December 2006

THE RETURN OF KYLIE

As the showgirl who recovered from breast cancer returns to the British stage tomorrow, writers, performers and campaigners applaud the most triumphant of comebacks

MARK BORKOWSKI, PR CONSULTANT

I think she certainly is a modern, popular, cultural icon. To a certain extent she is a pop entertainment phenomenon that transgresses a generation and sexuality. She's a doyen to the gay culture and she's someone that young girls look up to.

She's wholesome, she's fresh, she pushes sexual boundaries to a certain level and never crosses them. She's never vulgar and has a high sense of kitsch and style and, in a way, she has pushed the envelope to a new area where people are trying to catch up with her.

She has reinvented herself in every generation. She started off as a soap star and has grown from there. She works her publicity extremely well in the sense that she's never in your face and knows where the shadows are to retire to. She plays the media very well, she feels in control of it and her people are in control of it.

She chooses her moments with a huge amount of style. She is not someone who has used her private life. She chooses her marketplace to sell her image very well. There is a huge amount of sympathy for anyone who has been struck down with cancer.

It's an evil disease and she beat it. I think she's a great example to lots of people who have been in that situation. Someone in the public life is as vulnerable as anybody I suppose and I think there is a huge amount of sympathy. I also think there is a huge amount of sympathy because she doesn't seem to be particularly lucky in love either.

Her management handle her publicity very tastefully. They don't over-egg it and have called for privacy through the difficult time and they have achieved it.

http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/features/article2112572.ece

Published: 30 December 2006

MARK BALDWIN, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR RAMBERT BALLET. KYLIE PERFORMED IN CHOREOGRAPHER RAFAEL BONACHELA'S '21' WITH THE RAMBERT

Kylie came into the practice room wearing combats, kicked her shoes off, and really joined in. She was charming, lovely, and utterly gorgeous. She is a real working artist just like anyone else, with no reputation as a tantrum thrower, only her medium is songs that are three minutes long.

Like most art forms, contemporary dance has its audience, and Kylie, who is amazingly popular, was able to cross that. Stravinsky and Kylie can be a similar experience: it is the point of view from which you look. Young teenagers would be screaming at the performance, which we loved, because the piece was about the energy of the youth.

Whether you like it or hate it, the whole thing oozes charm. I went to see her at Earl's Court and the video screen of the audience showed a man in the front row in tears. "Don't cry, it's only me," she said. I suppose that in the pop world, which seems to be full of bad boys, she comes across as a good girl.

We take ourselves seriously, but why should we not have a cultural icon who is also a pop princess? I certainly hope to work with her again.

PETER YORK, AUTHOR AND COLUMNIST

I get the Kylie-thing second-hand, through friends who understood her instinctively. Now that she has fabulous tours and costumes, performs the "La La La" song that can get any party started and is a great dancer (though I have never seen her on stage), it has become obvious.

But there is also something slightly elusive about how she got there. She was a poppet, but she was singing other people's songs and acting so she wasn't fully independent.

Then she became a devotional object and simultaneously a gay icon, and at that time there was something missing in me because, although I didn't think she was rubbish, I didn't quite get it.

She is part of everyone's 1980s history - as one half of Scott and Charlene - and a lot of grownups watched Neighbours at the time: it showed us how nice it was to live in suburbia, in Australia.

Then came the fabulous performances, and last year, her illness. People could really identify with her through her breast cancer. And now she is among us and we all care about her. And I think that's a good thing.

CHRISTINE FOGG, JOINT-CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF BREAST CANCER CARE

When Kylie announced that she had breast cancer, the number of younger women who contacted our helpline and website with breast health concerns rose dramatically overnight. She has played an important role in raising awareness of breast cancer, of the fact that it can happen to anyone and the need for women of all ages to be breast aware.

After her treatment, Kylie spoke about how difficult this period of her life had been, how her diagnosis had been a bolt from the blue and how hard it was for her family and those close to her. This resonated with thousands of people living with breast cancer and their loved ones.

Many found Kylie's frankness comforting and were reassured that they weren't alone in feeling confused and scared at times.

Like those we support, Kylie demonstrated just how important other people are in helping to deal with the experience. She has gone on to show that there can be life after breast cancer.

Life may not be the same but as many men and women tell us, emerging from the disease can give a renewed eagerness to live life to the full and a stronger sense of what is important to you. Kylie is a very visible symbol of this.

JAMIE FULLERTON, 'LOADED' STAFF WRITER

I do think she's a cultural icon. When you compare her to Madonna she really strikes a harder note. She started out as a slightly frumpy girl next door on Neighbours and was unfortunate to launch her musical career in the late 1980s in a culture of leggings, headbands and frizzy hair and it was all a bit gawky.

But since her reinvention she hasn't looked back. She's never looked better, she's never looked sexier. I can't really see her stopping really. Her tour is going to be a huge biblical event. She's probably going to establish herself as probably the biggest female pop star in the world.

Madonna seems to be on a decline and is more interested in founding kabbalah schools and in Aids babies. Kylie's comeback is there for the taking. In terms of her sexiness, she's got a cheekiness about her and makes a lot of eye contact with the camera and in the videos. She's got a bit of a wink and nudge about her and you can tell she's quite a sexual person. She's got a genuine X-Factor about her.

Our readers are big fans and I'm sure everyone would love to wake up to Kylie Minogue. "Can't Get You Out of My Head" remains to this day one of the defining pop moments of the new millennium. It's as iconic as she is. She's a unique character and has managed to maintain this engima over the years.

We know we like her, we know she's sexy, we know she's cheeky, we know she's a great thing and we know she's got a sexy bum, but we're still intrigued. No one has ever had that interview with Kylie and got to know about her truly. You don't often have that enigma in pop music because there often isn't any personality behind the plastic sheen. People genuinely are as vacuous as they often seem. They're manipulated puppets and that's the last thing you could say about Kylie. She's all flesh and blood.

GERMAINE GREER, FEMINIST ACADEMIC AND COMMENTATOR

In mixed company, Kylie is completely overlookable, unlike Madonna, who talks better than she walks. I met her with Nick Cave, and thought, "Oh my God". She was the least engaging person in the room, just a toothy smile that's part of her theatrical and telegenic look.

In the media she works in, she appears huge, but you wouldn't notice that bottom in real life. And it is very easy to have a pert bottom when it is 18 inches from the ground. Kylie has worked hard to get that behind, but it is a tiny arse on a tiny woman. She is not going to make big girls happy; she comes up to my waist.

I don't know why she is a cultural icon. The gay community are so energetic in promoting things they like, but let's make it clear: we are not all standing around karaoke machines dressed as Kylie.

Kylie has apparently uttered a book over the years, and I was asked to write a chapter about what Kylie means to me. Eventually, I had to apologise and admit to the publisher that she means nothing to me.

I just hope she survives, she has had a really bad experience and is still not a free woman.

MATTHEW TODD, ASSOCIATE EDITOR OF 'ATTITUDE' MAGAZINE

She just does what she does perfectly: she is a throwaway fluffy pop goddess who makes you forget all the problems in the world. Her tunes come on and you prance around with all the other gays and women, and there is no pretence of anything else.

We have grown up with her in Britain. I was the generation that was watching Neighbours when it was a big deal. We watched her transformation from tomboy to sexy. It is not simply a gay thing, and ironically, there are quite a few gay men who react against her because they are worried about having stereotypically gay taste. But my mum loves her, women in the street love her, men in the street love her. Even Madonna asked how she was when I interviewed her last year.

Kylie made her first public appearance at G-A-Y after her illness, performing "Jump to the Beat" with her sister as she was performing her greatest hits, and the atmosphere was hysterical. I'm sure Dannii knows she will always be upstaged by her sister now.

Similarly, when Kylie and Victoria Beckham had singles out at the same time, Victoria played G-A-Y alone. The audience started chanting, "Kylie,Kylie". You just cannot fight with her.

MARK FRITH, EDITOR, 'HEAT' MAGAZINE

I have edited three magazines, in my time, Smash Hits, Sky and Heat. And if Kylie's on the cover sales go up. We put her on the cover the week after September 11 and that was our highest-selling cover of her. It was interesting that she had the number one selling album and single a couple of weeks later.

I think people wanted that kind of unashamed pop music to try to cheer themselves up and take their minds of what had happened. I think she embodies what pop music has been about for us, which is to be fun, glamorous, larger than life and also work well on stage.

Today, in an era when pop music is poor, Kylie is a pop star to cherish. She puts so much effort into what she does and takes her role as pop star very seriously. She makes sure that when she leaves the house she looks like someone who takes her job seriously.

You forget how much a pop star can mean to people. When you see those who are meeting her for the first time or seeing her in concert, it's almost a life changing experience for some of them. She inspires such loyalty and devotion partly because her live shows are now so brilliant. A Kylie live show is now the cool thing to be seen at.

I also think during her cancer battle, what she went through, we went through with her. We live in an age when people can relate to things through celebrities, so if we like someone, we will empathise with them.

People were very interested in how she dealt with what was happening. What we have seen since then is that she has surpassed the almost messiah-like status she already had.

FAYE RICHARDS, KYLIE LOOK-A-LIKE AND TRIBUTE ACT PERFORMER

I am from Wales and Kylie's mother is Welsh and the first time we met she joked that we must be related in some way. I was persuaded by an agent to do a Kylie tribute. I was trained as a singer so performing was not something new to me but I didn't think it would be very popular. I also have a degree in Psychology so I thought that if this didn't work out then I could always go into that.

Eventually, I decided to give it a go and within a month I was working with Kylie herself and contracted to companies such as Ford to help promote products that she was the "face" of. I have been doing it full-time for more than five years.

Some people are amazed by the likeness. On the way to gigs, I have had people in service stations drop trays when they catch sight of me. There was a huge fuss once when I was doing a job for Channel 4 and they filmed a fake kidnap attempt.

I didn't realise we were filming right outside Kylie's flat and the police arrived, sirens screaming. You'd think that people in London would be used to be seeing celebrities but they often stop in the street and point even when I'm just dressed as myself. I get embarrassed sometimes, especially when I'm in Tesco.

When I first met Kylie she was so excited. It was really fantastic. I have found it easy to do my job because I don't have to be that far from myself to be honest. She is so natural and so un-diva like. It's easy to be her.

PAUL STOKES, NEWS EDITOR 'NME'

The key thing with Kylie Minogue is her ability to continually reinvent herself, which is why I would never write her off as a pop musician. Considering how moribund pop music is at the moment I think people will be screaming out for her to come back to do something interesting.

She was cool last time she came back, whether she will be again all depends on the direction she takes. She seems to appeal to lots of difference audiences. People who consider themselves cool seem to be into her as much as out-and-out pop fans.

I think her broad appeal is down to the fact that she's one of the few people in pop music at present who has anything that approaches a personality and doesn't look like she has been manufactured to hell by the industry around her.

Over her career, she has always come across as slightly more approachable, slightly rough around the edges and less manufactured. You get a sense of who she is. She comes across as being slightly knowing when she does the outrageous dance routines.

Although she's taking it very seriously on a musical level and working with interesting producers, on the performance side she does seem to have a bit of fun. She puts a bit of joy back into pop music which a lot of the acts around don't seem to have.

If you take her career as a whole in the context of the British Isles she is a cultural icon. You can almost chart ages of popular culture by what Kylie was doing. I don't think she's one of the greats up there with Aretha Franklin. I don't think her voice or her material is strong enough. She knows her limitations and pushes all the way to make the most of what she's got.

PETA FASHION POLICE

Post Christmas PETA have created a publicity stunt in the States to make global headlines. People were ticketed today in downtown Chattanooga for wearing fur, leather or wool.

Two PETA members wearing provocative police costumes acted as fashion police handing out citations while holding placards reading "Animal Skins Are a Fashion Felony". PETA says it wants "shoppers to go faux and make fur, leather and wool a thing of Christmas past."

PETA have staged so many publicity stunts they deserve a huge pat on the back. The charity's activists have dressed up as chickens, rats, carrots, rabbits, priests, even Santa Claus to make a point. My favourite PETA stunt saw Pamela Anderson the TV babe unveil a poster for the animal rights group during a visit to Vienna. The poster showed the actor clad in a bikini made of three lettuce leaves. It read "Turn over a new leaf: Try vegetarian." Another high was when they used a former Penthouse model to promote vegetarianism by wrestling in a vat of tofu in cities across America.

CHRISTMAS CRACKERS OR REAL TURKEYS? WINNERS AND LOSERS IN 2006

In an eventful year for the media, we have seen boardroom battles and shock resignations; public acclaim and private fear. We ask a dozen industry insiders to select the real successes and failures of the last 12 months

Mark Borkowski
Founder, Borkowski PR

The success of Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat is a cracker. It takes a British comedian to show Hollywood how to promote a movie properly.

Heather Mills and Paul McCartney are both turkeys. You could tell more about the machinations and the battles between them by the PR advisers who came in and out of her life and changed her strategy.

Also, the gaffe in the royal household, when Camilla repeated Diana's mistake [by accidentally exposing her ankle coming out of a mosque in Lahore]. When it comes to choosing between fashion and political correctness there's only one decision in Pakistan and it is a sari and trousers.

http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,,1978306,00.html

BANDITS WITH CAMERAS

Welcome to the real world. No matter what anybody thinks about media intrusion, never underestimate its intent and determination. The fourth estate has might which has no peripheries.

Noel Edmonds new friend Liz Davies was exposed to the full heat of the paparazzi yesterday? She was forced off the road twice attempting to pick her children up from her mother’s house. Then arriving home she found two photographers in full combat camouflage and balaclavas up tress surrounding her property. This is the 21st century and fame even when its not sought is a corrosive acid

TRIVIAL PURSUIT IS IN THE NEWS

Trivial Pursuit is in the news; it seems that its questions are getting easier. The great parlour game has become a victim of the dumbing down of culture. Borkowski won the account to promote the game back in the early 1990’s and we retained the job for five years. Much fun was had by one and all. We came up with a concept to get the media interest where each year the annual edition was launched by a party that made national news. We researched all the new questions and bizarre items in the annual edition, and brought them all together, along with the people to eat food, drink and listen to music and entertainment ….. all determined by answers to questions. One year we had the Andrews Sisters, an Elephant and Valerie Singleton all in a Fish and Chip shop in Lisson Grove. Oh happy memories.

Handling Noel Edmonds isn’t easy, but on occasions there are some insane moments. The man has hit the headlines again this week, with lots of speculation on his new girlfriend. Both The Mail and The Express ran huge features this morning. Unfortunately the Express "piece" was illustrated by a picture of NE with his new love. Unfortunately the picture was one taken in the summer outside San Lorenzo, which also ran prominently on the front page. it is not a picture of his new love, Liz Davies. I have had a lot of calls this morning from some red faced Express folk. Mmm... oh dear indeed accurate fact checking is obviously in vogue!

ITV HOLDS X FACTOR WITH 12M VIEWERS

Mark Borkowski, a PR and marketing expert, said the public still warmed to well-made reality shows despite claims the format was exhausted from the Scotsman -

"You can criticise, but at the end of the day the advertisers rub their hands with glee because they've got a clear identity of an audience and there is no shortage of people who want to sponsor it," he said.

"It's event TV, everybody is talking about it and it's one thing that ITV have got right. And, to a certain extent, so has the BBC with shows like Strictly Come Dancing."

http://news.scotsman.com/music.cfm?id=1875942006

ITV holds X Factor with 12m viewers
FERGUS SHEPPARD MEDIA CORRESPONDENT (fsheppard@scotsman.com)
ITV last night claimed a ratings coup as it revealed more than 12 million people tuned in to watch former pizza restaurant waitress Leona Lewis win the final of the talent show The X Factor.

The peak audience figure made it one of ITV's strongest performances this year, ahead of the jungle endurance test I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here.

The commercial broadcaster gave two and a half hours of its schedule on Saturday night to The X Factor, which pitted 21-year-old Lewis against 18-year-old Liverpool singer Ray Quinn.

About 10.2 million viewers tuned in for the first part of the show, broadcast at 7pm, and the later results programme, shown at 9:30pm, drew an average of 10.4 million. However, ITV said that audience spiked to 12.6 million as the Londoner was declared the first female winner.

ITV said this year's X Factor had proven more popular than the 2005 and 2004 series and the network promptly secured the rights to broadcast the show until 2009, announcing it had signed a three-year deal with Simon Cowell, the show's creator and one of its judges, famed for his acerbic comments.

A spokesman for ITV said: "To have almost 13 million people tuning in to see Leona win is fantastic and shows that ITV is still at the forefront of entertainment programming."

However, the battle of the big talent shows is not over yet. BBC1's Strictly Come Dancing culminates next Saturday and the hugely popular show, in which professional dance tutors and celebrity partners compete in pairs, may yet match ITV's figures.

While the finals of The X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing went head to head last year, the BBC's dance contest was in its semi-final stages on Saturday.

Like The X Factor, Strictly Come Dancing is divided into two parts - the talent contest and a later update in which those going through to the next round were announced.

BBC1 is pinning its hopes on the fact that, with The X Factor out of the way, it has a clear run next week for the final of its show, in which Mark Ramprakash and partner Karen Hardy will compete with Matt Dawson and Lilia Kopylova.

ITV has been repeatedly slated by critics for an over-reliance on reality and talent shows. One of the most derided, Celebrity Love Island, was axed this year after its second series.

Mark Borkowski, a PR and marketing expert, said the public still warmed to well-made reality shows despite claims the format was exhausted.

"You can criticise, but at the end of the day the advertisers rub their hands with glee because they've got a clear identity of an audience and there is no shortage of people who want to sponsor it," he said.

"It's event TV, everybody is talking about it and it's one thing that ITV have got right. And, to a certain extent, so has the BBC with shows like Strictly Come Dancing."

As The X Factor winner, Lewis has been awarded a £1 million recording contract and the machinery of the pop world has already swung into action.

Her first CD single, A Moment Like This, was already being printed in the last moments of the show and 50,000 copies of the download version of the track had been sold within 30 minutes of it going on sale on Saturday night.

Radio stations yesterday began playing A Moment Like This and it will be available in the shops by Wednesday.

The song has already generated one million advance orders and is tipped to unseat Take That's Patience to become this year's Christmas number one. Last year's X Factor winner, Shayne Ward, got to number one on the back of the programme with his debut single That's My Goal.

Eight million viewers voted in the final of The X Factor with 60 per cent of that support going to Lewis, who performed four songs, including Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You, Celine Dion's All By Myself and Take That's A Million Love Songs.

The competition between the finalists was the last stage in a process which saw 100,000 people initially apply to audition before Mr Cowell and fellow judges Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh.

IT’S AN INTERESTING LIFE BEING A HUMBLE PUBLICIST.

What a surreal day following on from the after show comic glamour of the British Comedy Awards where I rubbed shoulders with Charlotte Church, Ant and Dec, Alice Beer and Matt Willis. I had a rather wonderful time seeing old pals like Jonathon Shalit with his new client Myleene Klass, Ed Fosdick who now heads up Ant and Dec’s company and the fabulous Alice Beer with her hallucinogenic puff ball skirt. I escaped third degree burns after being "monstered" by Addison Cresswell brandishing a smouldering cigar, but listened intently to the musings of "uber" criminal lawyer Henry Brandman on matters relating to Barrymore. The mighty comedy producer of Little Britain, Paul Roberts, looked majestic whilst Laurie Mansfield held court with wonderful tales of the up and coming pantomime season.

I then spent the following day helping the PR team advising Mohammed Al Fayed on how to react to the Stephens report into the death of his son and Diana, Princess of Wales. The emotionally charged press conference was silenced when Mohammed produced censored U.S. intelligence letters that he is going to submit to the inquest. A cynical press corp. of over a hundred media were alive to the news that there is, after all, a huge amount of assembled material that Lord Stevens of Kirkwhelpington has not addressed.

Mohamed said : "It's shocking. It's completely outrageous that a leading Scotland Yard officer can come up with such an unbelievable judgment. He definitely been blackmailed to say exactly what the British intelligence want him to say."

Mohamed claimed that six months ago, British intelligence agents stole a laptop from Lord Stevens' office.

He added: "I am sure they found something very devastating for him, and are using what they have, the information, to blackmail him, to make him like a dog, to say exactly what they want him to say."

Mohammed believes Diana was pregnant with his son's baby and that the couple were engaged. He claims the British Secret Service arranged the crash to prevent a member of the royal family from marrying a Muslim.

Read all the media briefing documents about Henri Paul's blood the embalming of the body, the missing vehicles, motive to murder and knowledge of engagement.

It’s an interesting life being a humble publicist.

GIANT PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS

Liberating creative genius from process is one of our core beliefs. The great stuntsters knew how to take risks to generate column inches. Our client Nigel Marven is gradually becoming more famous, influenced by some of the ideas I have inspired.

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His appearance at last night’s British Comedy show has made headlines this morning. Luckily his python didn’t escape into the audience. I remember the chaos caused when Jim Rose’s scorpions managed to escape from their box in the BBC’s Pebble Mill Studios.

During the “after show ”party last night at the TV studio, I had to look after Nigel’s corn snake. It attracted a good deal of attention and it’s amazing how many people want a chat when you have a reptile wrapped around your neck, it’s a conversation starter.

BRITNEY SPEARS VS VIRGINIA HALL

Yesterday a rather interesting email popped into my inbox containing a link to a collection of photographs of Britney Spears being ‘papped’ as she got out of a limo. Britney had decided to have a hedonist night on the town with her pal Paris Hilton, sans knickers. The short skirt she chose to wear from her extensive wardrobe, indicated that she was "unaware" of the publicity stunt potential of a night on the town. Her need for publicity is a given; distorted by the adoration heaped on her by her fans that fuel her need for constant attention to identify her celebrity status.

Compare this motivation with the extraordinary life of Virginia Hall, who today is being honoured 20 years after her death, for her extraordinary work during the Second World War as a spy. She was also known by many aliases: "Marie Monin," "Germaine," "Diane," and "Camille." Her niece will receive a Royal Warrant, signed by George VI, for the work she did during the War. Virginia worked for Churchill’s Secret Operations Executive, the forerunner of MI5. She conducted guerrilla operations behind lines every day, risking her life. She organised underground activity and helped crews escape back to England. The Gestapo declared Hall "the most dangerous of all Allied spies" who had to be destroyed. And they offered a reward in Wanted Posters for her demise. She was also known as the woman with a limp -- a hunting accident early in life left her an amputee. After the Gestapo wanted posters made her situation untenable, she fled through the Pyrenees Mountains into Spain. During the journey, she sent a radio message to London, reporting that "Cuthbert"— her nickname for her prosthetic leg — was giving her trouble. Her commanders didn't understand the reference, and their reply suggested the gravity of Hall's circumstances and her value to the Allied cause: "If Cuthbert troublesome eliminate him."

She was never caught, and after the war she continued to work for the CIA but slipped away into anonymity. She never sought any reward or adoration for what she did and chose obscurity which ultimately fuelled myth and legend.

At roughly the same time, Daniel Boorstin the social historian, telegraphed the dawn of the coming age of celebrity when he wrote the following:

“Our age has produced a new kind of eminence "celebrity". The celebrity has been fabricated to satisfy our exaggerated expectations of human greatness. The hero was distinguished by his achievement; the celebrity by his image or trademark. The hero created himself; the celebrity is created by the media. The celebrity is always a contemporary. The hero is made by folklore, sacred texts and history books but the celebrity is the creature of gossip of magazines, newspapers and the ephemeral images of movie and television screen. Celebrities are differentiated mainly by trivia of personality. Entertainers are best qualified to become celebrities because they are skilled in the marginal differentiation of their personalities... Anyone can become a celebrity if only he can get into the news and stay there. Figures of entertainment and fashion fill most of the celebrity ranks, in part because they have at their disposal a well-oiled publicity machine. There is an obvious financial incentive for creating celebrities: Movies, TV programs, popular music all revolve around them; the advertising industry regularly avails itself of their services and endorsements to sell a wide range of products. Most celebrities come from the world of entertainment because the entertainment industries occupy such a prominent place in public life.

Never has an academic's words been more relevant. Perhaps the events of the last year have signalled that the ephemera of celebrity needs to be challenged. Images of Britney's “tush” should be relegated to the dustbin of history whilst images of bravery and sacrifice need magnification. If we can amplify heroic lives such as Virginia Hall, perhaps then we might generate a new hope and better values in life. If we don’t, we might see the fundamentalist PC visionaries impose a new straight jacket on morality. I feel unease at being part of an industry that is happy to plunder for profit moronic values. Let's face it, they are part of a complex industry captained by shadowy captains, new masters of the universe laughing all the way to the bank in Lichtenstein. They will chew up a generation and create a future legacy that will see a hapless demographic flounder airlessly on the bank, struggling to understand the contact they made with the devil.

SO IT SEEMED A GOOD IDEA AT THE TIME!

Let’s celebrate the year by having our Christmas staff party in Amsterdam. The idea was born from a need to celebrate in the true Borkowski style. The proud tradition of Christmas celebrations has been a thing of legend with a host of venues from garages, art galleries to Indian takeaways and seedy eateries.

The legend is that those who claim to be able to remember the party were not present. The detail isn’t important but the fact that there will always be casualties seems to be the important historical constant for the organisation.

The gory minutiae will never be a matter of public record but somebody counted them out and I assume counted them back in! It seems thatt we now hold the record at the Supper Club for the biggest bar bill.

I was in Amsterdam for various new business meetings but perhaps more significantly on a pilgrimage to the creative shrines that cluster in this ingenious village. Invited many moons ago to mentor an artist finishing his course at Das Art

This extraordinary finishing school for global artists to realise their visions was an idea inspired by Ritsaert ten Cate. Check his website
The DasArts Foundation (Advanced Studies in the Performing Arts) was created in 1994 under the aegis of Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and operates in association with the Amsterdam School of the Arts.

Approximately 25 artists from different artistic backgrounds study at DasArts. It does not have a fixed curriculum. Each semester, one or two mentors curate a so-called Block: a programme centred around one theme to be explored in depth by the participants.. Each Block is unique and relates art practice to current developments in society.

About seven years ago, I was asked by Ritseart to mentor Duro Toomato a visual artist film maker and performer, who at the time was creating a movie called Camel Bollocks the world’s shortest and most interesting film. We have kept in contact ever since and every time I pop over to Holland I spend time with this cultural life-force. Currently he is developing a children’s book, “Bear The Warlord And Evil Birds”, the story is illustrated by Martin Hrdina.....

"It was a spring Sunday afternoon. PD Bear was happily walking among the flowers and trees and bees. He was looking for a honey pot. There is no such a thing as a honey pot in Lap2pland, but somewhere in PD Bear′s memory this bear activity was programmed long time ago, so he repeats the command as part of his daily work".

More on our encounter later, but various mad plots were hatched. After being reprogrammed by Duro, I cycled over to visit the Ritseart in his new studio. He pursued a career as a visual artist late in life, first on a one year grant to PS1/MoMA New York, then two years as a student of the Rijksakademie Amsterdam, but he balks at calling himself a full time artist.

Recently he has taken over a shop to work in and allow the odd visitor to wander around his extraordinary cannon. I marvelled at his stuff and contemplated his wisdom which re boots my journey as a publicist. One of his sayings remains very important to me. “Nothing can be reasonable or beautiful unless it’s made by one central idea, and the idea sets every detail.”

Ritseart created one of the power houses of performance, the Mickery-theater established in 1965 in his farmhouse in Loenersloot, a village near to Amsterdam. The Mickery-theater staged some of the most crucial experimental work of the last forty years. A theatre for the avant-garde of the world over 800 productions, presented, co-produced or produced, from Stockholm to Tokyo, New York to Belgrade, Moscow to Reykjavik. Visiting my old friend and walking through his Gallery invigorates my belief in constant change.

HEATHER YAXLEY COOL BLOG

I met Heather Yaxley the other day at the Word of Mouth gig. I have been reading her blog since then and rate it as one the best PR blogs on the market. I suggest its regularly consumed. Greenbanana, it uses Wordpress which this blog will be switched to in January.

BIG EAT PART 2

I decided to post my vlog of the Wookey Hole "Big Eat". Its nine minutes long but I think captures the spirit of the event.

Watch me rap about the Mince Pie Marathon Competitive Eating Challenge

TORY LEADER PLEDGES 'REAL GRIT' IN THE FACE OF LOWER POLL RATINGS

Tory leader pledges 'real grit' in the face of lower poll ratings
By Andrew Grice, Political Editor Independent 06 December 2006

David Cameron's honeymoon is over. His personal ratings are falling as the euphoria over his election as Tory leader a year ago today fades, and his party's showing in the opinion poll is no higher than it was then.
A lot has been achieved in his first year. Cabinet ministers admit he is proving the greatest threat to Labour since it came to power in 1997. The Tory brand is no longer contaminated in the voters' eyes.

Mark Borkowski, PR Expert view

'I think he has reinvigorated the battle for voice in the media. The Tories lost so much ground, and so many of their leaders have been dullards when it comes to communication. Cameron has a hell of a lot of style. He has been ahead of the game, on green issues, signing up people such as Zac Goldsmith, all very powerful in terms of making Labour think, 'We have a fight on our hands'. He's been seeing celebrities and doing lunches and dinners with influential people. There's a freshness to it, but whether it's ultimately changing root and branch Conservatives in the Shires is the real question. To me, his image feels like a film set: you see a bright building and you go behind it to find it's propped up with sticks. When it comes to the hand-to-hand fighting of an election, he's got to be more than just a pretty face.'
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article2042962.ece

HANGMAN'S TALE

I left the office last night to see an advance screening of Christopher Guest’s movie For Your Consideration at a private screening room in Soho. I really wanted to see his new movie, billed as a parody of the pretentious Hollywood award ceremonies. I took my seat as,Tim Spall, introduced the screening, which seemed odd as I didn’t recall him being in the film. I have not met up with Spall since a strange encounter in a rehearsal room with Stephen Poliakoff back in 1995, but that’s another story for another time. I thought, 'funny he is not in Guest's film', and instantly I knew that I had wandered into the wrong preview cinema. It emerged that my uber PA Bolton-frau had got the dates mixed and instead of mirth and merriment I was in for night of deep and intense emotion. I discovered all too late that I was about to watch Pierrepoint the gripping and dramatic true-life story of Albert Pierrepoint, Britain's most notorious hangman. The blurb I picked up rattled on that "following in the footsteps of his father and uncle before him, Albert joins the 'family business' in 1934. Living a secret life as a master hangman, as well as a humble grocery deliveryman and loyal husband, Pierrepoint's reputation as the most highly regarded executioner in the land results in him executing some of Britain's most infamous murderers including Derek Bentley and Ruth Ellis, and also the Nazi war criminals convicted at the Nuremberg Trials" I heard some geek whisper in front of me, that the first person we see hanged in the film by Spall is actually Spall's son, also an actor. Anyway folks, it's brilliant. . If Spall doesn’t win a BAFTA for his performance then the world is truly insane. The director of the film is my old pal Adrian Shergold who I met in my first job in London when I worked as the publicist for the Theatre Royal Stratford East. Adrian was associate director nurturing the talents of Tony Marchant and Barrie Keefe . Adrian is a craftsman and a brilliant director who really labours to produce awesome work. I worked on the beta version of the movie, fifteen years ago when it was a stage play about Ruth Ellis called Breakneck by Vince Foxall It got mixed reviews at the time but in truth, Breakneck was a phenomenal offering that deserved higher praise. I recall that the FT review was a little iffy. In retrospect I suspect the critic being hustled at the theatre bar by an East End character who tried to persuade the hapless scribe to purchase fake Rolexes and vacuum-packed bacon, certainly contributed to his mood before the curtain went up!. Oh the joys of the Royal! I hope Shergold's film picks up the accolades it richly deserves

TAKE THAT: ROCK'N'ROLL STARS REBORN

From the Independent on Sunday 03 December 2006

... The publicist Mark Borkowski knows all about engineering a successful second chance; he's the man behind Noel Edmond's renaissance. ...

When Take That split up in 1996 a generation of pre-pubescent girls went into shock. Now the not-so-fresh-faced four are reunited. Sarah Harris explores the secrets of a successful second coming

http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/features/article2035115.ece

Just when we thought we'd waved goodbye to the denim-clad ghost of the 1990s boyband phenomenon, Take That have begun their second ascent to pop stardom - minus Robbie, of course. With their first No 1 single in more than a decade, a new album and an 11-date tour of the UK and Ireland in April, it looks like it could be magic once more.

When Mark, Howard, Gary and Jason parted company in 1996, you could hear the wails of 2,000 pre-pubescent females emanating from every classroom in my secondary school. One girl threw a chair at a wall and had to be sent home. Others sobbed hysterically while clutching tear-stained photos of Mark Owen. For months afterwards, "TT 4ever" was etched in ballpoint on every toilet door. Special helplines were even set up to deal with the unprecedented national upsurge of teenage hysteria.

Sean Rowley, broadcaster and creator of retro music label Guilty Pleasures, believes that Take That's renewed success could be down to the shrewd timing of their break-up. "Take That were always going to have an incredible comeback because of the way they bowed out," he says. "They did the right thing by jumping ship at the peak of their powers." By leaving when there were still hoards of aggressively screaming teenage supporters, they ensured that, 10 years later, the same fans would be waiting in the wings, gasping for another bout of Take That fever.

But comebacks are not always so smooth. Ask All Saints. Just a few weeks in, the reunion of the whinging foursome is already being talked about as a flop: their first album in six years, Studio 1, entered the charts at No 41 last weekend.

The publicist Mark Borkowski knows all about engineering a successful second chance; he's the man behind Noel Edmond's renaissance. "The bottom line is that if someone has had a successful career there is always a place for them to be reinvented," he says. Edmond's appearance as the front man of Channel 4's Deal or No Deal, he explains, was down to talent, years of hard graft at the BBC - and a touch of Cosmic Ordering. "He was nurtured by the BBC for decades, whereas the careers of many young people who come to fame now are brought out purely by the power of marketing. Just because someone has the ability to shovel bugs down their gob in the jungle, does not mean they would have the skills to bring Deal or No Deal alive."
Borkowski says you can never bring back someone who was the product of 15 minutes of fame, "because all the comeback does is expose why they are no longer famous".

If only someone had told that to poor Pete Burns. After 20 years of obscurity his re-emergence on the last Celebrity Big Brother proves that one hit song (1985's "You Spin me Right Round") does not a career make. Since his attempted comeback, Burns has become pilloried as a loud-mouthed cross-dresser with a face like a car crash. But it doesn't seem to worry him. His latest projects include an autobiography, Freak Unique and an ITV special called Pete Burns' Cosmetic Surgery Nightmares.

In the vacuous age of reality TV and Saturday night "talent" contests, real talent has become an increasingly rare treat. So proper stars of yesteryear suddenly look very appealing. Crooner Tony Bennett, who made his name alongside Sinatra in the 1950s, has enjoyed a magnificent rebirth riding high on the recent demand for musical "authenticity". As testament to his renewed success, Bennett had an album out this year (Duets: An American Classic) and recently performed with Christina Aguilera on Saturday Night Live. The newly rejuvenated careers of David Cassidy, Leo Sayer and Bruce Forsyth tell a similar tale - as if, like a fine wine, the celebrity's age has become a testimony to their quality.

Psychologist Dr Aric Sigman argues that the trend towards repetition is born out of a need for continuity. "Humans don't like change, and one of the reactions is to seek continuity and turn to frames of reference that are more longstanding in their lives. This breeds the nostalgia we are seeing now - even for things like cheap boy bands."

You only have to look at the popularity of the Guilty Pleasures DJs, and retro club nights such as "Popjustice" to see that we have an appetite for the familiar. "Pop music is always reviving, turning around and looking back on itself," says Sean Rowley, "and here we are poised, getting ready to jump feet first into the Nineties again with the rebirth of Take That."

The Take That comeback proves that we relish an unexpected resurrection almost as much as a spectacular failure. How we laughed at David Hasselhoff as the hairy-chested Mitch Buchannon in Baywatch, but loved him in his parodic reincarnation as The Hoff; how we sneered at Les Dennis's spectacular fall from game show grace - but warmed to him after his self-deprecation in Extras.
However, as Take That's Jason Orange weakly sings the haunting lyrics: "Who knows how long this will last?" - the cynic can't help but wonder the same.
HAPPY RETURNS: So good, you get them twice

Take That
The first single from the band's new album is aptly entitled "Patience" - which must have been essential after 10 years in celebrity no-man's-land. Howard Donald - the forgotten member of Take That - kept a low profile after the band split in 1996 and admits to spending much of 1997 in bed, watching television. Jason Orange found fulfilment in fringe theatre. Pretty boy Mark Owen had a failed stab at grunge during the late 1990s and won Celebrity Big Brother in 2005. Robbie Williams satirised Gary Barlow's post-Take That career in a track on his Escapology album called "Where Has Gary Barlow Gone?" After a No 1 album in 1997, Barlow's career was overshadowed by Robbie's colossal success.

5ive
Leaping on the Take That comeback bandwagon, 5ive have announced they are returning to music with a new album, minus Sean Conlon who is pursuing a solo career. 5ive claim to have had a relaxing few years, recuperating from the trials and tribulations of pop stardom. Scott Robinson married and had kids, Abz went on Celebrity Love Island and the other two set about finding themselves in books and on far-flung tropical shores. Ritchie Neville confides that, "Being spotted everywhere you go actually becomes quite a pressure." He travelled to India, considered opening a sushi bar in Oxford, and dabbled in property development, until deciding that he was really a "creative person" and happiest making music. The band is optimistic and its manager Richard Beck says, "Everyone loved them first time round - it's going to be awesome."

The Fugees
After years of vicious infighting, religious epiphanies and false starts, the Fugees are to release their first album in a decade. Hip- hop fans will be waiting to find out whether it will be better than their UK tour a year ago. At a Manchester Arena gig, the band members were barely on speaking terms and their performance was so shambolic that even Wyclef Jean admitted that, if he had paid for a ticket, he would have led the booing. In 1996, however, The Score sold more than 17 million copies. The group then began embarking on solo projects, egos clashed and the clandestine affair between Lauren Hill and Jean turned sour.

Jason Donovan
After a decade in the celebrity wilderness and a couple of weeks in the celebrity jungle, Donovan is set for stardom again. He was the golden boy of the 1980s, playing Scott Robinson in Neighbours, and then a bestselling pop star. However, a cocaine habit, hair loss, psoriasis and a perhaps misguided court battle with The Face over suggestions he was gay put paid to his glittering career. His record company dumped him. Since then he has toured with The Rocky Horror Show, acted in Australian medical-legal drama MDA (2003), sung in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (2004) and lived in domesticity in Notting Hill with his girlfriend, Angela Balloch, and his two young children. But now Jason Donovan is hot property once more.

BORKOWSKI & WORD OF MOUTH

Interesting feed back to the Word of Mouth thing from some folk that were there

Simonsays -

Simon Wakeman -

Greenbanana -

Still feel crap that I could not stay on. Oh well.

MAN FLU STRIKES PUBLICIST

Despite a debilitating bout of man flu, yours truly struggled across London to take part in Maestro Andy Green's conference on Word of Mouth, billed as "The ultimate conference on winning the battle for word-of-mouth communications". I was worried that the pints of Lemsip. I had supped would knock me unconscious. It wasn’t the finest delivery, thanks to a flawed presentation mechanic, and fluffing my opening gags. "Proof positive that Word of Mouth doesn’t work. I recognise at least ten people in the audience who have friends who’ve heard me speak before - and they’ve still shown up". Boom boom Also..."there was incredibly bad Word of Mouth this week for ITV’s ‘Stars in their Eyes’, when it emerged that ex-KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko took Polonium 210 on purpose so he could appear as Gail Porter. "

Seriously, I really enjoyed engaging with a good audience who picked up on my rap about Transformational Storytelling. This is the Borkowski process that is used to generate word of mouth. Trust me, it really can make a measurable difference.

I passionately believe that the word of mouth debate will continue with some vigour over the coming months. I think that when we all get around to examining how the negative rumour mill is being stimulated, we might consider our roles in generating this bile. I hope that the blog world will be filled with well researched and pragmatic comment, rather than trite cynical put downs that emphasise our insecurities.

At the gig, I posited that word of mouth is nothing new. Let's face it , down the generations people have rated word of mouth advice above all other forms of communication when deciding what to buy. For decades, companies have experimented with how best to exploit it. Edward Bernays, the father of modern-day PR and spin, acknowledged this back in the 1920s when he launched a covert campaign for Lucky Strike ,enlisting health and fashion experts to write about the benefits of being slim and the dangers of sugar. I suggested that what was needed is a refocusing on the substance behind the word of mouth rather than the word of mouth itself: drilling down to the powerful stories that lie behind the brand.

I left without listening to the other folk. I wish I wasn’t so under the weather as it seemed to have a vibrant energy. One other thought, going home in the cab, something suddenly occurred to me. If Word of Mouth is so powerful, how do you explain the existence of Aberdeen Angus Steak Houses?