August 2006 - Posts

• Effective communication and 'spin' are not the same

  Now that we're almost into September, the Conservative Party seems ready to call time on the political Summer holiday by opening a debate on the perceived proliferation of government Press Officers under Labour . Before I weigh in, I have to declare an Read More... Posted 30 August 2006 14:51 by James Barbour | 0 Comments

• Scientific breakthrough or monumental PR stunt?

  Nearly 40,000 people, of which I am one, are waiting to see whether Irish technology research company Steorn has effectively discovered the Loch Ness Monster or merely created another Piltdown Man , whether their product is the genuine article or a South Read More... Posted 25 August 2006 15:28 by James Barbour | 2 Comments

• An observation on accountability

  A hypothetical situation: I, as an employee of ABC Public Relations Inc, agree a project with a client, with a set of deliverables to be produced within an agreed timeframe - in this case, two weeks. After two weeks, 75% of the deliverables have been Read More... Posted 23 August 2006 17:48 by James Barbour | 2 Comments

• A blog is for life ...

  Having started off my blog wondering about bird flu, I want to round off this week by talking about foot-in-mouth disease - an ailment which seems to remain endemic in the PR industry, despite the fact that we all really ought to know better. The Register Read More... Posted 18 August 2006 16:34 by James Barbour | 3 Comments

• Blogging as a PR tool? Start as you mean to go on.

  The utility and effectiveness of the CEO-Blog as a PR tool has been much debated since Seth Godin arguably kicked off the discussion almost two years ago. One of the most recent recruits to the world of the CEO-blog is Carphone Warehouse's Charles Dunstone Read More... Posted 16 August 2006 15:54 by James Barbour | 4 Comments

• Mountains out of molehills, and the role of think-tanks

  Our office is alive this morning with discussion of an article in the Sunday Times which, to my mind, amply illustrated quite how much attitudes towards the interrelationship between parties, politicians, think-tanks and the public and private sectors Read More... Posted 14 August 2006 14:14 by James Barbour | 0 Comments

• Reduce, reuse, recycle - yes, it's hip to be green

  Whilst Tommy Sheridan has, no doubt, spent this past weekend celebrating , I spent much of my two days traversing my immediate neighbourhood in the interests of Freecycle . Freecycle, if you've not heard of it, is one of those no-brainer community initiatives Read More... Posted 07 August 2006 11:17 by James Barbour | 1 Comments

• Whatever happened to Bird Flu?

  A friend far longer established in the blogging community than I told me last week that the first post in a blog is always the most difficult. So I shall make this brief, and resist the urge to kick off with an inevitably awkward and uninteresting "about Read More... Posted 03 August 2006 10:49 by James Barbour | 5 Comments