Search results matching tag 'Jonathan Ross'

Gordon Brown plays the biscuit game

1704826 — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 08:34:00 GMT

I'm so bored of people talking about the potency of social media sites that I've decided to go on a journey in a helium balloon - I've already tipped off the Berkhamsted and Tring Gazette.

I'd never really considered or cared what sort of biscuit Gordon Brown preferred but the great democratising tool that is social media - in this case parents' website Mumsnet - has forced the PM to stop avoiding this key issue and finally come clean. An excited nation learnt that he prefers chocolate biscuits.

Perhaps we'll find out at some point what his exit strategy is for Afghanistan is or why he sold our gold reserves off in 1997 when if he'd waited until now he might have got a better price from Cash4Gold.

Twitter is also claiming victory over some things that Jan Moir wrote about the sainted Stephen Gately in last week's Daily Mail. I didn't read her column but I expect it was absolutely vile and it is she, and not Leona Lewis, who is deserving of a punch to the head.

The only vaguely amusing thing is that the Mail has to some extent been hoist by its own petard - having led a campaign against Jonathan Ross, it was only a matter of time before a special interest group did the same thing to it.

Give Mark Thompson a hand - what would you like to see the BBC drop?

1704826 — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 12:36:00 GMT

Mark Thompson has finally admitted that the BBC must cut its budgets. Not, as you might expect, because it is lavish, over-staffed and is strangling its commercial rivals to death but because it might breach its ‘statutory borrowing limit'.

How awful if that happened. Oh well, nonetheless we should still celebrate the fact that it is having to suffer, albeit to a lesser degree, along with the rest of the industry and the country.

Thommo hasn't said where the cuts will come from so I'm after suggestions. It would be nice to see Jonathan Ross's salary sacrificed for the greater good and I'm sure we can live without BBC Three. What else?

Twitter of a weekend

255762 — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 09:13:00 GMT

If you had been in any doubt this weekend must have cleared it up. It was kind of amazing. I don't know what happened, but I could not escape Twitter. It was literally everywhere I went: online, in print, on TV and radio. It was like someone flicked (Tweeted) a huge switch.

Of course, there was the buzz about Jonathan Ross and the Bafta's and his promise to insert some random word into his speech, which he did when he said: "In my view, actors are in many ways like salad – they are nothing without great dressing."

The comment was, of course, was for those not in the know met with confused silence, as Ross went on: "I will pause for a moment to let the magnitude of that analogy sink in for you." The choice of salad came after Ross's mighty army of 75,000 sleb followers on Twitter (which I talked about last week) were asked to suggest a silly word.To the relief of the BBC, as really I don't think it can take another Ross incident he aid he would to reject anything "overtly sexual".

Not just Ross, The Times was at it on Saturday morning devoting part of its leading article to Twitter: "We no longer measure out our lives in coffee spoons. No, we do it in tweets on Twitter".

I know that has to be the case as John Prescott launched his campaign against greedy bankers on Facebook and Twitter as well. While it made it into the script of US sitcom 'The Big Bang Theory' (okay it is the ultimate geek sitcom) in an episode I vegged on during Sunday afternoon.

I checked my work email and it was just full of new followers for Brand Republic. We're still working on that, but are trying to be proactive.

Xfm, it seemed over night had gone Twitter mad overnight, with every show I caught bits of mentioning Twitter. I even Twittered in to Marsha's show on Sunday - my first radio tweet, and got a shout out for my efforts.

Oh and, of course, 'Mad Men' is back on BBC Four tomorrow and there has been a huge Twitter buzz around Don Drapper and company, which was the headline on the front of the Guardian Guide.

Don Drapper along with many other fans of the show are tweeting away merrily with at least five Peggy Olsons going strong. She is a popular girl.

That brings us to Monday and Charlie Brooker in the Guardian who like Jonathan Ross has been asking people on Twitter for some one word suggestions as what to write about.

"To glance back through this list, it would seem that asking Twitter for advice on what to write about isn't a great gambit, full stop. The top three suggestions were either too obvious or have been covered at length elsewhere, and the rest were either too dirty to go into in detail (a shame, in my view), or blended into white noise by dint of sheer volume.
"In summary, I've learned nothing and neither have you. But it's passed some time. And that's Twitter all over. Anyway, next week: Israel v Palestine - who's right?"

Follow me on Twitter

If you made your millions would you want to disappear ?

2371832 — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 01:14:36 GMT

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/men/article5643397.ece

The man who helps people disappear

Ever thought you might need to slip quietly off the radar? Meet Frank Ahearn, America’s leading skip tracer, and now – for the clients he helps flee criminal threats and violent partners – its most improbable guardian angel

Perhaps Jonathan Ross would have liked to .. he could have taken Russell Brand with him.

Obama has already saved the world by deleting Jonathan Ross from memory

1704826 — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 12:29:00 GMT

What an exciting week. As any fule kno, tomorrow marks the inauguration of Barack Obama while Friday sees is the triumphal return of middle-aged potty mouthed lout Jonathan Ross.

It's been impossible to avoid the former - watching the news last nightm, the BBC's news anchor and Washington correspondent could hardly hide their saccharine joy and reverence at the event, while most other media outlets are treating it as if it were a Coronation from a bygone age rather than the formal swearing in of an elected politician in the twenty-first century.

While noting that it is, of course, an historic moment for the US I can't help wondering if the whole thing has got out of hand and that anyone who thinks that Obama is going to save all of the world's problems is clearly slightly deluded.

Even more exciting though, on Friday, Ross returns to host his stand-up ‘chatshow' vehicle on BBC One. Amazingly the world has not stopped turning since he was suspended three months ago and there have not been riots on the streets - in fact, life has gone on pretty much as normal and he had started to fade from memory. Given that the suspension of Ross coincided with the US election result, perhaps after all we have Obama to thank for something - keeping him out of the headlines/

Proximity pays for its TV Licence

1225254 — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 11:30:00 GMT

Proximity has been sacked from the TV Licensing (TVL) business for which it won so many awards. Why? Because it messed up on the data it quoted regarding the number of fee evaders. The Telegraph, which broke the story, also referred to the use of false pre-printed signatures and the use of intimidatory tactics in letters including threats of home visits from enforcement officers.

There's no doubt that following a series of Daily Mail front pages, the BBC has lost its confidence and is prone to panic in the face of outraged headlines and pompous MPs like John Whittingdale. Proximity is this week's Jonathan Ross.

The agency says it was human error over data that led to incorrect figures being used, Every account handler involved in every direct marketing agency must be thinking "Phew! There for the grace of God...." We've all experienced data ***-ups, many far more serious than quoting an inaccurate figure in a letter. It happens but we rarely get fired for it. The mistake Proximity is supposed to have made is the sort of thing you occasionally see referred to the ASA who ask for it to be fixed. Claiming the figure is 69,838 evaders when it is 33,781 is a sloppy error but it's hardly criminal. Both figures represent 'a lot of people'. I read the ASA reports every week and compared to many claims (e.g. junk food that's 'natural and healthy', misleading small print, hidden charges etc) it hardly registers. But in a febrile moralistic climate I'm afraid Proximity were always likely to be sacked although it is the responsibility of both client and agency to ensure accuracy in statements.

By the way, many marketers use pre-printed signatures and fabricated signatories. Helps prevent stalkers and fraud, apart from anything else.

The TV Licensing business always struck me as rather unusual. Here's a product that has universal awareness coupled to a £1,000 fine if you don't buy it. Compared with trying to sell home insurance TV licence uptake must rank as something of a marketing doddle. Which is probably why only 5% of people evade.

The BBC Trust has already launched a review into TVL's enforcement methods and Proximity would appear to be a premature casualty. Losing the account will hit the agency hard. But it is a casualty of politics, not of poor direct marketing.

Daily Mail and BBC Local conspiracy theory

255762 — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:15:00 GMT

It isn't like the Daily Mail needs an excuse to bash the BBC, but was there more at play in the recent "Sachsgate" affair than meets the eye? And did it cost the corporation its much vaunted BBC Local web service?

It was on Popbitch today, but it is I think worth repeating in more detail. The Daily Mail hit the BBC hard over the scandal that saw Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand leaving a regrettable message on the answer phone of the 'Fawlty Towers' actor relating to his grand daughter Georgina Baillie.

In end the Daily Mail managed to get as many as 20,000 people to complain about the Radio 2 prank that went awry. It ran a number of stories, cried foul about falling public standards and called for heads to roll. It scored an equally regrettable victory over the BBC claiming a number of scalps including Radio 2 controller Lesley Douglas as well, cost Brand his job at the station and led to Ross being suspended from his chat show.

At the same time as that was going on the BBC Trust was also making up its mind before going on to reject the corporation's plan to invest up to £68m in a web-based local video service across the UK. Apparently the service, which would have employed 400, was of a very high standard with many saying how how good it was.

However, the Trust said it would not improve services enough "to justify either the investment of licence fee funds or the negative impact on commercial media".

The Trust reached its decision after conducting a public value test and regional newspaper groups were some of the biggest critics of the proposed service as they were afraid of being blown out of the water by the BBC leading to a loss of staff and revenues.

The Daily Mail and General Trust, which owns the Daily Mail is also a major UK publisher of regional newspapers via its Northcliffe Media subsidiary, which is behind such titles as Nottingham Post, Bristol Evening Post and the Leicester Mercury. Northcliffe is already struggling and DMGT recently announced "significant" cuts at Northcliffe Media as revenues at the regional outfit tumbled 28% year on year in October.

So did the Daily Mail go for broke on Sachsgate knowing that it would hurt the BBC when it came to a decision on BBC Local?

Or is that simply too much of a reach? Maybe it was just as the Trust put it and that BBC Local could not justify either the investment of licence fee funds or the negative impact on commercial rivals and nothing else, but hey everyone loves a good conspiracy story.

It's worth noting what is happening to local media. It is being hit hard. ITV is cutting regional output and regional newspapers are cutting staff left, right and centre. BBC Local could have been the best thing that happened to local news services in years.

Shove it up your *** Mark Thompson

1704826 — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:36:00 GMT

Anyone else watch Mark Thompson's and Michael Lyons' performance before the Commons culture, media and sport select committee? There was pitiful little evidence of either wearing a hair shirt - in fact, neither looked that they were particularly bothered to be there.

Thompson said that the BBC had been responsible for a ‘serious editorial lapse'. No Mark, it had been responsible for a complete lapse in taste, judgment and management by allowing personally offensive material to be recorded in the first place in the name of entertainment - the fact that it was broadcast is secondary to this.

As for Lyons, his claim that the BBC Trust had still not decided Ross's fate looked disingenuous given that the BBC had already trumpeted his glorious return.

The BBC Trust was brought in to replace the discredited Board of Governors following the Gilligan affair. The problem is, that like its predecessor it has no power and is too allied to the management of the organisation. Perhaps it's time for the BBC to come under the auspices of Ofcom and receive proper regulatory control like the commercial media operations against which it seems determined to put out of business.

Deborah Meaden exposed

1704826 — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:00:00 GMT

Deborah Meaden is a ‘marketing guru'. We know that because Evan Davies gravely intones it in the opening credits to every episode of Dragon's Den. Except that last night we found out that she wasn't; not really.

In BBC2's Dragon's Den: the Dragon's Story - an otherwise interesting series that I suppose is meant to inspire up and coming entrepreneurs in some way - we found out that the marketing guru who had ‘made her fortune in the hospitality and leisure business' was nothing of the sort. In fact, for ‘hospitality and leisure industry' read chain of ordinary-looking caravan parks in the south-west. Also hers was no heart-warming rags to riches tale (unlike James Caan and Theo Paphitis) - her parents had owned the park before she borrowed some money from the bank to buy them out.

As for her marketing credentials that are so proudly boasted about in every single episode of the show, Davies had to admit that this wasn't really the case although the show did go onto describe how she's been involved in the repackaging of one of her Den investments - some sinister Voodoo dolls that you can stick faces of your enemies on and are therefore ideal stocking fillers.

It all seemed rather patchy to me and I was left concluding that in the scramble to tell a good story, some over-claiming had taken place. As this isn't in the scale of Cookie the Blue Pater cat or the Russell Brand/Jonathan Ross farrago, I won't be complaining to the BBC Trust - I'll leave that to Friday when Children In Need is back on, groan...

Twit or Tweet version 2

1319935 — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 10:53:00 GMT

Jemima Kiss in the Guardian today picked up on an interesting angle going on in the Social Media monitoring world which Brand Republic’s mini threads of comment remain oblivious to. As the BBC story around Russell and Ross exploded over the past week or so, their websites haven’t. As complaints on the BBC ‘Have Your Say’ website reached the tens of thousands, the response by the BBC’s online world was pretty slow.

As anyone who studies organisational theory can tell you, conflict over remit or mandate leads to corporate screw-ups. In this case, the Venn diagram between corporate communication, corporate product content and corporate product promotion is hopelessly confusing for the general public. All consumers see is the BBC saying different things to itself. I've always said that companies 'take their clothes off' in their online presence, and here is all over again.

In the brand management community, who has the final remit for the online view of the brand? I know it’s irritating to hear the phrase ‘online view’ but it is worth thinking through in a moment of crisis. In theory, the brand team will take the mantle, but in practice the corporate communications people do as well. It’s clear that as everyone ‘puts digital at the heart’ it’s more important than ever to sort out the skills mix required to actually deliver a single (and strong) point of view for the consumer. This applies not only to the Agency supply chain, but also to within Client organisations.