My previous post about the upcoming UK Bank Holiday and its PR opportunities will set the theme for this week’s LEWIS Imagebank pic.
The Met Office predicts “mixed” weather for this weekend – so this is a sight I’ll be unlikely to see. (And the fact that I live in Oval doesn’t help!)
This image was taken from LEWIS Imagebank, our online library of over 3,000 royalty-free photographs. Have a browse, or email Hannah with photographic requests.
You knew it was coming...
The AA's PR machine has merged two staples of current media manipulation: crunch washing and seasonality.
So shock horror! "Britain set for quiet Bank Holiday weekend thanks to credit crunch," screams the headline in today's Mirror. According to research from the AA, naturally.
Following my earlier post about the Mail’s picture desk, it seems even Auntie isn’t above a bit of the one-size-fits-all treatment.
A brilliant post from Gawker shows the BBC using the above photo for 14 different stories:
“Since 2000, every time BBC news writes a story on China, their online editors slap up this stock photo of a Chinese police officer looking at a computer. Probably censoring something! Or cracking down on freedom! Or, like, updating his MySpace.”
Couldn’t have put it better myself – although arguably, I’m even lazier than the Beeb…
Every paper loves a regional, North-South-divide story. They usually provide a great opportunity to reinforce stereotypes and mock up pictures involving flat caps and whippets – or City boys and flash cars.
This report from the Policy Exchange, then, was a real Godsend. The Tory-backed think-tank claims that many of the UK's Northern towns – notably Sunderland, Blackpool, Liverpool and my hometown Bradford – are in irredeemable decline and ought to be abandoned:
"Many of Britain's towns and cities have failed – and been failed by policy makers for too long. It is better to tell uncomfortable truths than to continue to claim that if we carry on as we are then things will turn out well. Just as we can't buck the market, so we can't buck economic geography either.”
I simply love the way the Daily Mail’s picture desk has illustrated this: juxtaposing Oxford’s dreaming spires in the sunshine with a desolate, terraced street in Liverpool.
By that amazing logic, compare and contrast these pictures:
A London tower block (South) and a wintry Yorkshire Dales (North). Which would you rather abandon?
I know I used the Olympics as the theme for last week's pic, but this link is rather more tenuous.
The photograph – of red lanterns against blue sky – was taken at Chinese New Year in London's Chinatown. In light of human rights issues and pollution, it's a relief to be posting something more lighthearted about China.
This picture is available from LEWIS Imagebank, our online library of over 3,000 photographs. As ever, ask Hannah for bespoke concept shots, portraits, or anything else.
There's an interesting piece in the business pages of The Telegraph today urging businesses to get more involved with the web. It cites research from BT which claims only 50 per cent of businesses currently have a website.
(Do all businesses need a website...? I'm trying to think of any who wouldn't; what about a corner shop?).
It goes on to urge readers to get involved with blogging, quoting "leading blogger" Oli Barrett describing company blogs as "one of the most effective means of online advertising".
It's a great point so I'll forgive The Telegraph's enterprise editor for suggesting anybody would need to "download software" from sites such as blogger. Oh dear. You of course no more need to download software from blogger than you need to download holidays from lastminute.com. It seems the whole 'web-based' thing is still lost on some, but even if the article is more a case of the blind leading the blind it's a useful call to arms to Telegraph-reading business owners.
Crunch-washing enthusiasts have something new to grouse about...
Today's Telegraph reports: "Thousands of grouse hunting enthusiasts take to the moors...tomorrow for the Glorious Twelfth. But the weakness of the US dollar has pushed up the price of a day's grouse shooting... With banks in this country feeling the squeeze... corporate groups are also thinking twice about the expense. Others are said to be reining in spending, opting for cost-saving measures such as dogs to flush out birds rather than teams of beaters."
Oh the horror. Can you imagine such poverty?
It's a classic piece of crunch-washing puff, made all the more powerful by the article's final sentence:
Alasdair Laing of Lochindorb Estate, said: "Looking ahead to next year, we believe that the market, simply because of supply and demand, will remain strong."
Oh. So a case of move along please, nothing to see here.
The consistently on-the-ball Lost in Showbiz ‘PR Howlers’ site has shared this email forward from Purple PR.
Good to see that celebrity agencies – in this case for Snow Patrol – aren’t exempt from the odd client clanger.
Just wanted to say a big hello from the latest office in the LEWIS network – LEWIS Bristol. For those of you unfamiliar with it, Bristol is in the South West of England and is one of the country’s largest and most exciting cities as it is home to a host of technology expertise. From silicon design and manufacturing to computer animation via green technologies – Bristol is leading the country, and we are now part of the fun!
I’ll be heading up the office under the leadership of Katy Lyons, our GM for the UK’s regional offices. Joining me in Bristol tomorrow is Ellen Spenceley, a new starter on the LEDA scheme – you’ll hear from her shortly. We’ve got a very funky office in Bristol’s city centre, complete with roof terrace and ‘chill-out room’.
Finally, in keeping with the UK’s celebrity-obsessed culture, here’s a list of world-famous stars you may not know hail from Bristol:
So watch this space for more news from LEWIS Bristol, and you’re all welcome to come down for a visit any time. Just let me know so I can pop a pasty in the oven...
Lisa Gillingham, LEWIS Bristol
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