March 2008

BRAND SARKOZY: WHO IS BEHIND THE FRENCH LEADER’S LONDON PR TRIUMPH?

The French president’s PR team brought the Sarko & Carla show already perfected in their home country to London this week with similarly successful results

The UK national press dedicate a third day of considerable space to the state visit to Britain by French president Nicolas Sarkozy, aided and abetted by his able uber-Frau.

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/organgrinder/2008/03/post_59.html

Nic and Carla pitched their three-ring circus sideshow in London and the media turned up in their droves to get a front row seat. Frankly, I am not surprised. From the moment Sarko was snapped at Disneyland Paris officially outing Carla Bruni - his gorgeous Italian heiress, model, singer/songwriter and erstwhile arm candy of numerous other high-profile men - I have taken more than a passing interest in the Élysée Palace spin machine. Clearly, Sarkozy is a formidable communicator and a willing puppet surrounded by a talented troupe of PRs. Everything the president does is a construct aiming for maximum PR impact.

The man with the plan and the grand wizard pulling the Sarkozy strings is none other than Thierry Saussez, an old political alchemist who has already had a hand in more than 500 election campaigns, working with leading French political figures including Jacques Chirac. Saussez, who created the communication agency Image et Stratégie Europe in 1982, has worked with Sarkozy since the 1980s.

As well as Saussez, Team Sarkozy boasts some of the brightest and shrewdest Gallic PR minds. Franck Louvrier and Laurent Solly are among the close inner circle of advisors, with an outer circle of 80 communication consultants working at the Elysée. They have moulded the image of a charming and glossy leader with the effortless power to stimulate the 24/7 media G spot.

Whenever there is something awkward for the French government to deal with, or the public start to have misgivings, then - voila! - a tasty morsel of Sarkozy’s private life is offered up as a sacrifice. Ricky Jay, the legendary magician, once wrote that a fundamental of magic is that at one point two things are happening: what appears to be going on and what really is going on. Magicians call it misdirection: they direct attention to what is irrelevant away from what is crucial. Sarkozy epitomizes the art of misdirection, assisted by his own glamorous Italian version of Debbie Magee.

Sarkozy’s public persona is one of a movie star or matinee idol, and his romance and marriage to Bruni is structured as a fabulous soap opera. It is a clever distraction, providing endless points of interest for the French people and clever intrigues set up to misdirect attention away from political blunders.

Saussez’s strategy has been to flood the media with soft stories. The objective is to feed the press with a new story every day. The volume is such that before there is time to focus on the detail of one story, another one is out there, cheating the media of commentary or analysis. Saussez has talked about how brand Sarkozy likes to keep the media on its toes, claiming that if you want to stay master of your image then you have to make the media run after you.

Sarkozy’s popularity has been due in the main to the use of TV to shape his brand. It is interesting to note that his friends, like Martin Bouygues, own many of the major media outlets. A good example is the Bouygues-owned commercial TV network TF1, which is now dubbed Tele Sarko because he is seemingly never off air. Leaning on these friends means that unflattering articles can be overpowered by this positive TV exposure.

However, the French media is becoming wary of the PR muscle leveraged on the press and television. At one recent press conference, a flock of 600 journalists was on hand to quiz the president but very few asked any probing questions.

His PR team has also sought to address negative coverage on the web, recruiting a young Nicolas Princen as “cyber spin doctor” to detect and counter internet attacks and rumours against the president. Frustrated by the satirising and ridiculing of the French leader the bright young thing constructed a campaign that tackled this negative coverage to great effect.

As time passes, it will be interesting to see if the hype generated by the triumphal London tour will refocus some of the detractors. Clearly political style over substance is the new French vogue

FIRST THE SPLIT, THEN THE COURT FIGHT, WHAT NOW FOR MS MILLS?

First the split, then the court fight. What now for Ms Mills?
March 24th, 2008 | Category: Mark My Words

As her celebrity persona passes into temporary obscurity perhaps its time to stop and take a close look at the Heather Mills phenomenon. Not since the cult of Myra Hindley have we encountered so much vitriol aimed at one woman. Poor Heather has been on a rough ride and taken a long drop into a deep well of resentment. So, what is her crime? To marry a pop royal and then try to convince the world that she was bigger than her Beatle?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/first-the-split-then-the-court-fight-what-now-for-ms-mills-799518.html

I have to admit I was part of the smug media cartel that pontificated about her ego, hubris, prominent outbursts and estrangement from reality. However, I believe that we all might have to reappraise the woman if she manages to turn it around and use her high profile divorce as a springboard to greater things. At a time when the granddaddy of spin, Lord Bell, is being hired to launder the image of Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus’s autocratic president, Heather’s quest seems more achievable.

So where does she go from here? The media makes no bones about its derisory treatment of her: she has been branded Pornocchio, Mucca and a porn star, but the fact is, she IS the (now) ex-wife of Sir Paul McCartney and, boy, is she going to have the last laugh. I predicted on my blog that she would soon be packing her trunk and three-ring circus and pitching up on main street USA to plunder the love. Let us not forget it was Yoko Ono who praised Heather for changing US public opinion of her by appearing on Dancing with the Stars. Even though Heather was knocked out in Week Six of the series, many viewers – including Yoko – were impressed by her determination to dance with her prosthetic leg.

She has guaranteed stardom in the States. Both Sarah Ferguson and Catherine Zeta-Jones exploited the US despite being written off by the British media establishment. The majority of the American public do not read or care about the British red tops, and every TV chat show and host will want to talk to her for one reason and one reason only – to be tantalisingly close to possibly the outburst of the decade. She will probably be offered all manner of breaks and cash to do this, and I am sure she will be smart and manipulate this interest to further her career.

Heather Mills’s self-belief and determination, together with her hubris, drive an ego that knows no bounds. Rebooting celebrity is about dedication and blind faith. I remember a client calling me up on a lazy Boxing Day afternoon questioning why I had not checked in with him the previous day. I replied that perhaps he had forgotten it was Christmas Day. He barked down the phone: “Mark, that’s the point. I should be in your thoughts every waking hour.”

Happily I am no longer repping the tyrant, but his monstrous sense of self-worth is now matched by his current box office value. I suspect Heather would expect that dedication and she also has a handsome war chest that will give her the means to hire the best tactical strategist.

The media and Heather Mills are symbiotic – they need each other to perpetuate themselves and this need exaggerates expectation. She will prove the maxim that anyone can become a celebrity once they have themselves in the news and have the power to keep themselves in the news. The great US publicist, Maynard Nottage, was the first person to leverage scandal. He courted criminals, thugs, and fallen celebrities of the 1930s to join his list of clients. Trust me, the Nottages of the 21st century are on hand, ready to lock and load.

There is an obscure US website which acts as a matchmaker, putting cash-strapped causes and celebrities together. Currently on the site is an animal welfare group that seeks a voice to help save nearly 600 fighting roosters, which were farm-bred for illegal cockfights, from humane slaughter. My advice: come on Heather, leap on your charger and fight for their lives. The press are suckers for a photo op with a cute animal in tow. It could be a great start on the short journey to recovery.