Hey there public relations fans, I return after two weeks off, feeling refreshed and raring to go. Did you miss me? Maybe don’t answer that.

So what have you all been up to? Those of you who also attended the Summer PRty in Manchester, organised by Radioactive PR, will have seen just how much the industry has missed face-to-face events and judging by the worldie attendance list, it feels like we are all ready to get our summer’s going! Nice one to Rich Leigh and all the sponsors for such a great event, can’t wait for the London one in September.

Bad PR

Love Island

Speaking of worldies, the first Bad PR goes to Love Island. Not just because of the general attitude of those taking part in the reality TV show competition, but also because the editing has got the Muggles all worked up, to the point that 5000 of them have complained to Ofcom about it. The fact that 5000 people care so much is mind boggling, but it is also a massive distraction and waste of time for Ofcom which has far better things to be dealing with than monitoring lip-fillers and allegations of misleading allegations.

As a slight side note, one of the bigger issues that Ofcom has had piled on to it is the Government seeking its advice on the application by Team Murdoch to be freed from its obligation to keep The Times and The Sunday Times as separate editorial outlets… Talk about a hospital pass.

Good PR

WhatsApp

WhatsApp wins the “Andy Barr Good and Twee” campaign of the week for the images and example it used to announce the launch of its “view once” tool that you can now apply to your picture messages. According to WhatsApp, we will all be using this for things like “sharing a password code”. Tell that to the unlucky recipients of the billions of dick pics that are sent across the internets every day! WhatsApp, this is a great idea, I love it, but I love the twee nature of the campaign even more.

RAC

Over to the world of oil barons and petrol prices and the RAC won some great PR headlines this week by highlighting the steady rise of the prices at the pumps. We are in our 9^th month of price rises and we are now at the highest pricing since 2014. The demand for oil since the slowdown of the pandemic is being blamed and whilst demand continues to rise, so does the price.

As ever China is apparently key to the way the price goes in the next few months. If the Chinese manufacturing industries slow down, prices should drop, if demand gets higher, as will the prices. Great work by the RAC to spot this and get the story out there before any of its motoring competitors.

Mike Ashley

At the time of writing (Wednesday evening) Mike Ashley wins a rare Good PR shout for his decision to step away from the day-to-day running of Frasers Group (formerly, Sports Direct). The cynics, myself included, say this could be a distraction technique because the company’s financial results are out tomorrow, or it could genuinely be an attempt to move with the times and remove the risk that having him involved in the day to day realistically brings.

Love him or hate him (don’t ask!), he has transformed his company and taken it to new heights, year on year. The news also came on the day it was announced that the company had won a employee tribunal over its decision to send all workers home who were over 60, during the pandemic. As I say, a rare, good week for Ashley and the Fraser Group.

Bad PR again

Klaus-Dieter Flick

Bad PR this week also goes to plucky 84-year-old German, Klaus-Dieter Flick who was found to be hoarding a large chunk of WW2 memorabilia in the grounds of his property, including a tank, anti-aircraft cannon, mortars, guns and two thousand rounds of ammunition.

His arsenal was discovered by the local police whilst they were investigating rumours of his having Nazi symbols dotted around his garden. Imagine their faces when they found his war bunker. He has been fined £250k and told to shift it all within two years… Museums from across the globe are queuing up to buy it all, no really.

Brilliant PR

Propellernet

To end on a high, a big shout out to the Propellernet Digital PR posse who hit a home run this week with a campaign that looked at how having certain restaurants near your home could add to your house price value.

For those keen to know, being near a Byron adds the most value to your property (circa £34k) and being near a KFC will probably add more to your waistline than it will pound value (£13k). No, I am not adding in a live follow-link to this write up, so don’t email and ask (jokes, lols, digital PR FTW).

Got it right or wrong, hit me up on The Twitter @10Yetis.

Written by Andy Barr, owner of 10 Yetis Digital. Seen any good or bad PR lately? Abuse and contradictory points welcomed over on The Twitter @10Yetis or andy@10Yetis.co.uk on email