Nerd Alert! Bob Dylan is the man

Confession time. I'm a Bob Dylan nut - just got the new album (and DVD) Modern Times from Amazon - I also got Blonde on Blonde as I don't have it on CD. Yes I don't do iPod!
God! What a fantastic man! What a fantastic album visit him now at Bob Dylan. The Rolling Stones haven't had a decent album since the late 70s but Bob still keeps cranking them out at 65 years of age.
This is His Bobness' first studio album in almost five years and has been hailed as a "masterwork", "enchanting" and "full of prophecy" by impressed US critics.
"This music is relaxed; it has nothing to prove," Rolling Stone magazine said of the 10 songs on Modern Times.
Within "about 30 seconds", listeners would discover they were "in the presence of greatness", said USA Today, which praised Dylan's wit and imagery.
"Nobody can stop him, and the world is better for it," Blender magazine added. I agree
Modern Times is the third part of a "simultaneously startling and backward-looking series", referring to Dylan's earlier albums Time Out of Mind, from 1997, and Love and Theft (buy it now), released five years ago.
Rolling Stone agreed, describing the release as Dylan's "third straight masterwork".
The publication awarded five stars to the album, saying it was "evenly divided between blues ready-mades, old-timey two-steps and stately marches full of prophecy".
I can't point at any one track and say it is the best - they are all great. Dylan just glances at current events and that's all it takes for him to conjure up the dread of the age following 9/11 and all the other shit that's going on in the world.
Bob keeps the faith - as someone else once said Dylan provides us with "the most direct love lyrics, vindictive vendettas, meditations on mortality, pointed political commentary, dry wit, apocalyptic imagery and head-scratching flights of fancy".
Sometimes these are all in the same song.
I went to see Bob live last year, with my 14-year-old son, as we walked out of Manchester Arena the first thing he said to me was: "Dad, I've got to put more Dylan on my MP3 player."
Yes my son - you do.
Apologies for being so gushing but I've been this way since I was 14.

How many PROs does it take to change a lightbulb?

How many PROs does it take to run a press office – 3,200 according to today’s Daily Telegraph.
Spending on Government spin has trebled since Labour came to power. A total of 1,815 press officers and other public relations staff works in Whitehall departments. John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, has three press officers, despite no longer having a department.
A further 1,444 are employed by more than 200 quangos and agencies that are paid for out of the public purse, bringing the total number of press officers to 3,259.
The Central Office of Information's PR, advertising and marketing budget has soared from £111 million in 1997 to £322 million last year. Much of the money has been spent on advertising flagship policies, including tax credits and extra help for pensioners.
One of the most profound sources of disillusionment with New Labour is the belief that its entire approach to governing has been ruled by the priorities of public relations. A great story for the Torygraph then!
However, I note in the Telegraph’s leader that this is also another opportunity to have a bash at the Public Relations Community. It says: “This insidious culture of press manipulation has infiltrated virtually every institution in the public sector: museums, cultural institutions and community agencies have all learnt the formula. It will take a dedicated effort by any future government to avoid playing the same game.”
This smacks of the dog biting the hand that feeds it.

Real Wensleydale Cheese Blog Launched

At GREEN’s we’ve just launched our first corporate blog on behalf of our client Wensleydale Creamery – makers of the only real Wensleydale in the world.
Some of you might think this is an unusual thing for a traditional cheese maker to be doing. We don't think so. Wensleydale was one of the first commercial cheese producers to develop a website which you can visit at Wensleydale Creamery – this will shortly be upgraded too. We have launched Wenselydale Blog partly to support our client’s submission for Protected Designation of Origin, or PDO as it's known, for Real Yorkshire Wensleydale Cheese and partly as a means of getting closer to key customers and others.
Hopefully, you will have already seen all the recent press and TV coverage about its plans for protected status. PDO aims to promote and protect food products in the EU and is used to describe foodstuffs which are produced, processed and prepared in a given geographical area using recognised know-how. This means that any manufacturers outside of Wensleydale cannot produce a cheese and call it Real Yorkshire Wensleydale.
However, the blog is also an opportunity for many of our colleagues in the Creamery to tell you about their working lives, the delicious cheeses they make and any other news.With our submission for PDO we are starting out on a long journey - come along for the ride and visit Wenselydale Blog some time soon.
By the way the blog was built by our sister company Lime Brand Design and a jolly good piece of work it is too.
The content management system was created by excellent geekmaister and Lime Director Phil Smith is called Juice CMS and the design is by Joe Whittaker. We will be seeking to offer this service to other organizations who are waking up to the merits of social marketing. I will keep you informed of our progress in this area over the coming weeks.

A policeman’s lot is not a happy one

You realise that blogging has truly come of age when it emerges that policemen are now setting up their own blogs – both official and unofficial.
A visit to British Blog Directory shows there are 18 currently registered but GoogleBlog throws up more than 6,000.
This is an interesting phenomenon for two reasons – first, in the UK the police are often viewed with suspicion, and the idea that a policeman would publish a blog that was truly transparent would be treated with scorn.
However, having visited two private blogs Blog of the Blogs and Blue And Two what emerges is a surprisingly honest overview of the issues facing the men manning the thin blue line. These blogs are funny, self-deprecating and vaguely reassuring because they show that we have such people on the force.
The other site to check out is Chief Constable of North Wales Police which is rather more corporate but never the less addresses some of the issues facing the top brass.
Oh, yes. And my second point is that this is bloody good PR. It’s not cynical it’s about open and honest communication which I suppose what social media is all about.

With your back between your legs

They are Britain’s best sporting prospect – they are our best bet in any Olympics and they are dominating the World Championships which are currently being hosted in Britain this week.
But I suspect you don’t know what I am talking about. It’s been my sport of choice – as a participant for nearly three years now and I love it – it’s about teamwork, setting individual goals, core strength and endurance.
So what am I talking about? Rowing – I row for Bradford Amateur Rowing Club and I am a late convert to the sport.
Today Britain's men's coxless four successfully defended their title at the World Rowing Championships at Eton. Steve Williams - who won Olympic gold in Athens - Peter Reed, Alex Partridge and Andy Hodge finished half a length clear of fast-finishing Germany.
Zac Purchase also claimed a gold medal with a comfortable victory in the lightweight men's single scull. Moreover, Britain is set for further glory tomorrow with the Men’s Eight in with a chance of a medal.
But you would struggle to find any information on this in our national press. Now I know we are football obsessed in this country (I’m looking forward to Liverpool’s victory over West Ham today) but give us a break. In the last World Cup we hardly covered ourselves in glory. The football team, led by insipid management, was a set of over-paid, uninspired players who were simply out-classed.
However, the British Rowing Team, largely amateur in outlook dominate their sport and yet the coverage generated in the press is negligible. Why is that? Is it because it’s supposed to be the sport of Posho Public School Boys? It’s not – at my club there is not a rounded vowel in the club house.
Moreover, more and more working class kids are getting involved as signaled by a soon to be screened TV series – Redgrave’s Liverpool VIII, which shows 40 lads from Liverpool train for the Wimbledon of the rowing world – Henley.
I accept that it’s not the most brilliant of spectator sports but any other country in the world would have British rowing’s success on their front page.
Alas, we now live in a mono-culture dominated by football with the odd bit of flag waving for cricket and rugby – particularly when we are doing well in it. But have a thought for rowing…

Latest news on Wensleydale

Just to bang the drum for my company GREEN Communications. Our team - Lindsey Ramsey, Abi White and myself, have generated major coverage on behalf of our client Wensleydale Creamery following its decision to make a submission for Protected Designation of Origin for Real Yorkshire Wensleydale Cheese.
Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) aims to promote and protect food products in the EU and is used to describe foodstuffs which are produced, processed and prepared in a given geographical area using recognised know-how. This means that any manufacturers outside of Wensleydale cannot produce a cheese and call it Real Yorkshire Wensleydale.
If you saw the press last week, or listened to the radio, or watched TV you will have noticed that GREEN helped generate thousands of pounds worth of positive coverage for Wensleydale.
Articles appeared in The Times, Daily Telelgraph, Daily Express, Financial Times, Yorkshire Post and many more.
David Hartley, the managing director, was interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Today Programme and also appeared on local radio. Meanwhile, there was a total of 30 minutes of television coverage nationally and regionally.
We also persuaded the Yorkshire Post to launch a reader campaign to help support Wensleydale Creamery's bid for PDO - which you can visit here Uniquely Yorkshire.
And finally if you watch The One Show tonight on BBC1 at 6.55pm you will see the cheese being made by hand in the creamery and here's why this unique cheese is so important to Wenselydale.

That’s me for a while now… off to Prague with the family for a well earned rest.

Wensleydale cheese? Cracking cheese Gromit!

Back in the saddle after two very busy days coordinating the announcement that Wensleydale Creamery - our client - is applying for Protected Designation of Origin.
Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) aims to promote and protect food products in the EU and is used to describe foodstuffs which are produced, processed and prepared in a given geographical area using recognised know-how. This means that any manufacturers outside of Wensleydale cannot produce a cheese and call it Real Yorkshire Wensleydale.
Wensleydale Creamery, based in the picturesque market town of Hawes in the heart of Wensleydale and the Yorkshire Dales National Park, makes the only Real Yorkshire Wensleydale Cheese in the world.
Managing Director David Hartley told me, and the world's Press: “The Wensleydale Creamery has been at the heart of the Yorkshire dale’s economy for many years. Over the past 14 years the staff and management at the Creamery have created a thriving business based on the precious commodity of Real Yorkshire Wensleydale Cheese.
"The livelihoods of more than 190 Creamery workers and 36 farms in Wensleydale depend on the Creamery and we believe that Real Yorkshire Wensleydale Cheese contributes more than £8m to the local economy. By putting forward our submission for PDO status we are not just protecting the future prosperity of Wensleydale and elevating our product above those manufacturers outside the region."
Wensleydale Cheese very much belongs to Yorkshire and we have been very encouraged by the support we have locally, regionally and nationally. Research has proven that consumers want greater emphasis to be placed on regional foods and also want to know that they are buying the genuine article.
Wensleydale Creamery has been hand crafting cheese for more than 100 years to time-honoured traditional recipes. Real Yorkshire Wensleydale Cheese is made with milk from 36 farms in the dale.
For the Creamery it will mean that it can plan the future of its business with the security of knowing that producers from outside the region cannot pass off ersatz Wensleydale to consumers.
It will mean that cheese producers outside the designated area of Wensleydale cannot produce a cheese and call it Real Yorkshire Wensleydale. This will help protect the regional heritage of the cheese which directly impacts on the livelihoods of Wensleydale farmers and families. It will help to ensure that consumers are getting the real product – which is a hand-crafted cheese, made from real Wensleydale milk with a unique taste. We intend to place significant emphasis on further informing our consumers as to the fact that Real Yorkshire Wensleydale is the only genuine article.
This has been a great campaign to work on - it's got legs and will run for the next couple of months - not least because 14 years ago as business editor of the Northern Echo I launched a campaign to save the creamery when it was closed with the loss of 59 jobs. Yorkshire pride was insulted as production of Wensleydale cheese moved out of its home territory to Lancashire.
Six months later, following many offers to rescue the Creamery, a management buyout took place led by local businessman, John Gibson, and the management team, with the help of eleven members of the former workforce, cheese making recommenced in Wensleydale - with help from the Northern Echo. I was named Industrialist Journalist of the Year as a result.
What's been so encouraging is that the Yorkshire Post has launched a campaign to support us - check them out!
For those of you who read my blog you will appreciate the fact that we will shortly be launching a blog for Wensleydale some time in the next couple of weeks.
Watch this space in the weeks to come.

Web 2.0 is made of ...recycled tech blurbs

We had a client banging on about Web 2.0 the other week – how it will be the next big thing and now is the time for some true Blue Sky thinking!
Unfortunately I haven’t got a clue what Web 2.0 is. Does it mean anything? For help I turned to The Register and got the following answers. Here's a selection of what their readers thought it meant:

Web 2.0 is made of ... 600 million unwanted opinions in realtime
Paul Moore

Web 2.0 is made of ... emergent blook juice
Ian Nisbet

Web 2.0 is made entirely of pretentious self serving morons
Max Irwin

Web 2.0 is made of ...Magic pixie dust (a.k.a . Tim O'Reilly's dandruff)
Jeramey Crawford

Web 2.0 is the air for the next bubble
Paul Witherow

Web 2.0 is made of ... a lot of thin but very hot air blown at you by those who are convinced that having nothing to say is by no means a good reason to shut up.
Roon Micha

Web 2.0 is made of ... a row boat made up of a rather large hole
Ted Crafton

Web 2.0 is made of ... les gazeuses des sapeurs-pompiers
Vaughan Lewis

Web 2.0 is made of ... 2 parts flour 1 part milk and 3 parts broken dreams
Daniel Nicholson

Web 2.0 is made of ... Sk^H^Hhype
Edward Grace

Web 2.0 is made of ... a collective dynamic think-process
Ben Shephard

Web 2.0 is ... the vapourware output of people moving forward in pushing back the envelope of the corporate paradigm (to the sound of whalesong)
Michael Shaw

Web 2.0 is made of ... more ways for providers to rip us off
Mike Bunyan

Web 2.0 is made of ... millions upon millions of bandwagons, circled into one giant investor cluster-f**k
Richard Ellis

Web 2.0 is made of...the easily led
Colin Jackson

Web 2.0 is made of ... blooks and flooks?
Thomas Borgia

Web 2.0 is made of ...Porn 2.0
Phil Standen

Web 2.0 is made of ... the skin that forms on the top of the soup of the collective consciousness
Troy Fletcher

Web 2.0 is made of ... marketing and collaborative self-deception
Dave Burt

Web 2.0 is made of ...recycled tech blurbs, stitched together at random (a la software that randomly generates scientific articles, previously mentioned by El Reg), submitted surreptitiously to the blog hive mind
B. Shubin

All further definitions welcomed but I guess the concensus is that it’s the latest bullshit word to enter the web lexicon.

Desperately seeking stories

I sometimes wonder what journalists do nowadays. For those of you who subscribe to the various news feed and online journalist query services you might wonder what the journalists actually think we do.
They certainly don’t appear to think that PR is a profession aimed at managing the reputation of our clients and their products. Indeed, judging by the requests below they seem to think that we have access to the sort of people the Red Tops usually have on their front page. And I don’t wish to point the finger at the Red Tops because we get similar requests from the broadsheets, women’s magazines and others.
Here are just a few of the genuine requests we have had from journalists currently on deadline:


Hi, we're looking for genuine members of the Mile High Club for a feature.
They need to be in their 20s or early 30s and quite photogenic.
We need a 15 minute phone interview with them about their experience - why did they do it, how was it, and would they do it again?
We also need a pic of them.
We pay £100 on publication and £25 tip off fee.
Thanks.


I would like to speak to women who have had at least two abortions. They can be photographed in silhouette and their identity can be protected. I need three women - one in her 20's, 30's and 40's. The case studies would be used along side a report of government figures that state an abortion is carried out in the UK every three minutes. I am interested in why the women had the abortion in the first place, how they feel about it now and their reaction to the figures mentioned earlier. There would be a payment of £100 to each study and I would endeavour to mention any organisation that has helped.



Possible magazine feature on drugs and the physical harm.
Are you a woman of 25-35 who does or has taken coke? Has doing so damaged your nose causing septum erosion? How has this changed your life and are you still using despite this? Tell us your story by contacting…


I'm looking for women in their 20s and 30s who've made a conscious decision to give up sex for a year or so because they are fed up of ending up with the wrong men, choosing blokes who only want sex but nothing more, or even having one night stands which they've later regretted. The idea is that these women are taking a breather from dating and sex to work out what they really want from a man and how best to get it. I'd require a telephone interview and studio photoshoot.



Urgently looking for a holiday for x2 journalists for feature to be written later in the year. Full credits given

And yes the last one is for real. What happened to old-fashioned, get up and go find a story for your self? I wonder what some editors and news desks would think if they knew their staff were doing this? Perhaps they do?
Or perhaps this is just one of the inevitable by-products of the internet which celebrates its fifteenth birthday this week.
Any views?

Are we all just whores?

I’ve said this in the past – I’m no techie. I’m a regular guy who started out on the journey of blogging because I can see the potential in it for me as an individual, as the director of a PR and design company, and as a former journalist, curious about what was changing in communications.
But having looked at a lot of successful blogs – and by successful I mean those with the most links (I have a handful!) - blogging reminds me of the public phone boxes in London. Or for that matter any major city.
For those unfamiliar with the UK capital, in London if you’re looking for some, shall we say some visceral pleasure, the phone box – no, not the internet - is where you will find it. In a good old Post Office phone box on the Tottenham Court Road you can find sexual pleasures for all tastes… Male, Female, Black, White, Chinese, Mongolian, S&M, Anal… the list goes on.
I hasten to add I am not an afeciando in this matter.
No, this is just a torturous metaphor to make a point – on which I would like some guidance – about blogging. As with all websites the point seems to be about getting as high on the Google list as possible, or any blog listing. Now, I recognise my humble rambling doesn’t deserve to be at the top of any list but I do wonder at the mechanism by which the top blogs achieve their status. Is it because of the quality of the content? Or is simply having the chutzpah to request a link?
I look at the bloggers I admire - Gaping Void, Dilbert, That Chap, - and marvel at the number of people linking to their sites. However, I do understand the links are there because of the quality of the content.
BUT – why are so many mundane sites getting such great coverage when their blogs are the equivalent of a teenage onaist?
Which brings me back to the phone box metaphor – am I supposed to prostitute my self and get my card in as may blogs as possible to make my blog a success? I hope not, and to be honest I don’t have that much stamina.
Am I being naïve? Possibly. All views welcome but I would prefer people came to visit me to hear what I had to say rather than how many calling cards I had out on in the blogosphere or in the Tottenham Court Road for that matter. What do you think?

Back to crisis management

Back to crisis management again (see previous about Run Away! Run Away!).
Linda at Passionate Blog sent the following message.

I think these are excellent pointers, especially the tell the truth, say sorry and be human bits! Apologies if I am stating the obvious. What I would say though is that I don't agree you can 'get the media on your side' - yes you can be as transparent and as professional as you can in dealing with journalists but you should never assume they are on anyone's 'side' - especially when something has gone wrong.

Don't you agree? I once stood up in front of a room of charity volunteers who were concerned about how journalists behaved and I was attempting to put their minds at rest. "Don't worry, they'll be on your side," I said. Someone put me right. At the time I was frustrated that I wasn't getting my point - that there was nothing to fear from forging contacts wilt journalists - across properly but I have reflected on this a lot and they were right, of course.

Linda, I think you can get the press on side - and there are two ways of doing so coercion or co-operation. Two examples:

ONE - COERCION: A manufacturer of yoghurt with a great brand, who had a side line in catering packs of butter which were blamed for a Listeria outbreak which caused several deaths.
The butter was mainly used by sandwich shops - the butter was left in the shops all day, nice and warm and a fantastic breading ground for bacteria. At night they went back into the fridge, but the core remained at the optimum temprature for bacteria. This would happen ad infanitum and it was not our client's fault.
The Food Standards Agency got involved and issued a press release naming our client and several newspapers published articles linkg the client to the problem. Disaster? No!
We simply phoned each newspaper and pointed out they were on dodgy ground legally. Journalists hate this. Quite rightly - I've been there myself as a hack and it costs a lot of money in the courts.
Result? Next day they all qualified or retracted their stories. At the end of the day there was no prosecution and the brand's integrity was safe.

TWO - COOPERATION:A school branded with the worst Ofsted report in the UK, yes - another one.
I didn't work on this but my partner Andy Green did. The first thing he told the client was: "You need to put out you're ten point plan for turning the school around."
They said: "We don't have a ten point plan." Andy's reply was simple: "You do now!" The next day we acknowledged the problems at the school and laid out the ten issues that would be addressed over the next 12 months. The Press understood this and reacted accordingly.
Result? The resulting press coverage focused on the failings of the Government's education policy and funding rather than the school its self.
Hope this helps.

Horrors of Lebanon revisited

Alan Caruba has been back in touch to comment on my post about public relations and the Middle East conflict.

I said: "However, where I do have concerns is where PR is used for commercial gain during a crisis like this. What next? 'Israeli Army praises new guided missile says ACME Bomb Makers'"

He says; “I totally agree. The whole idea of seeking commercial gain while people are dying is an anathema. My commentary simply noted the questions surrounding the timing of PR while the Hezbollah vs Israel war is going on.

“It's a matter of good sense and, one hopes, good taste. The other's comments on the role of PR during war should be, I suspect, more directed to the role of propaganda rather than public relations. The former has a recognized function in times of war and it is frequently about deception.

“A former journalist myself, I regard anything other than the truth in PR to be a grave ethical offense.

“Finally, I have found your blog of great interest. Keep up the good work.”

You might want to check out Alan’s website at The National Anxiety Centre to understand where he’s coming from. All views welcome.

See original post below.

Run away! Run away!

Just checked out a new blog by Sam Oakley All Things PR with reference to a piece by Steve Davies on the Importance of Crisis Management. Sadly this is something we are too often involved with in my business.
For one client of ours it was when a worker was crushed by an articulated lorry. For another, a food manufacturer, it was an investigation by the Food Standards Agency into products suspected of Listeria poisoning. For another, a retailer, it was when a toddler found a Corn Snake in a box of their cornflakes!
The main things is to actually recognise when you have a crisis. Sadly, too many clients think these things can be swept under the carpet. But they can’t – so here’s the advice we offer.
EXPECT THE WORST. Plan ahead for a crisis. You need a business continuity plan to keep operations going in the event of a warehouse fire, systems failure or any other disasters. You should also have a communications plan which outlines how you will communicate quickly and effectively with key stakeholders such as customers, suppliers, shareholders and the media. Make it clear who has specific responsibility for contacting particular individuals, and how other groups will be contacted.
STAY COOL. In practice most crisis-hit executives run round like headless chickens. You need to take a cool strategic overview. Ask yourself if everyone has a common view of the situation. How bad can it get? What message do you need to put out and how?' The first 24 hours are often crucial.
HOW DO OTHERS SEE IT? What counts are other people's perceptions, not your own. To you, it might be a storm in a teacup, but if your customers, investors or other audiences perceive the situation to be damaging, that's what you must address.
GET THE MEDIA ON YOUR SIDE. Hold a press conference or issue a statement, and give journalists maximum access. You need to provide absolute transparency to the media. Demonstrate from the beginning that you'll cooperate with them, and they can be your best allies. But if they believe that you are slow in providing information, they'll lose confidence. Your aim is to become the 'Single Authoritative Source' of information.
BEWARE OF CRISIS CREEP. Sometimes an issue creeps up on you. Issues like BSE or the problem of oilrig disposal were around for years before hitting the headlines. Watch for warning signs. A story that features repeatedly in the trade press will soon be picked up by the national media. An independent investigation may also force an issue to come under the national spotlight.
TELL THE TRUTH. Tell a lie and you die. You may not be able to tell everything you know - for example, if an issue is sub judice, or the stock market needs to be informed - but at least try to explain why you can't tell all.
SAY SORRY. An apology usually helps to diffuse the situation. You may not want to admit liability but express your regret that it occurred and your determination to prevent it happening again.
TAKE PERSONAL CONTROL. Don't try and hide behind spin doctors or consultants. Use them but make sure that you are the spokesperson - after the Kegworth air crash, British Midlands chairman Sir Michael Bishop dropped everything, went straight there, and took personal responsibility. He gained a huge amount of credit for doing so.
BE HUMAN. Crisis management isn't a black art. If you behave as a human being, then you can't go far wrong.
DO SAY: 'We would like to express our deepest sympathies to those who have been affected, and shall leave no stone unturned in our efforts to establish exactly how this happened.'
DON'T SAY: 'Crisis? What crisis? Let's just keep our heads down, chaps, and in a week's time it will have blown over.'

Andy publishes new book for PR practioners

My business partner Andy Green (no relation) has just published his latest book on public relations.
This follows the success Creativity in Public Relations – so here’s a plug for Andy’s latest missive; Effective Communications Skills for Public Relations – published by Kogan Page (£16.99) and part of CIPR’s PR in Practice Series.
To be a successful public relations practitioner one has to be a great communicator at all levels. This stimulating and original book shows PR people how to harness their personal powers of communication to enhance their personal brand and ensure that they get their message across. Andy takes an essentially creative and modern approach drawing on the very latest research and thinking into the how the mind works and how ideas are communicated.
In particular, he introduces the reader to the theory of memes. A term coined by Richard Dawkins, memes are contagious ideas that once communicated spread like a virus. Andy shows how to achieve this in the context of PR communications.
Subjects tackled include: Your inner brand.Creating memes. No meme is an island – the power of context. And Word of mouth communications.
Andy is well known in the industry and has some 20 years’ experience in the public relations profession. He has won numerous professional awards for his creative work and now runs courses on creativity for the Institute of Public Relations and for many leading consultancies and organisations.
Well done with the new book Andy - can I have a free copy please?

What, Why, When, How, Where and Who

Read the following by Write or wrong? by Richard Bailey on writing in public relations. Here are my views for what it’s worth.

Journalists are interested in stories — and stories have a set structure. They are written in this manner so that in the process of producing a newspaper, TV bulletin or radio broadcast they can be easily edited by the production team.

Rudyard Kipling wrote:
" I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew)
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who."

Every story appearing online, on screen or on paper must include:

Who is central to the story, who is doing what to whom?
What event, action, decision has been made or is about to be taken?
Why has it happened?
When has it happened? Yesterday equals news, tomorrow equals scoop.
Where will it impact?
How did it happen?

If it does not include any of these it will be amended to do so. Help the journalists by having these facts available.