Tomorrow's Business Today
PR heroes and zeroes of the year
Who is the real Elon Musk, the conspiracy theorist nutjob with 97 children, or the genius who is going to save humanity from itself?
If it is two guys, the nutter was in charge today, as Musk asked Twitter users if he should stay or go as CEO of the internet site.
So far, it’s a 58% yes, and you sort of guess Musk has voted against himself numerous times.
Were we searching for PR disasters, Musk would look like an obvious case.
Has anyone destroyed so much goodwill and shareholder value in such short order, seemingly on purpose?
Musk is our PR zero of 2022.
Now the heroes, as you know, cannot be actual PR people, since you Svengali types don’t really exist. You operate in the background, only stepping into the light to take the blame, and never the credit.
That is why there is no such thing as PR industry awards. If there were, you would all shun it. You would find the idea so preposterous, you wouldn’t even enter.
I think the PR person of the year is Volodymyr Zelensky, though it does help that his opponent is such an obvious cartoon villain, albeit one with first strike capability.
The manager of the England football team also has a good case. A really smart, likeable person in charge of a terrific, talented bunch.
Moreover, Sarina Wiegman actually wins tournaments.
MT boss Mike Lynch, lionised here more than once, has also played a blinder.
Before he started appearing nearly every day on TV, I think the common perception was that driving a train isn’t that difficult, and that they are surely well paid enough.
He has persuaded many of us that the drivers and other RMT members have got a case. It will be interesting to see if that view survives a winter of strikes.
It has been, again, a fairly extraordinary 12 months.
I am going to predict that next year will be better than this one, just on the basis that I must be right eventually.
Very Happy Christmas to all.
TB shall return, unless balloted to strike, on Tuesday 3rd January 2023.
Press release of the day
Do you have enough flood insurance? This release from Confused.com pushes the button, and had at least me phoning my insurer to check.
Jessica Willock says: “Our research found that almost 3 in 10 (29%) Brits actively avoid buying or renting a house which is under a flood risk. But as climate change continues, the risk of flooding is becoming harder to avoid.”
Time to clean your gutters and inspect your roof before it is too late.
