At Quest we’re big fans of philanthropy docu-soap Secret Millionaire and last night’s episode was even more of a must-watch with local lad done good (and friend of the company) Carl Hopkins. His week-long stay in rundown Easington, County Durham resulted in around £35,000 in gifts to three worthy causes mainly focused on providing activities for the town’s young people.
As a consistent award winning PR company, with seven awards up our sleeve we are delighted to have been shortlisted in two categories in this year’s Yorkshire and Lincolnshire CIPR awards. One is for our PR star Nick Pickles who is shortlisted for the Young Communicator of the Year category. Up against two others - both more senior - all three will now be interviewed by two experienced PRs before the winner is revealed on the night.The other is for our work in incorporating social media into our PR work which has resulted in delivering an industry-leading blog (according to Google listings) which journalists use for their ideas, news stories and feature articles - some even copying directly from it in writing their pieces.
It’s not just us though that have achieved awards success recently. In the last two months alone submissions we have written for clients include two shortlisted entries in the upcoming IoD Yorkshire awards, two more for the Yorkshire Post’s awards and semi-final position in the recent Barclays Green Leaders.
So, well done to all the shortlisted companies and keep your fingers crossed for us!
As team GB continues its trailblazing Olympic performance, the best in a century, notching up 16 gold medals with the news that Chris Hoy won the men’s sprint final - its great to see Sky and fellow media imbuing us with a ‘feel good’ factor.
Equally as inspiring as the commitment of Olympians such as Victoria Pendleton and Paul Goodison whose dreams, years of endeavour and stringent discipline are being realised, is Gill Hicks, who lost both her legs in the 7 July 2005 London bombings and whose personal journey since then is as remarkable as the lady herself.
One reason we love Google Analytics is that you can quickly identify who is seeking out what services on your website and blog. My recent Max Mosley post attracted visitors intrigued to learn more about orgies (one even examining several pages - now that’s total dedication to a cause!)
The recent crisis communications post continues to draw visitors’ attention through search engines. One in particular asked the question ‘Can you say ‘no comment’ in a crisis?’ - which prompted me to compile this post.
As our tips on crisis communications highlighted saying ‘no comment’ in a crisis is the worst possible solution. Although the reader didn’t stay on the blog long, they hopefully picked up on our tips.
This person would undoubtedly benefit from media training facilitated by seasoned practitioners and former journalists which enables interviewees to handle the toughest of interviews.
Another intriguing search term was ‘good public relations for drugs’ - I’ll leave you to ruminate on how you would deliver that PR campaign!
So, Max Mosley has been awarded £60,000 in compensatory damages from the NOTW – plus they get to pay his estimated £450,000 in legal fees.
But was it worth it and what does this mean for the future of investigative journalism? Assessing it from a purely PR standpoint I question his motive. He has stated that the public shaming his family went through had been “totally devastating” and “humiliating” yet he chose to prolong it. The story itself was hugely salacious – and the associated video gave it added public interest and sauciness – the court case has simply retained the story in the public arena.
The furore - and shambles - surrounding the fiasco around the late publication of this year’s school SATs exams starkly highlights how to not to handle a crisis. So, if the boss of ETS, the company in charge of the marking, is reading then here are Quest PR’s top tips for keeping your reputation as intact as possible during a crisis:
