Why torment us any longer??

In May the biggest happening of the year is going to take place, at least for all of us who are abnormally obsessed with 'Sex and the city', cause in two months time the film will premier. Ever since the cast started shooting the film it has attracted massive media attention, and footage from the onset locations leaked out on a very early stage.

The girls are finally back together again!

I thought I'd look at the promotional techniques that have so far been used to promote the film, and realised two things very quickly. Number one was that it still is two months left till the film premiers, so the promotional campaign probably hasn't kicked off in full strength yet, so I will definitely have to do a follow up closer to the premier. Number two was that with the success of the series, the media massive media coverage it has already attracted and the innumerable rumors surrounding the cast, the film won't need as much promotional efforts as other films.

The series finished in 2004 and ever since there has been rumors of that a potential movie was to be made, but as with most other succeful series there has been said to be too much rivalry between the characters for the film to happen. As with any series, but this one in particualr where the importance of friendship is the main emphasis, this rumor I think has been used very much as a publicity stunt. It is very hard to imagen that people that are as close friends as the girls are in the series wouldn't be just that in real life to. In November 2006 contactmusic.com had an article on that the actresses finally may have settled their differences, and now the film project hopefully is back on track. The rivalry between Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Catrall have benefited them both in terms of publicity. The main reason behind the feud between the two is the massive difference in salaries, buzzle.com states that Sara Jessica Parker (Carrie) makes almost twice as much as the other characters. Samatha, Kim Cattrall's character, has grown incredibly popular over the years, and she has therefore until now refused to take part in the film, until salaries are re-negociated. What is very interesting is that both the PR team, and the actresses themselves are denying that there are any tensions among the cast...

Friend or foe?

Another thing that is furthermore adding to the massive interest in the shooting of the film is the fashion aspect, which is one of the series' most important way of attracting its massive audiences. 'Sex and the City' is known for constantly displaying different designer outfits and shoes, making the four main characters looking fabolous at all times. One of the Elle's fashion bloggers, for example, are featuring three pictures in her blog.

One of the snapshots from the film, making fashion bloggers go crazy.

The promotional team behind the movie has now released an official trailer, which have spread like wild-fire online and can for example be found here. Heat Magazine for example has it as one of their top stories on their website, and the daily mail have a full article, including lots of pictures, about the making of the film on their online version. Overall I think any PR team behind the release of a new movie would thank the gods for all this promotion, without really having to put their back into it...

And please why makes us wait any longer?

How important are the daughters??

The presidential elections in America is dominating the press at the moment. Everywhere in any news medium there are many articles, videos and blogs available discussing the progression of the elections. One thing that has not been mentioned very much in the UK media is the candidate’s children. I came across a very interesting article on BBC news about the importance of the behavior of the candidate kids, and how they aide their parents in their campaigns. The behaviors, or rather misbehaviors, of both the current President Bush's twin-daughters Jenna and Barbara, and also the candidate’s children are like gold to the media. Pictures and stories about how the Bush twins got drunk and fell over in college, and former candidate Kerry's daughter Alexandra wearing a see-through top in Cannes, have been spread all over the world, most certainly causing some major distress to each party's PR departments.

Jenna Bush fallen over...

But the offspring of the candidates can, and are being, used by their candidate parents to reach the younger voters. The most frequently mentioned ones are Chelsea Clinton and Meghan McCain, who both of them are very actively taking part in the campaigns of their parents, but in two very different ways. "It’s Meghan’s “What You See Is What You Get” attitude that helps set her apart from other candidates’ kids. More liberal than her father, this Columbia University graduate’s overwhelming need to communicate her experiences on the road has manifested itself in the form of a blog." As stated in the BBC article; "While Ms Clinton tells voters how fiscally conservative her mother is, Ms McCain shares make-up tips and playlists of music from her favourite pop stars, like Kanye West and the Ramones." Meghan McCain has a blog site called McCainBlogette.com where she, and two of her friends, blogs about life on the road with her dad in the "Straight talk express". The blog has been said to be quite controversial since Meghan does not in the traditional fashion keep a low profile, using her blog to cheerlead her father. She is being a citizen journalist and the blog contains casual comments about the campaign, cities they have visited and victories won by her father. There are also video clips and photos, that I think traditionally would have been banned and cursed by any candidates PR department. "The girls post photos of "Dad," the candidate, having his makeup done in the pre-debate green room." On the site you can also access the blogette playlists where Meghan lists her favorite music at the moment.

Meghan McCain with her dad..

Meghan McCain is up for an award for her blog, and I think it gives a really good and relaxed insight to what's going on behind the scenes of her father's campaign. By communicating to the public through means like blogs, McCain's daughter helps her father to reach out to younger voters. She makes it easy to relate to the candidate in a new modern fashion, very different to the old rigid style of political communication. Chelsea Clinton is a lot less rebellious as keeps to the more traditional ways of promoting her mother, but is still a very important part of the campaign, targeting young voters that have a track record of not being the most dedicated voters.

The presidential candidate's children belong to a new generation who are more used to using online means of communication than their parents. They are also used to the more conversational tone that is very effective in reaching out to younger audiences, and are therefore invaluable to their parents. Through this type of communication the candidates gives a more personal in look into their campaigns, or at least McCain is, which will most certainly benefit him greatly...

Naughty naughty Williams!!

On Friday the 7th of February I, as usual, bought the ’Daily Express’. This particular day the front page featured an article on how the Archbishop of Canterbury wants to integrate some aspects of the Muslim Sharia law into the current British one. I could not have been the only one thinking to myself that how surprising it was that such an important member of the Christian society argues for the integration of Muslim, another religion’s, laws.

Naturally Archbishop William’s written piece and, given radio interview in Radio 4’s ‘The World at One' stirred major controversy, especially within the Church of England. Many members of William’s own congregation distanced themselves from the opinions of the Archbishop and even demanded that he should resign from his post. There were also many members of the Muslim community featured in different articles both print, broadcast and online, that argued against the Archbishop’s proposition. The story, as might be expected, attracted massive media attention and had some major PR implications for the Church of England. Many different media channels picked up on the enormous news value of the story, and where very quick in describing exactly what the sharia law is, with its main focus on beheadings and stoning of women. Something that added even more to the extremely bad light the archbishop was under.

However, as any sane person would understand, Williams was not suggesting that we should have beheadings and stoning of women in the streets. On the 11th of February William’s, very successfully, came out and defended his comments in front of the Anglican Synod. In his speech Williams said “I believe quite strongly that it is not inappropriate for a pastor of the Church of England to address issues about the perceived concerns of other religious communities.” And

On total this whole incidents both brought very bad, but also perhaps some good publicity to the Church of England. At first I think everyone was mortified but what he suggested, and it brought about some very bad publicity to an already questioned organisation. Many of the members of the church tried to smoothen the reaction by distancing themselves, and even Gordon Brown gave a statement saying that British law should be the only one operating in the UK. But when Williams went out and defended his comments and more explicitly explained what he had meant by his comments, he almost got standing ovations from the crowd and only a few members were still hesitant about what the archbishop was saying. After this he also got the support from the prime minister, and all of the sudden the Church of England, It think, could be considered to be an organisation open to other cultures and religions, which could be very important in such an ethnically diverse country as the UK.

Media was very important, and made the PR implications for the Church of England even worse. But at the same time, especially online media, helped clarify the situation and one could listen to both the original interview, the speech to the Anglican Synod, and also watch some of the reactions to what Williams had said. After all, and I definitely do not agree with Williams in any way, everything makes a lot more sense that it first did when presented in the print media...