Simon Kelner: No Bollocks, but New PR Nevertheless?
Coming Soon for businesses in need of PR in the UK, Seven Dials PR is a new agency set to launch under the direction of Simon Kelner, former editor-in-chief of the Independent. In an interesting turn observers are now focused on the emerging litany of communications figures and their endeavors. Are we destined to more BS or a lot less “bollocks” where the voices of business are concerned?
Are we headed for no-nonsense PR, or is marketing speak the next connective with constituents?
The new agency, the brainchild of Kelner in collaboration with Trevor Beattie, the man behind the now famous “Wonderbra” campaigns “Hello Boys!”, will also come armed with an influential staff of advisory talent too. According to this Guardian report, the new agency has brought on board heavyweights Simon Walker and Charles Wilson, among others.
As for the schedule and tone of Kelner’s new venture, the Tweet below from yesterday sort of tells a bit of the story.
Also apparently, Kelner’s new big-gun for UK PR disagrees to an extent with what Richard Edelman recently noted here on EPR:
“Our industry has grown more slowly than advertising and much slower than digital in the past year. We have to re-frame our argument. Some will opt for the FH play of becoming a full-service provider. Others, like Edelman, will expand the definition of PR.”
If definitions matter at all any more, it seems the industries mentioned should intervene with some sort of schematic for differentiation. The world’s most influential PR person, and some of the world’s most noted journalist, engaged on the field of conversational dynamics (ads, marketing, PR, and politics, etc.) the so called “PR bollocks” would appear to serve at times, and not at others.
It will be interesting to see how bold new swipes at public visibility fare in a competitive PR world. And by way of further definitions, the term bullocks is often used with disdain in British English – it is loosely construed to mean “nonsense”. However, the word more literally means “testicles” if its Anglo-Saxon origins say anything at all.
This leads me to speculation as to what Kelner meant in his Tweet?
