Online PR: News and Views from ://CORPORACT

Online PR Blog: Retirement Looming in US Presidential Race

It seems that retirement is looming for Grandpa McCain and soon-to-be Grandma Palin.

According to a poll released yesterday by the Pew Research Centre, Barack Obama is leading 53% to John McCain's 34% among those who have already voted. 

Looks like America doesn’t really want its economy kick started by the oldest inaugurated president after all.

It’s been an interesting few months in the countdown to the US presidential election during which time all the characters of a good soap opera have been introduced:

• Mixed race
• Unmarried teenage mother
• Working pensioner
• Down’s syndrome 4-month old
• Sick grandmother
• Glamorous wives
• Local plumber

We’ve seen some emotional endings for soap opera stars in the past.  There was Ethel Skinner’s euthanasia, Dennis Rickman’s stabbing, Steve Owen’s car crash (EastEnders) and half the cast of Emmerdale was wiped out in a plane crash.

But, there has never been retirement.  Until now.

Grandpa McCain will be able to finally put his feet up and set a good example to all those middle aged UK workers on the other side of the Atlantic who face a longer working life when the state pension age increases to 68.

And his running mate, Vice President Palin will be able to extol real “family values” by spending more time tending to her 4-month old with Downs Syndrome, other four children and new grandchild.

Happy ending really for this long-running soap opera.

Financial Ups and Downs for Newspapers

The high street trend of price-based selling is being adopted by national newspapers.  Last month’s ABC newspaper circulation figures showed both ups and downs. Those newspapers choosing to raise their cover prices appear to have been penalised by punters switching their allegiance. 

The biggest casualty was the re-launched Independent and Independent on Sunday.  There was a 3.95 per cent drop in sales of the Independent when the cover price rose to £1.  Its Sunday stable mate fell 7.2 per cent contributing to a 14.5 per cent yearly decline.  The Indie group may regret its decision to hike a cover price when everyone is so price sensitive.

The Sun dropped its price nationwide to 30p in August following the high street’s lead of a discounting strategy.  Its “credit crunch defying price cut” made the paper 10p cheaper nationally than the Daily Mirror (40p), the Daily Mail (50p) and the Daily Star (35p).

But the overall trend looks worrying.  All sectors recorded year on year falls with tabloids down by 3.77%, mid-markets by 6.28% and qualities by 4.7%.

It will be interesting to see whether the Daily Mail’s decision is to raise the cover price of its Saturday edition this month for the first time in five years, from 70p to 80p, making it 20p more expensive than its mid-market rival the Daily Express, will affect its October ABC figures.

Well done Team GB

I was privileged to just be 'one of the crowd' today welcoming Team GB back to London with their medal haul.  There were simply thousands of city workers out to greet Britain's Olympians and Paralympians for a parade to celebrate their Beijing success.

I saw (among others) our gold medal cycling stars Chris Hoy, Aileen McGlynn (pictured) and swimmers Rebecca Adlington and Eleanor Simmonds heading from Mansion House to Trafalgar Square.

What a team.  They turned a negative city into a positive day.  The grey suits were out in force.

Thank you, Team GB.  Can't wait for London 2012.

Online PR: Guidance Ratings for Financial Institutions

I read an article this week that said websites like YouTube could be forced to carry cinema style guidance ratings.

UK Culture Secretary said that tougher content guidance would help parents monitor their children’s internet use.  Website would include age certificates if they feature sex, violence or strong language.
MPs on the Commons culture, media and sport select committee don’t like it that the operators of YouTube do not routinely screen clips posted on them.

With the financial crisis going from bad to worse, isn’t it about time that MPs start discussing the enforcement of cinema style guidance ratings on financial institutions too?