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SKV, GMPTE and GMPTA embroiled in fracas with the MEN | Print |  Email to a friend
Wednesday, 11 July 2007
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Manchester PR agency SKV and the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive and sister Authority body, have felt the wrath of the MEN in a second fake picture fall out in as many months. The battlefield is the proposed congestion charge for Manchester.

John Williams, head of Mason Williams, one of the region’s biggest PR companies, told How-Do that following on from the "earlier Brazen bullshit, this ridiculous behaviour makes all media people in Manchester look like dicks.”

The communications team for the bodies backing the proposed congestion charge for Manchester, issued a series of leaflets featuring four attractive young people, purporting to be residents, in favour of the charge.

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Kiki
The leaflets were distributed to every home in the conurbation.

It subsequently emerged that ‘Kiki’, a lawyer from Ashton and the other three ‘Manchester residents’ – Terry, Neil and Rachel - were stock shots of US models.

SKV initially denied that the case studies were manufactured.

The leaflets were created by GMPTE’s agency, Creative Concern, working with Janine Watson, the Town Hall’s communications supremo, John Barbour, head of communications at GMPTE and Andy Spinoza of SKV.

It is understood that the team putting the leaflets together felt that the use of stock shots, common practice for a standard promotional campaign, would suffice on this occasion.
 
In this case however, it is clear a significant error of judgement occurred. The collective comms team was quite aware of the emotive nature of the debate over congestion charges and to use such self evidently manufactured (and trans Atlantic in feel) images was a cock-up of major proportions. To then try to defend it, clearly points to the need of some communications operations in Manchester to attend a refresher course in crisis management.

The protest that “the intention was not to mislead and these case studies were only ever intended as illustrative examples” is hard to substantiate.
 
The team backing the proposed congestion charge seems to be finding it increasingly difficult to get its message across despite spending over £500,000 to date on range of communications tools including telephone polls, advertising, PR and focus groups.

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Whittaker
The MEN is distinctly unmoved by the prospect of congestion charging.

John Whittaker of Peel Holdings, owner of Liverpool Airport and the Trafford Centre, has thrown the considerable weight of his company/ies behind the “no” campaign. His PR team raised the thorny issue of privatising Manchester Airport as an alternative method of paying for the charges and visitors to the Trafford Centre cannot fail to be impressed by the number of posters railing against the congestion charge.

Peel was at one stage negotiating to have a Metrolink station at the Centre but this plan was dropped some time ago. Ironically, if Manchester does ultimately get its way, the £3bn plus of funding that would accompany a successful bid, would enable the Trafford Centre link to go ahead.

Andy Spinoza, founder and MD of SKV and a former MEN journalist told How-Do that “It’s rare, almost unheard of, for the MEN to reference a PR agency in this way.
 
“It’s especially disappointing, given that we have been servicing GMG’s (Guardian Media Group) journalists across the MEN, their local newspapers, Channel M and online, with quotes, fact checking and responses for several months, often at very short notice and in challenging circumstances.

“We can see how emotive the debate has become when they feel they have to profile us in this way. Happily however, our relationships with individual journalists within GMG are unaffected.”

 

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  Comments (8)
RSS comments
 1 By Nina Wheeler website, on 11-07-2007 11:59
John Williams, I seem to remember a fair few stunts you've pulled in your time. There but for the grace of God and all that.... 
Nina
 2 By confused, on 11-07-2007 13:54
is the removal of the Dark Fibre blog and this story in any way related?
 3 By Simon Wharton website, on 11-07-2007 15:19
The Dark fibre blog itself seems to have disappeared from Blogger. Completely gone as opposed to abandoned. Maybe shifting to another platform without considering linkage or RSS???
 4 By confused, on 12-07-2007 17:36
Thanks simon. Probably just a coincidence that the dark fibre blog disappears as soon as there is trouble at the mill within the organisation that dark fibre works.
 5 By Tony Murray, on 14-07-2007 03:19
Media owners play ball when they want to. In this case SKV and Creative Concern were naive in the extreme to assume that the MEN wouldn't take any opportunity to kick them in the nadgers with regard to this one.
 6 By top posse, on 15-07-2007 09:46
Back to the drawing board as far as honesty and integrity is concerned. Oh, and add handling a media crisis to that.
 7 By Jeremy website, on 17-07-2007 18:39
I think what was more interesting was that the new congestion charge leaflets had ways to reduce carbon footprints plastered all over them, but we printed using very unethical papers and inks. Easy to say one thing in PR about how ethical you are, but then go for the 'cheap as chips' option when no one is looking.
 8 By AL Mack website, on 17-07-2007 20:11
Don't forget that it was was a Manc blogger who first brought this up: http://ysr23.com/blog/?p=427

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