar — literally. Not another “health snack” destined for the impulse-buy rack next to the dumbbells. No, this one’s deliberately packed with the sort of …
Winners, Runners-Up, and various tall stories If you’ve spotted a flurry of awards stories popping up across the UK media this week, there’s a decent chance I’ve been lurking somewhere in the background. The Entrepreneurs Circle’s National Entrepreneur Awards have just wrapped up and I’ve spent the past few days helping the winners leverage their well-earned …
From motors to murders and the mundane: why local journalism matters When people ask me why I bang on about the need for local journalism, I don’t start with a lecture about democracy. I start with a Ford, then a murder. Yep, my very first “story” as a wannabe journalist? A brand-new Ford on sale …
From motors to murders and the mundane: why local journalism matters Read More »
Here’s how smart founders get seen without selling out: If you were paying attention in class last week, you might recall that some chancer (polite term) is attempting to steal my Instagram. To copy me. So I have fought back. By cloning myself. Read on to find out why! Most founders (and lazy good for …
You Don’t Actually Need To Be Famous To Get Press Read More »
From Press to Profit: How PR Turned an F1 Exhaust into Instant ROI When people think of PR, they often picture a nice article clipping for the scrapbook. Lovely for the ego, but does it actually move the needle? Here’s proof that it does. One of our clients, British artist Ben Rousseau, transforms real Formula One exhausts …
From Press to Profit: How PR Turned an F1 Exhaust into Instant ROI Read More »