Monday, December 21, 2009

Rage against the wee Geordie

So Simon Cowell has tasted unusual defeat, and Joe McElderry's rendering of "The Climb" has faltered at the summit of the charts. A Facebook campaign, organised by couple who were fed up with the annual X Factor Christmas number one, has installed Rage against the Machine there instead. Of course, nothing is ever as simple as it appears. Rage against the Machine are signed to Sony BMG, just like wee Geordie Joe, so guess who makes a pile either way? (A Mr S Cowell of London and Los Angeles, if you're wondering).

So is this finally the rise of people power against the big corporations? In a way, I think maybe it is. One thing is for certain, this success will tempt a lot more people to try the same sort of thing, no doubt with varying degrees of success. I wouldn't mind betting that even now a monocled music mogul is in a bunker somewhere, stroking a white Persian cat and plotting a "netroots" campaign for world domination by an "indie" singer-songwiter. (Actually it's already happened several times)

Simon Cowell, after initially calling that campaign "stupid" has now phoned the organisers to congratulate them. Smart man. What price Rage against the Machine guesting on the next series of X Factor?

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Best ways to reach customers in 2010

Here's the latest in a series of video predictions from five experts (including your humble scribe). Thanks to my good friends at Your Business Channel and Marketing Donut.

Thursday, December 03, 2009

Tuesday, December 01, 2009

Tiger takes his eye off the ball

So the Eye of the Tiger is not what it used to be, or maybe his PR team have taken a week off. The handling of the "Drivergate" affair, when the world's top golfer went badly into the rough, has been atrocious in PR terms.

Whatever the reason for Tiger Woods' early morning drive into the trees (via a hydrant), the wall of silence that he and his advisors have put up is doing him immense harm. In the absence of information, a news vacuum appears, and we know what happens to a vacuum - something comes in to fill it. So speculation, rumour and innuendo become the story, rather than Tiger coming out with his hands up.

The less he says, the longer the story will run, as more and more "experts" offer their analysis of the events in Orlando. Not only that, his image, once pristine, is in danger of becoming seriously tarnished. He's already the golfer with the most fines for on-course swearing this year, and he's doing his reputation no favours right now.

The first rule of managing a crisis is to take control, and make yourself the main source of information. However, bad things are, they will be resolved, and even forgotten, quickest if you deliver the facts, and make any apologies that are necessary. The truth will always emerge eventually, so you might as well deliver it yourself, and as early as possible. It's never a crisis that does the real damage, it's any attempt to cover it up (ask any politician who has lied about a scandal).

It's time for Tiger to call the media and tell them exactly what happened. Unless and until he does, his reputation will suffer more and more damage.