Good PR

Deliveroo delivers
Deliveroo has announced a genius PR stunt that has landed the food delivery service a flood of fantastic coverage (which is likely to increase tenfold once the stunt actually happens).

The brand is planning a double-decker-bus-sized billboard in London made up entirely of thousands of burgers that will be free for the taking (and eating).

The billboard will be installed in London on 13 March with an official launch time of 7pm (although apparently it opens at 12pm), at the Old Truman Brewery. News of this is likely to mean that a hoard of burger-loving Londoners (and maybe even people from further afield) will travel to that very location in a couple of weeks to indulge on one of the burgers on offer; which will apparently be from a range of Deliveroo’s restaurant partners and will include chicken and vegetarian options.

According to Deliveroo, this is to encourage people to eat “more amazing food” and is a celebration of the fact that burgers are one of the nation’s most loved takeaway dishes.

Watching this space for more great coverage after the stunt on the 13th, but for now it’s been mentioned by titles like the Metro, Evening Standard and the Mirror.

Bad PR

Stores in the wars
Two retailers are facing collapse this week, leading to a string of negative press due to things like job losses and badly handled business affairs.

Toys R Us, the place of my childhood dreams, has been facing collapse for a little while, but on Wednesday reached the deadline of having to pay a £15m VAT bill; putting 3,200 jobs at risk if it didn’t cough up the funds and ultimately folding.

There are 105 stores in the UK that now face closure, but the retailer insists it is still looking for a buyer, despite administrator Moorfields conducting an “orderly wind-down” of the store’s portfolio. Toys R Us filed for bankruptcy protection in December, agreeing to a rescue plan that would enable it to restructure its operations (including 26 store closures by spring), but now continued poor sales and this whopping VAT bills means finding a buyer is unlikely.

Electronics store Maplin, which is owned by Rutland Partners, is also facing closure, putting 2,500 staff in its 200 UK stores at risk of job loss. The retailer had been in talks with Edinburgh Woollen Mill (the firm that owns stores such as Peacocks) over a possible sale, but administration now looks more likely.

It’s been a bad week all round for potential retail collapses and a string of media stories about the brands’ woes.

Nando’s chips are down
In others news, Nando’s looked a little on the cheeky side this week when it was revealed that the fries that the restaurant chain uses are, in fact, McCain’s frozen chips. Lots of Nando’s fans expressed their shock at the news on Twitter, but the chain said that the actually have an exclusive recipe as part of a partnership with McCain’s Food Services, so they aren’t the same as the ones you can buy down Tesco… apparently. No one’s likely to fall out of love with Nando’s over this news, but titles like the BBC and Telegraph still felt it important enough a story to cover, which made the restaurant brand look as though it had been hiding some potato-ey secret.

Written by Shannon Peerless, 10 Yetis @ShazzaYeti on Twitter
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