The fundamental re-alignment of British politics, the death of the two-party system and the reform of both the House of Lords and even the monarchy could be an accidental by-product of British voters not understanding what the Conservative Party actually stands for.
Latest Edelman Trust and polling data, carried out by Populus for discussion at this week’s Tory Party Conference, confirmed a general swirl of support for Cameron (principally, for not being Brown) and a general sense of mystery about prevailing Conservative values. While Brand Dave exudes trust, Brand Brown speaks to disillusionment and disappointment. If Labour is ‘tired’ in the eyes of the voters, then the Tories are ‘confused’ – both in how they come across and in what the general public thinks they represent.
What this suggests is that what many think is the most enduring legacy of Tony Blair – the emergence of a Presidential-style of politics – may well in fact be the new reality. Popular opinion (or is that just the Daily Mail?) derides the Presidential construct for being, well, so very un-British. But perhaps we should take another look. The scale of disenfranchisement is such that some sort of new force is swelling and imminent. Better surely, for reform from within than anarchy from without, in the shape of the continued rise of ‘Others’… BNP, UKIP and ‘Not Bovvered’ included. [click to continue…]
The lobby area of Edelman’s office in Victoria was taken over this morning by naked climate change protestors. We have been targeted because of our work with E.ON. I have spent much of the morning trying to engage in dialogue with the protestors – to no avail so far. Unsurprisingly, the naked demonstration (along with others in London today) is drawing attention from the media and below is a copy of a statement I made earlier to Sky News which I wanted to share to explain our position.
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Sandel and Steare may sound like two characters out of a ‘70s cop series. Instead, here are two philosophers both demanding a fundamental re-appraisal of the old hierarchies and the rules by which we let ourselves be governed.
I have posted before on Roger Steare’s ‘Ethicability‘ and the ascendancy from a childish ethos of Rule Compliance, through to more adult behaviours of Social and Principled Conscience. I used to consider myself a utilitarian (with a fundamental liberal belief in the greater good) but now I am not so sure. Increasingly, it seems that utilitarianism is offering those in authority a convenient smokescreen behind which poor decisions can be made. The tougher choices are those which demand real considerations of moral principle – and therefore courage.
In the 2009 Reith Lectures, Professor Michael Sandel observes prospects for the Common Good and calls for a New Citizenship. Much of what he says chimes with the central tenet of Citizen Renaissance – namely a prevailing confusion between consumer and civic values and the urgent need for a reversal that places ‘civic’ ahead of ‘consumer’. Sandel calls for a richer and more morally courageous public discourse to question what a good life should really look like. In so doing, he is challenging some of the rule-based dogma that has exacerbated many of the crises we currently face – economic, political and, of course, environmental. [click to continue…]
Huge congratulations to the JCPR Wonderbra team for a proud win at the Sabre awards in Stockholm last night!
The ‘Science of Sexy’ is a truly breakthrough and landmark campaign – mixing the best of Content, Digital and great Publicity. Have a look at this short film about the campaign and what it achieved.
The award comes on the back of a great performance in the PR Week Consumer League Tables last week. Edelman was also named European Consumer Agency of the Year at last night’s Sabres, making it a stunning hat-trick of good news for the team.
My heartfelt thanks and congratulations to everyone involved in these successes.
I am delighted to report that Edelman’s Public Affairs team has been shortlisted in two categories for this year’s Public Affairs News Awards.
Anthony Marlowe has been shortlisted in the Newcomer of the Year Category, while Michael Burrell has been shortlisted in the Outstanding Contribution Category – soon the term ‘legend’ will be official!!
A big well done to both Anthony and Michael. If you would like to show your support – you can vote for them here!
Who would have guess that Wossy would be more influential than Downing Street? Or that Jason Bradbury would rank higher than Barrack Obama?
Well, both are true, according to the Celebrity Twitter Index released this week by the consumer and brand gurus at JCPR.
Jonny Bentwood — the guru who developed the methodology — has all the details while David Brain has the context and perspective.
But what really struck me about the index is the powerful way that it illustrates just how far Twitter has come in just the past few months. At the same time, it shows how the UK in general and London in particular have really embraced Twitter, even more than the U.S.
JCPR will be updating the index in a regular basis over the coming months to identify emerging influencers and keep an eye on the pulse of Twitter. And if I know my colleagues, I suspect we might see further Twitter index analysis in the coming weeks that looks more specifically at other subjects. I wonder how Downing Street stacks up against other political Twitterers? Maybe we’ll get the chance to find out.
It was almost exactly a year ago that we announced that Spook Media would become part of the Edelman family.
Across the media industry, acquisitions are always fraught with anxiety, and successful join-ups are, at best, infrequent.
But since the very first moment the Spookies arrived, every minute has been a pleasure. They’ve brought an element of fun and a culture creativity which has infected the whole of the London business.
At the same time, the arrival of Spook cemented digital’s place at the core of our London business and really brought digital to life for everyone at Edelman. Their creative and technical expertise paired with our existing digital team’s understanding of social media and digital communications strategy has yielded a combined force that is truly greater than the sum of its parts.
The results speak for themselves: A successful, integrated campaign for Wonderbra that took off just a few weeks after Spook’s arrival; a new online campaign for Krispy Kreme that includes both a hot new website and an effort to engage and build relationships with Kripsy’s countless fans online; and a great programme for the Manchester City football club that provides fans a forum for submitting and discussing their first game day experience, with selected stories being posted around the concourse of the stadium and driving local PR.
Robert has written that our business has been remarkably successful, despite these challenging times. It’s not overstating it to suggest that the arrival of Spook has played a tremendous role in that success.
Those Trekkies out there will have immediately recognised the opening words from the original Star Trek series. I have to come clean and admit that I am a fan – as a family we invested in Star Trek DVD collections at Christmas and have successfully converted my son. And with the new film out next month the dinner conversation is invariably Star Trek related, and phrases from the series now fall into our everyday vocabulary!
There is though a serious point to opening this piece by discussing Star Trek. It’s a TV phenomenon like no other and has captured imaginations since the late 1960’s when it was first launched. The ‘philosophy’ behind the Star Trek missions was to explore unchartered territory by “going boldly where no man has gone before”. That’s something I like to think that we at Edelman do as a business. It is particularly pertinent in the area of professional medical communications where my specialism lies – because this is a highly regulated area and, quite rightly, we have to consider the nature, impact and influence of our communications. Sometimes though, new ways of communicating need to be explored – communications technologies do not stand still and we have to work out how best to utilise these within the regulatory framework that is in place.
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On a day that began with our Budget Breakfast, discussing a gloomy outlook with our illustrious panel (see Alex’s earlier post), at least PR Week brought a little bit of good cheer.
The PR Week league tables, published today, see Edelman jump two places to rank fifth overall in the Top 150 Agencies in the UK (and retaining our position as the UK’s largest Independent Agency). While I am fairly sanguine about these sorts of Tables and Results – it nonetheless catalogues a remarkable year of growth and achievement … and everyone in this firm should feel justifiably proud. We have all made it happen, together.
Today, we welcomed over 120 guests to our office in Victoria to discuss the ups (there weren’t many) and downs (too many to list) of yesterday’s Budget. Robert Phillips chaired a panel discussion, which included:
- Andrew Cooper, Founder & Strategic Director of Populus, who revealed the immediate response from yesterday’s post-Budget poll
- John Cridland CBE, Deputy Director General, CBI
- John McFall MP, Chair of the Treasury Select Committee
- Philip Hammond MP, Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury
- Peter Riddell, Political Commentator and Assistant Editor of The Times
You can watch interviews with the panel and download the Populus findings here.