Good and Bad PR: We tried not to mention the Royals in this week’s column, but failed!

Been quite a quiet week in the media right? For some maybe, for Royals not so much. Go on then, I will talk about it, but first, off to another Royal, of the American variety.

Meghan appoints a UK PR person and gets positive coverage - PR Works!

Before Kate vs Photoshop came along there was a great advert for the PR industry this week in the form of a swathe of positive media coverage coming in for Meghan Markle.

Less than a week after it was announced that Meghan had hired a UK-based PR person, the positivity came flowing. The so-far-anonymous public relations professional had to have had a hand in the muggle-shot-video that hit all the UK media showing Meghan singing Happy Birthday during a surprise visit to a campaigner that she supported.

We can expect to see more stories like this now a Brit PR is on the job and hoorah for Meghan for taking this step. As I have said elsewhere, anything that shows the lighter side of Meghan, whilst still demonstrating her inspirational and role model side has to be a great thing for everyone.

Kate gets vilified but the media wins Bad PR

Why Associated Press decided to use a “Kill Notice” is only for it to know. Far softer options were available. I am going to suspect it is because they knew the resulting publicity would be massive, and how its brand would be tagged on to it all.

A mum tried to manipulate a photo of her and her family to present them in the best light. It’s not the end of the world.

It’s not easy being EV

Less than a few months after a parliamentary committee found evidence that EV cars were being subject to overly negative media stories (oil of us do wonder who could be behind that), another one has popped up.

What Car? Magazine carried out a very important sounding “investigation” into how many miles an EV can drive on one charge in “real-world” conditions.

Lexus came out worst with a shortfall of just under 40% in actual range compared to advertised range, for two of its cars. The Mercedes EQE 300 Sport Edition came out best with a 21% shortfall.

The AA (the inventors of newsjacking, you should read my report into the history of it, half way down this page) was quick to piggyback and get some media miles in the bank by putting the boot in.

There was a lack of an industry defensive position apart from the independent car companies trying to convince reporters that the tests were shoddy. Can you imagine if someone attacked petrol or diesel performance… a whole army of defenders would miraculously appear.

Mayor of London steps up war effort against Russia

Russia better be prepared for some heavyweight action coming its way. The Mayor of London has announced that the ULEZ scrappage scheme will be extended and that the cars handed over will be gifted to Ukraine.

I did a quick search to see which car is the most scraped in the UK over the last year and the Ford Focus tops the poll. Second up was the Vauxhall Corsa.

Neither of these would make an effective war-machine in my mind, but it’s a good way to get rid of our scrap and far cheaper than shipping it to China.

On a far more sensible note, London Ambulance Service, also under the remit of the London Mayor’s Office, has announced that it is donating 50 decommissioned ambulances to Ukraine. I would imagine these will be far more helpful to the war effort than a load of pimped up road-man cars.

An Apple a day keeps the doctor in bay

As we all know, Apple is a fan of a ridiculously priced product. They are amazing products, but they are always expensive. The Apple Vision Pro is no different thanks to a $3500 price tag.

Apple does have a handy knack of gaining great publicity for its products and it hit it out of the park this week with a story about the Vision Pro being used in a surgical procedure. The detail doesn’t match up with the headline, but let’s not let that get in the way.

The scrub nurse was wearing the device to keep track of the procedure and help the surgeon choose the correct tools. I mean, we have all played Operation, all you need is a pair of tweezers. Still, the headlines were glorious and alpha parents everywhere will now be buying these devices to try and give Tarquin and Tabatha a head-start for medical school.

Thanks to Alan Morrison for the story spots this week. If you have any, fire them my way, please and thank you. Credits given, or hidden, depending on your own agenda.