Celebrity shenanigans

Hot on the heels of the GSMA wheeling out Robert Redford at the 3GSM World Congress (why?), LG has announced the latest in weak celebrity tie-ins.

According to a press release from LG's PR firm, media whore David Blaine has signed a deal to become the face of the company's new Shine phone.

"The LG Shine phone oozes sophistication," says the release. Yeah, it does. The mirrored fascia is pretty nice. But someone who definitely doesn't ooze sophistication is the desperate-for-media-attention, hollow-cheeked 'magician' who enjoys nothing better than starving himself for weeks on end in a man-sized ice cube. After the ice cube escapade, I'd bet that he oozes something altogether different.

Come on LG, a few extra quid and you could get Paris Hilton. And you know she'll have had first hand experience of the camera phone/video function.

The big four

A slight amendment to yesterday's post. I hear from an esteemed colleague that the holy trinity (romancing a client, a journalist and an analyst) is no longer the height of PR excellence.

One step better is The Big Four. A client, a journalist, an analyst and a colleague trump the trinity. There are bonus points, apparently, for the colleague being your boss.

And who says PRs don't work hard.

3 Gins SM

It's been almost a week since 3GSM (finally) finished. The dust has settled, the hangovers have pretty much cleared and it's back to PR business as usual. But not before I spend some quality (working) time reflecting on another year that was.

As far as this PR person can see, 3GSM attendees fall into three camps. Exhibitors and delegates are buoyant; journalists are bored - and the majority of the PR industry is drunk. In fact, it's a mystery why some PRs bother paying for their press officer pass at all, when most of their time is spent downing shots of tequila in the nearest bar.

Morals also seem to go out of the window at this show, more than any other. Common practice is to blag ones way into a competitor's press party - or to indulge in a little out-of-show activity with journalists/clients/analysts (delete as appropriate, although one PR mentioned that 'doing' all three is known as the 'holy trinity' - earning the lucky winner a high score in PR Top Trumps).

The fact that the show is held over Valentines day might explain some of this.

Not completing the holy trinity (or even a holy one-ity) myself, I had the luxury of some free time to actually check out the show. If I was a journalist, I'd be writing about this company, whose enthusiasm for its products inspired this genius strapline:
'Shattering Tomorrow's Boundaries of Mobile Antenna Specification Solutions, Today!'

I might also mention the topless LogicaCMG stand ladies - but I think they've already been covered (ahem).