Well hello there winners and sinners, here we are again.

Are you ready for the latest instalment of Good and Bad PR? A gentle reminder to those who are new to these parts. Yes, I could talk about the lunacy of Trump’s speech or other heavyweight global issues, but in this part of the internet, I leave that to the heavyweight media types, and I stick to the lighter elements.

Off we go.

Brand Beckham goes Royal and it works

I am not going over the who’s and what’s of the situation. As a fellow ‘estrangee’ I just know that it is not nice for anyone, so imagine seeing it play out on such a global scale. Ouch. Brooklyn fired metaphorical shots and brand Beckham didn’t dignify it with a reply. A very Royal (and Sir Elton) and wise approach, and it is working with the media.

My favourite sentiment analysis tool tells me that the D&V are winning on the media side with 60% positive headlines and articles versus Brooklyn’s 30% and 10% neutral. Dig a bit deeper, though, and the social media platforms show something different.

The platforms that the kids love, such as Reddit, TikTok and Instagram, show a far larger and dominant positive sentiment towards Brooklyn, but the platforms used by us oldies go in the favour of D&V.

Who is winning? Who cares! The only winners are the clickbait media types. Neutral PR for both from me.

Ryanair versus everyone’s favourite Bond villain

I have no such qualms about picking through the bones of a corporate scrap and Ryanair V Musk is brilliant.

Clearly, no one from the Musk comms team tipped him off that you don’t mess with O’Leary. In media skills terms O’Leary is Shaolin Monk level.

Musk taking a pop was like watching a cat (O’Leary) then go on to play with a mouse (Musk). Musk claimed he would buy the airline when the territory ownership rules clearly demonstrated that he couldn’t. O’Leary then came at him, in a press conference that looked as cheap as the airline’s prices, with the kind of shock and awe that would have a deranged orange American leader bowing with admiration.

O’Leary claims the spat has increased Ryanair ticket sales and you know that he will carry on toying with the Bond Villain until the media moment passes, whereby the Irishman will then remove the oxygen of publicity and shut it all down.

Big win for Ryanair and O’Leary, and to think it all started over an internet service.

Jet2 forgets its passengers

Sometimes, during a brand-issue moment, you just must smile, nod, take it on the chin and wonder about some people. 35 passengers missed their flight after they (boiled down) took the wrong turn in an airport and waited in the wrong place to board their plane.

I remember sitting in various comms offices, getting briefed by operational teams during many an in-house crisis comms moment and us all thinking, “how”? This is one of those cases.

How did the muggles not twig that they were in the wrong place? How did the plane staff not twig that it was a bit unusual for 35 passengers to be missing?

Jet2 did the best it could in comms terms, and I thought its response was strong and quite rightly highlighted the conversations it would have with the airport about how this happened (comms translation: make the f*cking gate sign-posting clearer!).

Still, they could not avoid the negative headlines, and for this alone, and despite a very good go at it from a respected comms team, they get a bad PR from me.

AI is not paying off after all (yet)

In much the same way that a UK Government report found that misinformation was somehow being spread about the effectiveness and efficiency of electric vehicles (now, who could be doing that?), I am always suspicious of reports playing down the positive business effect of AI. However, the report has not come from a source that you would expect, such as a trade union, but from the highly respected PwC.

A global survey of over 4000 business leaders found that AI had so far neither reduced costs nor increased revenue. Although PwC does say that we remain in the early era of AI, it is a staggering headline and one that caused a mild gasp amongst many media, The Register included (and they don’t ever do mild gasping).

PwC is saying that AI effectiveness will be delivered by company-wide deployment and not just by using it for isolated projects. And which business consultancy firm could potentially implement and deploy these tools? Well, you guessed it.

A Bad PR gong from me for AI not being as effective (yet) as we are saying it could be.

The importance of being positive

Let’s end on something that reiterates the importance of being positive. Something we all need right now.

Regular readers will know that I am often sceptical about Team Science and its pointless research (I would much rather that they stick to trying to cure cancer than trying to grow wings on a mouse etc).

Tel Aviv University needs to take a bow, though. It has found the first link (in humans) between positive thinking in vaccine recipients, leading to far better results than those who receive them and are not positive. The research showed that positive thinking may boost the immune system more than those who think less positively. I love this!

Those who took part in the study were given brain training sessions for increased mental strength. These people went on to produce a stronger immune response after receiving a vaccine than those who did not.

Well done Tel Aviv University, and the worthy recipient of the final Good PR of the week.

Thanks, as ever to Alan S Morrison for the story ideas, his finger is, as always, firmly on the pulse.