UK PR agencies doing work for Gaddafi???

More and more PR agencies are being approached by foreign dictatorships officials to deal with the current crisis.

I'm just flicking through PR Week where on the cover page I can see there is yet another UK PR agency to be targeted by protesters because of its links to the Gaddafi regime. Shocking!Disappointing! But is it really true that agencies are currently helping dictatorship regimes such as Gaddafi's?

Joy! Lybian officials were trying to hire PR agencies but fortunately it came to nothing! Yes, Brown Lloyd James did do work for Gaddafi but back in 2009 when Lybia was recognised by British and American governments. So, is it that bad?

Panta rei! Things always change - what was good yesterday might not be good today and PR practitioners know this best! It's PR professionals who best know how fragile a reputation is and it's them who best know how to take care of reputation, especially their own!

Do you really think a decent PR practitioner would risk their own reputation with doing work for somebody who is generally hated? Certainly not!

I'm a bit disappointed! Is it becoming fashionable to attack PR agencies?  Why activists don't  target governments that do business with such dictatorship regimes all the time instead of turning the PR industry into notorious spin?

Blue is the new Green: building the world's biggest and most efficient container ship

Maersk Line has recently announced its order of world's largest and most efficient ships - Maersk Triple - E.

The company has long been a frontrunner in such innovations but that's not the only reason why Maersk Triple E fascinates me. The introduction of these new vessels is a turning point for the whole industry as container companies started placing more emphasis on reliability and promt delivery rather than speed in order to meet both new economic climate's requirements for low-cost operations and customers' demand for transparency and sustainability. 

Maersk Triple E will not only offer significant economies of scale but will also help reduce energy consumpion and lower CO₂ emissions. Apparently these new vessels fits well with Maersk Line's new green strategy and attempts to reshape the whole industry. Now when "the sustainability boom" is spreading throughout all industries I believe that complying to this trend is the only way to remain competitive. 

While worldwide container trade fell more than 10 percent in 2009 many vessels were sitting out of use. 

However, now the demand is expected to grow again (Maersk Line is expecting 5 to 6 percent growth) and it seems to me that Maersk Triple E is worth investing in both in terms of cost and environmental footprint reductions.

If your government shuts down your internet, it's time to shut down your government

Some governments are willing to commit to open web access for all, no matter what. In 2002 Estonia made internet access a human right. Finland introduced a law last year that guarantees every sitizen broadband internet. .
However, some countries have recently tried to suspend the national internet. We all wintnessed the internet blackout in Egypt and the censored news and social media in Tunisia. The notorious news coverage blackout posed by Israel made us "eyeless in Gaza" but was it actually a winning strategy? Did such radical measures stop the protests?

Certainly not. If anything, one lesson seems to be that enforced closure of internet and media access can only do harm: if your government shuts down your internet, it's time to shut down your government. Especially on the Second Front - media!

Any publicity is good publicity?Kenneth Cole's controvercial tweet

"Millions are in uproar in Cairo. Rumour is they heard our new spring collection is now available online".

This was the tweet by Kenneth Cole, a successful American designer  famous with his controversial marketing campaigns that are often not even run because of their biased nature. He is unusual in that he writes them himself.

Thousands complained across the world and KC had to apologize:

"I have removed this morning’s tweet. Please visit this link to see my apology. http://on.fb.me/fCSf5Z -KC"

This tweet was retweeted 100 times and probably seen by thousands of people. So did it actually damage KC's reputation?

Certainly not!  I think that was a great viral campaign: linked to the biggest issue in the world, controversial enough to create uproar but not catastrophe. The result: everybody's talking/ tweeting/ facebooking/ blogging about it! Well done!

PR challenges for Egypt

The ongoing protests in Egypt against president Mubarak  have caused chaos not only in the country but also in the PR industry. It's hard to rebuild damaged reputation especially when it comes to top travel destinations like Egypt.

The uprising made thousands of tourists evacuate from country's major cities leaving hotels and resorts empty. Even though most resorts are 8 hours away from Cairo and other big cities it seems that tourists still feel frustrated and are reluctant to stay or go to the country.

Comms specialists are trying new strategies to rebuild Egypt's international reputation. The main idea is to provide clients with accurate up-to-date information. PR practitioners constantly appear on a number of regional radio stations explaining that key tourist areas are unaffected trying to put them in context, i.e most of them are far away from Cairo and even are serviced by a different airport.

Would it be enough? In my opinion, once protests are gone, tourists will start flying to Egypt again because it is an interesting country with historic heritage.

Eco-friendly tourism: is it possible?

Today I participated in a facilitated discussion with other students. The topic was very interesting: eco-friendly tourism. To be honest I never actually thought about it even though I go on holiday quite often.

The discussion was really interesting and made me think: is eco-friendly tourism really possible?

Considering the fact that building a hotel or a resort already causes damage to nature, how could a resort be eco-friendly? Or if it is in terms of enery-saving, low carbon etc. then what about its suppliers? or employees? does such a resort exist anyway?

Certainly yes. For instance, in Bulgaria there is the so called "village tourism" where visitors live in ancient small villages preserved during the centuries. There are no cars or modern roads and the idea is simple: back to basics. Of course houses are well equipped with everything but people just escape from big cities' life, all the noise and stress. And the resort is apparently eco-friendly!

However, is this possible when it comes to contemporary resorts? I think it is the norms of the society in which organisations operate that influence the environmental impac, i.e society should become environmentally friendly in order to create a sustainable world.

Strategy and Objectives: which one comes first?

Recently I had an argument in university with some of my classmates about whether strategy or objectives come first in a PR plan. It was a long argument, my classmates even looked at books to find the answer and interestingly enough there were different versions in those books we found.

I personally think that strategy comes first - it's the whole lot, the meta message, isn't it? It's the big picture of everything, the whole sense. Every sense is formed by many little "senses" so to say and these are the objectives - things we want to achieve. What do you think?