Have you heard of the charity DebRA?

DebRA is a charity devoted to finding a cure for a terrible skin afflication called Epidermolysis Bullosa.  More about the condition.

Have a look at this film about sufferer Jonny Kennedy – a real inspiration.

This is a very rare inherited condition that results in blisters, internally and externally, at the slightest knock.  Many sufferer develop skin cancer early.  The pain and restrictions on normal living are tremendous: changing dressing can take many painful hours.

I am giving some of my time to helping promote a dinner that deBRA is having in a month’s time.

The dinner has Michale Portillo speaking.  The event is now half full, but the organisers want to be sure of filling the remaining seats.  (I believe it is £450 per table of 10). The charity has some notable household names in addition to Michael.

The brief

The event should fill, but Tony one of the organisers is extra keen to put this to rest.  If the night is a success it will act as a platform for more – it will give the charity a real impetus.  So he is looking for ideas.

But more than that, the work of DebRA is not well-known.  The brief is flexible if it can get DebRA a higher profile.

All creative ideas welcome – something more than a charity run or jumping out of a plane – let your imagination run wild.

And you don’t have to be a PR to help – I also want to show how online interaction can work

Please leave ideas in the comment box!!!!

I had to do this, if only to use the image.

(Unfortunately I do not have the skills to airbrush myself – never mind).

The election will be almost upon us and as sure as summer used to herald the thwack of willow on hippy or crusty, the election will have that most weary of images: senior politicians pointing up at unconvincing posters, surrounded by photographers clicking away as though the public could not wait to read about it next day in the papers.

There are exceptions.  Saatchi and Saatchi’s Labour Isn’t Working had a touch of genius and was devastatingly effective.

But even I hoped this specimen might have dampened enthusiasm for the thrusting billboard campaign, I am disappointed:

I prefer:

Back to the serious point after these cheap jibes.  The conversations online are affecting the effectiveness of the traditional billboard.  This can be seen no more clearly than with my www.davidcameron.com

Within the time it takes to make a spoof, a campaign in “the real world” can be derided and scuppered, indeed work against the party in question.

Suddenly communications are more integrated and multi-channel than some imagined.

I expect when a political commentator asks will the election be fought online the answer from the “expert” should be it will be fought everywhere, and especially online.

What a great piece of PR.

I like it anyway.

A pub, probably with few stories to tell, suddenly has a “discarded” tank in its car park and some handy coverage in the local paper.  No-one knows whose tank it is, why it was left there; it is a good talking point: get a pint, have your photo on the tank – some useful revenue.

Actually there is only one “enthusiast” that has tanks in the area.  It is not a big mystery Poirot.  And you hardly forget where you park your tank; I have a silver Honda and in a big car park it can be hard to see, not so with camouflaged military hardware.

I just think this is quite a good example of how to create a story from nothing – a little bit of creativity, perhaps nothing special, but it tickled me.

There was yet more controversy surrounding Michael O’Leary and Ryan Air with the chief executive introducing prohibitive fees for luggage loads that offends his company’s sensibilities – O’Leary would be happy if we just took a tooth brush.

Controversial statements are standard fare for O’leary.  His abrasive, sometimes aggressive and generally arrogant style does not lend itself to generating the more positive images we have have of Stelios Haji Ioannou and Richard Branson, who play the PR game well.

Even though O’Leary is ridiculed and loathed in many quarters, Ryan Air continues to prosper.  Revenues are up every year and passenger numbers have shown incredible progress (as shown below).  This is no easy accomplishment as Ryanair has a number of black marks that would surely put any business in trouble, just three being unfriendly and complacent staff, hidden “taxes” and limited customer services.

Could it be that although O’Leary shows his genuine and heartfelt misanthropy he generates substantial awareness and interest in his business?  After all Ryanair competes on price and so some crimes can be overlooked if the deals are good (that is open to question).

When it comes down to it besides O’Leary, Branson and Stelios, which airline chiefs do we know?

I think O’Leary is far cleverer at playing the media game than we appreciate.

Thanks to Staniforth’s Mark Hanson as I found the image here.

In the Indian city of Mangalore women drinking in bars were attacked by men from a conservative and fringe political group called  Ram Sena, which believes women should not engage in such activities.

While different cultures have different views and I cannot say if it is accepted practice for women to drink in bars, nevertheless the attacks were certainly uncalled for.

The  assaults are being condemned in many quarters, especially as some women were kicked on the floor by assailants numbering 30 or more.

The reaction and protest against such behaviour has led to a Facebook campaign called the Consortium of Pub-going, Loose and Forward Women, which now has 5,000 supporters.

A pink underwear “direct mail” campaign to the offices of the right wing group is being planned and women have been urged to go to the bars in their local towns on Valentine’s Day and enjoy a drink.

Brilliant PR and marketing that will generate debate, support and shame the assailants.

I signed up to Twitter a while ago.  The time I did it escapes me and I have no recollection of it.

The concept when first explained did not grab me.  Why would I be interested in Stephen Fry being stuck in a lift for instance?  That was one of his latest escapades, good luck to him.

Actually my first experience was concerning the Big Chip Awards for the NW digital media sector.  I had worked on a couple of award entries for SEO experts PushOn.  I was at home on the night of the awards and was following Simon Wharton – the PushON chief – to see if we had won on Twitter.  Well, as the night wore on the Twitters become less frequent as the merriment increased.  At the point of victory it had all gone quiet.

Simon was right though it has a number of real ways that PRs and indeed any enterprise can use to communicate with its audience as listed by Drew B’S blog.  Among those listed are its use in crisis management and networking.

Indeed on the last point of signing up to follow a number of Twitters I had four reciprocate or message me.

The thing about social networking besides giving you a voice it can also give you an audience.  And sometimes a warm feeling that you can become part of a community.

Games company Electronic Arts used a fantastic promotional stunt to help launch its new game Mercenaries 2: World in Flames.

The game has petrol as a currency and using that theme it offered £20,000 worth of free petrol (£40 for each motorist) at a petrol station in North London.

Complaints flew as the queue caused inconvenience and possibly some extra hazard in road conditions.  The promotion was called a halt to by police when £12,000 worth of petrol had been distributed.

The protest from local residents, the wildfire nature of eager motorists learning about the offer, the theatrics of the petrol stations being decked in miltia outfits and the recent debate on fuel costs all helped attract media attention – certainly more than the £20,000 plus it took to stage the event.

Coverage hit the BBC, nationals and even got as far as Canada.

I imagine when the analysis of the event is complete the initial expenditure will make the whole project seem like a steal.  It all gives me an idea….

Crain’s Business Manchester ran quite a special story this week on blogmail.

The story focussed on disatisfied customers of property Dylan Harvey recovering their money with blog mail.  The pressure exerted by leaving comments on influential property sites that it uses to gain investors that told of their trouble with Dylan Harvey proved enough.  The  unhappy customers were able to recover their money without resorting to legal means, hence the title.  The link above will give both sides’ views.

The special thing is not so much the power of PR, using blogs to influence but where the story was placed: front page of Crain’s.

How often does that happen now?

Tai Chi and cows, can you believe it?  One farmer apparently performs in front of his cows and yield is up 10% apparently because the bovines are more content.  Of course it might all be down to any one of a number of farming reasons other than being prepared of making a fool of yourself (or local hero).

I cannot see that Tesco is going to pay him more for his notoriety.  The point of the exercise is unclear except for some showmanship and attention seeking perhaps.

Still the lesson is that original and silly stories sell.  This has been on TV, radio and national press.  The value must be tremendous.

The lesson is that there is a lingering misconception in some quarters that news is high brow or standards are slipping.  There has always been a place for low brow.