Category: Publicity

New PR plan for Ashley Cole – Is he worth it?

23-Aug-10 17:17

Saturday brought a tale of two contrasts. The new series of X-Factor saw with it the return of "The Nation's Sweetheart" Cheryl Cole to rapturous applause from the live audience. While over at the DW Stadium her estranged husband Ashley Cole drew boos and jeers from the Wigan crowd as his status as the nation's favourite pantomime villain continues to hold firm.

Cole's image is clearly in need of a PR boost after his marriage woes and fallout from the World Cup failure and it appears his club has recognised this as well. Chelsea Chairman Bruce Buck has publicly stated that the club aims to restore Cole's battered image by lowering his profile and making sure his name occupies the back pages of newspapers rather than the front.

From a PR perspective this would seem like a sound plan. Cole is a gifted footballer who rarely let's anybody down - on the pitch. But quite how Chelsea will manage to lower the profile of a player who can sometimes be his own worst enemy is another story.

Perhaps Cole can take PR advice from Cheryl. Only a few short years ago she was best known as the gobby one from Girl's Aloud that picked fights with Lilly Allen and toilet attendants. Her image transformation since then is nothing short of astounding.

If Cheryl can turn around her image to such a degree then maybe Ashley Cole can do the same. I will watch Chelsea's and Cole's PR plan with interest to see if the pantomime villain can turn himself into a Disney prince.

But I won't hold my breath...

Mark

PR for PR

13-Aug-10 13:05

Public relations as a profession has a mixed bag of perceptions among the public and professionals.

Many simply don't know what PR involves, and following a brief chat with colleagues here at the Bristol office, relatives and friends often fall into the bracket of the completely flummoxed.

Others hold commonly perceived stereotypes of champagne-swilling Patsy Stone characters, swanning from ‘business' lunch to ‘business' lunch, with no discernable purpose other than networking and promoting their own reputation.

Conversely, the hard line image of ruthless political spin doctors such as the infamous Alistair Campbell populate the broadsheets and evening news, with celebrity PR or reputation management experts such as Max Clifford falling somewhere in the middle.

However, I'm not sure that everyday PR folk fall into any of the categories above, so when PR Week recently featured an opinion piece highlighting the fact that PR, a reputation management profession, actually has a reputation problem, it got me thinking.

Neil Martinson rightly highlights the fact that poor PR is often pinpointed as the cause of major reputation damage; in his words, "how often have you seen the expressions ‘it's just PR' as a derogatory term? Although it's just as likely that you will read about how an unfolding disaster was taking place because, ‘Theydidn't get their PR right.'"

So, isn't it time PR as a profession started shouting a little louder about the great work we are doing? Like journalism, the profession is responsible for raising awareness of many charitable causes, promoting vital public awareness messages and relaying valid and interesting news to the public.

Perhaps it's about time we took some of our own advice.

Becky