Good and Bad PR: Thames Water saves penguins, London Zoo tips the scales and Topshop returns

We remain knee-deep in silly season, a time when stories that may not normally make the cut, get attention because of a perceived lack of serious news.

All news is important news in my eyes. Let’s get down to it.

Penguins saved by water bosses

Imagine the excitement when I realised the first good PR story of the week actually hails from the very same county in which I live. Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service joined up with a bird sanctuary to achieve something that the world’s most elite comms teams have failed to do; get Thames Water some much-needed good PR!

Bosses at visitor attraction Birdland noticed the heatwave had caused its penguin pools to dry up, putting our little tuxedo-clad friends at risk. It got in touch with Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue and Thames Water, and soon an emergency operation was underway to rehydrate our feathered friends.

Fortunately, members of the rescue team were able to film the call-out, and the story made its way over to PR’s hero, Neil Shaw of syndicated content fame. The story went all over the place, and quite rightly so.

Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue’s team deserve a medal for its actions. By this, I mean getting Thames Water some positive media coverage.

Great work from all the comms teams who were involved and especially for the fire-fighting heroes for making sure our penguins were kept safe. The first good PR of the week goes to them.

London Zoo fat-shames its animals, but the muggles love it

What is this? Two cute animal stories in one week. Maybe I need to rethink this silly season thing…

London Zoo has made fat-shaming the weight of its animals a yearly thing, and I am completely here for it. Every year the media gets the nod and we are shown videos and pictures of various zoo animals being tempted onto the scales with a treat.

Clipboard-carrying zookeepers are included in the shots and it has become the animal-photo-story equivalent of giggling A-Level students leaping high in the air on results day. The BBC even went to lengths of live reporting the goings-on via its site.

With over 10,000 animals on site, it is a (Wooly) mammoth task. The Lemurs weighed 2.5kg on average. The Galapagos tortoises weighed 125kg each! The penguins averaged about 4.9kg each. The list was endless, and the media lapped it up.

Great PR for London Zoo and I love it!

Hotel breakfasts to blame for the world’s ills

I am embarrassed to say that I used to be a staggering 119kg. Considering I have the height of an Oompah Loompa, I basically used to resemble a Ribena berry. During a failed health check, when I worked in an in-house comms role for a global insurance company, I was told by some fitness-zealot that I had the same fat ratio as a pork-scratching or a packet of Skips crisps. I loved both snacks. I knew I had to make some changes.

The first thing to go in my fully expensed overnight work trips at journo hosting’s (those were the days was many a hotel cooked breakfast. At least I was ahead of the curve on that front. According to UNEP’s Food Waste Report, breakfast buffets are the worst offenders for global food waste.

The average hotel breakfast buffet ends up with 300g of waste compared to made to order meals that generate 130g of waste. So that’s it. Breakfast buffets were not just the cause of my own weight-downfall, but they are a blight on the world.

Good riddance I say, and I salute the hotel chains that are looking to eradicate the most wasteful meal of the day. Bad PR for hotel breakfasts. Just for the record, I now float at around 78-82kg depending on the weather, and the snacks in the cupboard.

Mum can relax on rollercoasters

Big love to everyone’s fave agency, Smoking Gun for the next good PR story. They worked with Alton Towers on a piece of research that revealed that almost half of mums don’t go on rides at theme parks for fear of a bladder leak.

Alton Towers partnered with NIXI Body, a leak-proof knicker brand to raise awareness of the issue, and raise awareness it truly did. I have seen the story all over the media and hopefully it will help those who suffer. Kudos to Smoking Gun for getting the story out there and winning the much-coveted good PR gong for Alton Towers and NIXI Body.

Vaping causes health issues – fact

I mean, you would have to be some kind of numpty not to think that vaping is in some way bad for you. With the vape industry so new, it is hard to get any concrete evidence for regulators to get their hands on.

The University of York and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine jointly analysed 56 reviews on youth vaping to see the correlation between their use, health issues and a move to cigarette smoking.

It discovered an increased risk of respiratory illness (duh) such as asthma, and a greater chance of substance abuse such as drugs and drinking. Other issues related to lower sperm counts, pneumonia, headaches and a link to depression and suicidal thoughts. All in all, as any normal person would expect, they are not that good for you.

A scientist with a Dr in front of his name from British American Tobacco was sent to dispute some of the claims around vaping being a gateway to smoking. I may write to the British medical authorities to get his certifications checked out as, in my opinion (and not the opinion of this website, its owners or my dearest editor Elizabeth), that is one of the most misguided reputation management statements that I have ever heard… and I have even worked for and tried to defend <name redacted by the legal team>.

Bad PR for the vaping industry and British American Tobacco are also teetering on the verge for its response.

Topshop returns and proves that nostalgia campaigns remain the #1 marketing trend

The high street has been a sadder place without Topshop, Topman, Burtons and Fosters. Who remembers going to get an outfit that could be worn on a big night out and using one of those retailers?

Well, Topshop is back. I don’t fully get the ownership model, or who is behind it, but I love this story because it once again shows us that there is still life in nostalgia marketing campaigns.

I also love it because the new boss of Topshop, Michelle Wilson, didn’t duck the questions when it came to comparisons with everyone’s new favourite clothing pantomime villain, Shein. You know, the Singapore-based clothing brand that makes Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct look like Harrods by comparison.

Whilst modern kids are obsessed by Shein, my generation loved Topshop and that appears to be the audience the phoenix brand is going after. Good PR for Topshop and this columnist wishes them well.

Thanks as always to Alan S Morrison for his story spots and those of you who sent ideas over this week. Sorry I can’t cover them all… some are just incredibly dull if I am honest (I am kidding, or am I?).