And another thing……communications strategy Columbo style

My all-time favourite TV detective is Columbo. I know that dates me, but honestly I was but a mere child when I encountered the man in the raincoat who always solved the crime that we the viewers had first witnessed.Years later, I find myself using Columbo parallels on a regular basis in my working life....

Agatha Christie is the way to a dream job

I am a huge Agatha Christie fan. Every since her books became my first “adult” reading, with every paperback eagerly consumed, I have been fascinated by mysteries and thrillers. The opening of, Murder on the Orient Express, the first Agatha Christie adaptation to hit the big screen in a generation, is a welcome excuse to...

Making every word count

In the face of social media, where the selfie is king and queen, and where the common currency for likes and reposts is images, videos and gifs, it is easy to assume that words are now yesterday's news.But actually it is the other way around - the crowded, image-led market place means that now more...

It’s been another bad week for PR…..

It's not hard to see why social - and traditional - media commentators were quick to brand the United Airlines incident of forcible removal of a passenger a "PR disaster".  It's not the first or last time that PR professionals appear to be held responsible.  But let's not forget, this was not some ill-advised marketing...

It’s the simple things and the petty bureaucracy

Watching last week’s BBC Question Time, I heard Eric Pickles say that he had spent all of his political life trying to achieve better integrated public services.  I once had a brief conversation with former BBC Crimewatch presenter Nick Ross, who said that one of the reasons the programme existed in the first place was...

Putting patients at the heart of care

I’ve always wondered about the concept of "putting patients at the centre” or “customers at the heart” of everything organisations do.  It seems too obvious, doesn’t it?  After all, without clients, customers, users, patients…..whatever term you’d like to use…..the provision of the service simply can’t happen. I look around at the small businesses which have...

It’s been a bad week for PR professionals…..

Who'd be a PR professional eh?  Far from the absolutely fabulous image of a never-ending round of openings, events, champagne and glamour, it seems there's sometimes a very heavy price to be paid by those who make this their career. This week we learned of another example of a PR/media manager/spin doctor at the very...