Some recent PR news updates:
Psychic sued by PR firm for not paying his bill
Thomas John, a celebrity psychic, calling himself the Manhattan Medium hired the PR firm ZTPR for help in cleaning up his image from what the Daily News last year said he was a sordid Craigslist scammer.
His history seems to show fraud and a certain expertise as a scam artist. Thomas John Flanagan (his legal name), was a Chicago drag queen and also arrested in 2009 for posting on Craigslist fraudulent apartment ads to steal security deposits from unsuspecting renters.
So now, John finds himself in the middle of a lawsuit because he didn’t pay for the services provided by ZTPR – to the tune of $3,046.12 and ZTPR “completed all the services of helping him build and exaggerate in the press his public profile as a believable psychic medium,” from what the court documents say. In fact, while under contract with ZTPR, John made 2016 celebrity psychic predictions on “Extra.”
John told the press “the matter has already been settled out of court.” But according to Zack Teperman, President of ZTPR – they are still in discussions, and nothing is final, saying, “Our legal team is currently finalizing an out-of-court settlement with Mr. Flanagan.”
New Creative Director for Jackson Spalding
In 2007, Mike Martin founded an Atlanta-based boutique communications firm, Skylab-B, and has been working there until recently joining Jackson Spalding. At JS, he’ll be in charge of the creative team leading content creation, brand strategy, and creative development capabilities for their clients.
Before Skylab, he was the chief creative officer at Fletcher Martin, an advertising unit of MDC, also as senior art director at Carmichael Lynch, a creative agency. He’s worked previously as an art director for both Omnicom’s DDB Dallas and Havas’ creative agency Arnold Worldwide
South London PR Leader Arrested for Inciting Racial Hatred
Shortly after the Brussels attacks killing 34 people Matthew Doyle, an LSE alumnus and partner in a South London-based PR-talent agency, Grant Doyle Associates, stopped a Muslim woman on the street in Croydon, near his home, and asked her about the attack. Her reply was “nothing to do with me.”
Apparently, that was not an acceptable response for Doyle, as he posted later on his Twitter account that it was “a mealy-mouthed reply.”
If he stopped there, it probably wouldn’t have turned into such a falderal. But he continued posting similar posts including “Trump for president,” and “no more Muslim migration.” Some of his comments went viral, retweeted hundreds of times until being removed from the social media site.
Later, the Metro Police confirmed Doyle was arrested in a statement, saying “A 46-year-old man was this evening arrested at his home in Croydon on suspicion of inciting racial hatred on social media. He has been taken to a South London police station, and enquiries continue.”