Archive for January 30th, 2009

The Financial Times report on a blog that’s gone viral, complaining about the food on a Virgin flight from Mumbai to Heathrow, apparently written by a creative at WCRS advertising agency. They asked me for my take on the matter.

“…some bloggers … suggest it was a viral marketing campaign by Virgin, a charge the company strenuously denies. Others believe it to be a shameless bit of self-promotion by the author, Oliver Beale, who happens to be a creative at advertising agency WCRS. But both Mr Beale and the agency seem keen to distance themselves from the e-mail.

“Mark Borkowski, public relations expert, believes it would be a foolish company that risked a viral campaign like this one. He suggests the contagiousness is down to more than providing light relief from a gloomy climate: rather, people feel frustrated at their complaints being ignored by companies, especially banks.”

To read the full article, click here.

Dear old Brad Pitt. In an interview with Newsweek in the US this week, prior to the three-ring Oscar hoopla, the star says he’s sick and tired of the media focus on his relationship with Angelina Jolie. The actor hammers his point home throughout the interview, clearly believing the odd notion that his private life is totally separate from his career. “The publicity machine is out of control,” he tells the magazine. “It’s everything we didn’t sign up for.”

Brad Pitt and family

Are you listening to your PR minders, Brad, or are they telling you want you want to hear? Here’s a question for you to answer. If you wanted to send out a signal that you were a very different celeb, why did you sell the first photographs of your twins? If you facilitate a $14 million contract (which is what the photos of the twins, then less than a month old, reportedly fetched) with devils like People magazine and Hello! magazine, what do you expect?

Come on, Brad; you were paid a king’s ransom for the photo rights – this indicates that you are playing the game. OK, some of the fee was purportedly donated to African charities but the process of monetizing baby pictures is going to causes problems. If newborn infants are thrust into the spotlight to make money, you can’t expect the media to leave you alone to play happy families.

Old Hollywood legends were much better with sound bites and showbiz wisdom. Undoubtedly crafted by a publicist, David Niven’s words should echo through to Brad: “Keep the circus going inside you, keep it going, don’t take anything too seriously, it’ll all work out in the end.” More pertinently, Clark Gable once remarked to Niven that, when it came to the contract between a star and his public, the public had read the small print and the star hadn’t.

Brad should remember that being famous has its costs. Disconnection with the audience is a real threat and remarks such as the ones made in the Newsweek interview are sure to wind the media up. Newsweek are a conduit for all the love that has been directed towards Brad Pitt over the years, but all takes is one insignificant violation of the contract that Clark Gable mentioned and the adoring crowds can turn, all too quickly, into a baying mob.

The Fame Formula Paperback launch
including a showing of Nothing Sacred (U)
Wednesday, 29th April, 7.30 p.m.

Riverside Studios, Crisp Road, Hammersmith, London

Mark Borkowski celebrates the life and work of legendary Hollywood publicist Russell Birdwell at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith on April 29th to launch the paperback of his book, The Fame Formula.

A talk at 7.30 p.m. will be followed by a showing of the long-unseen Carole Lombard screwball comedy Nothing Sacred (U), which Birdwell promoted, at 7.45 p.m.

Nothing Sacred is one of the great screwball comedies. Journalist Wallace Cook (Frederick March) brings Hazel Flagg (Lombard) to New York, believing that she is dying of radium poisoning, so that the paper can use her to boost circulation. The screenplay, co-written by Ben Hecht, glitters with the gleeful cynicism that marked out his later films, The Front Page and His Girl Friday.

To buy tickets or for more information, click here.