Use of Chemical Weapons a Strong Possibility in the Syrian Conflict

The West and the Syrian government are never going to agree to anything. Foreign Secretary of the UK William Hague is convinced Syrian President Assad used chemical weapons to attack the rebel forces - allegations the Syrian strongly denies.

Communication is key in any given situation and the longer government officials clash, the longer the Syrian population which suffers.

Bolland doesn't have Rose's sensitivity for the Marks & Spencer brand: PR guru Richard Hillgrove

Richard Hillgrove says: "The problem with Marks & Spencer under chief executive Marc Bolland is his desire to be seen like a James Bond figure with the Bond-girls on each arm in publicity pictures".

"Stuart Rose had an acute sensitivity towards the brand and only allowed models to represent M&S that were 'everyday' like Myleene Klass and not 'out of reach' of customers", he says.

"Rosie Huntington-Whiteley is a total misfit for Marks & Spencer Fashion - severing M&S's connection with British women they don't want to feel like they can't keep up".

"Bolland should have kept his impulses for fast cars and fast women at home and been much more atuned to what M&S stands for".

As a result Marks & Spencer has dropped to the lowest level in four years today as clothing sales slumped.

The group said underlying profits for 2012-13 were GBP665.2m, a 6 per cent drop on a year earlier and below the City forecast of GBP710m at the start of the financial year. The results will increase the pressure on chief executive Marc Bolland to turn around the high street player, particularly in the wake of a reshuffle of its management team.

Richard Hillgrove is founder of Hillgrove PR and has represented PR for former Ukraine Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, BBC Dragons' Den stars James Caan, Duncan Bannatyne, Simon Woodroffe and 10 of the starts of Channel 4's Secret Millionaire. Hillgrove is credited with turning around the fortune's of Britain's favourite restaurant brand Little Chef and also does PR for William Chase, founder of Tyrrell's Crisps, Sahar Hashemi, Founder of Coffee Republic, Nick Wheeler, founder of Charles Tyrwhitt Shirts and Martin Miller of Miller's Gin.

Hillgrove PR Supports the View that Twitter is a Robust Social PR Platform

Twitter is a PR medium not an advertising one, remarks WPP Group Chief Executive Sir Martin Sorrell. 

What Sorrel says is important as marketing people don’t use Twitter as a popular advertising platform. Twitter has recently launched its advertising API, but still lacks space for creative advertising communication because of the number of characters limitation on tweets. 

The problem with Twitter is that it lacks depth as far as an advertising campaign is concerned. Twitter hopes to overcome this drawback by the newly launched advertising API, by which it hopes to woo more advertisers into the Twitter world. But, we will have to wait and watch what happens there. 

However, as the No.1 public relations company in the UK, Hillgrove PR thinks Twitter is the best place, the best social media hotspot, for better PR communication. We saw it at the time of London Olympics 2012. Twitter gained much popularity than Facebook and even Google during the Olympics time when tweets by sports personalities got wide spread public attention through re-tweeting and debates. 




Hillgrove PR’s marketing studies found out that busy personalities had just glanced through the day’s tweets to have a quick feeling of the Olympic Games. 

Great communicators and brand promoters like Richard Hillgrove take the restriction in the number of characters in a tweet as a positive challenge. That is why they write very clever tweets that are discussed everywhere, not only in the PR world, for a long time. Twitter is the best place for creating a buzz, and it’s very valuable in the PR sector. 

This way the experts at Hillgrove PR prove that Twitter is an effective branding medium, even if it doesn't establish well as an advertising tool. And to this instance, it is good to look at the latest CMO (U.S.) survey which says Social media spending as a percentage of marketing budgets will more than double over the next five years.

‘Shard' Needs a Lot Better PR

Standing 1,016ft (310 metres) high, London’s Shard, the 95-storey building, is the tallest building in the EU. It has made Londoners proud and they love it. But, as economic recession crept in, some people started criticising the pompousness and wastage of money in the making of skyscrapers.

The Italian architect of Shard, Renzo Piano, on 5 Feb, 2013 got battered by a string of gripes on BBC Hardtalk. In a conversation with BBC’s Sarah Montague, Mr Piano talked about his thoughts about the skyscraper. He said he always felt insecure about his work despite being a successful architect.

However, Richard Hillgrove - PR consultant and corporate brand promoter in the UK, and owner of Hillgrove PR, London – remarked that negativity only makes bad things happen, and cynicism doesn't help anyone at all. He said that even though Shard was commissioned pre recession, symbolically it can steer the country out of the gloom.

Mr. Hillgrove emphasized that Shard should remain proud and tall. It can set the UK and its citizens on stage for the world.

We, at Hillgrove PR, feel the power and hope in Richard Hillgrove’s words, which are essential for building a strong image for a person or brand. Thus, Hillgrove PR asserts that Shard now needs a lot better PR. 

Hillgrove PR Supports Kelly Holmes’ Efforts to Improve School Sports in the UK

Double gold winner and the adviser on school sports, Kelly Holmes has commented on Twitter to support PE in schools, opposing the present government stance. If we need to sustain the current glory in Olympics, we’ll have to listen to experienced hands like Madame Kelly Holmes.

We at Hillgrove PR feel that the current status of sports in the UK schools is not healthy. The problem began when the education secretary Michael Gove in 2010 slashed funding for school sports partnerships and also watered the regulations regarding compulsory hours for PE and the annual survey for sport participation. The school sports partnerships were meant to boost the quality and variety of sport available to students.

Hillgrove PR has learnt that the government has cut a significant amount from the school sports budget and it’s going to negatively impact the standard of sports activities.

The Team GB has maintained 3rd position in the medal tally at London Olympics with 25 Gold medals after 12 days of the game. It’s a great achievement while comparing its 19 Gold haul in the last Olympics held at Beijing. In order to keep up this standard and for us to hold our heads high in the next Olympics, Hillgrove PR and the whole nation expect concrete steps from the part of the government.

Hillgrove PR invites all sports loving people to comment on this issue in order to attract the attention of our political leaders and the concerned authorities to help amicably solve this issue.

Read similar news analysis blog articles at Hillgrove PR website: http://www.hillgrovepr.com/blog/

Apple Eying the Twitter Advantage – Hillgrove PR Exclusive

Opinion column from the Hillgrove PR news desk. Hillgrove PR, London analyses the influence of social media in today's world.

Apple Inc. are said to be planning to invest hundreds of millions of dollars with Twitter, that’ll make this social micro-blogging site worth over $10 billion. A report in this tune has been published by The New York Times, even though Twitter and Apple Inc. have not officially confirmed it.

Apple may be looking to utilize the social media influence and better integrate Twitter into its latest products. Major companies such as the Apple can’t stay away any longer from the social media, which greatly influences people on what they buy and how they spend their time and money.

Business, social and entertainment industries in the internet world belong to a huge ocean where the smart fish traps the weaker ones! One has to be ahead of change to succeed. The Apple has a huge market of phones and tablets, and they sell applications, games, music and movies. Obviously, the social media networking sites and its millions of users are enviable markets for Apple Inc.

As a professional PR consultancy, Hillgrove PR has an excellent reputation for understanding the social media and its increasing control over a wide spectrum of audience in a local as well as global perspective. And we at Hillgrove PR are sure that Apple will be clinching a deal with Twitter or some other powerful social interaction media in the near future.

Read more opinion blogs at Hillgrove PR website: http://www.hillgrovepr.com/blog/

Penguin Flexes Its Muscles into the Self-Publishing Arena – From HillgrovePR News Desk

Hillgrove PR’s News wing looks into the latest trend where traditional book publishers are showing enthusiasm in the self-publishing sector.

Penguin has included self-publishing into its fold, latest media reports revealed. It has taken over Author Solutions Inc. (ASI), one of the largest self-publishing ventures in the world, for $116 million, which will now function as a separate entity under the Penguin umbrella.

This may boost book writing and more authors will now try out self-publishing with the patronage of a huge traditional book producer like Penguin. It’s sure that the Penguin Group’s control will also certainly raise the standard of self published books.

The self-publishing sector has the advantage of low-cost digital distribution and it has acquired great popularity these days with the exponential growth of social media and the participation of a massive global audience. The traditional book publishers are now looking to spread their wings over this huge audience base opened up by the social media.

Both the CEO’s of Penguin and ASI remarked that the deal paves way for the mainstreaming of self-publishing, all the way imparting Penguin with scalable data and expertise on self-publishing.

We at Hillgrove PR think that this could be the beginning of a new trend where other traditional book producers will follow the steps of the Penguin Group. And it is for the good of everyone – the writers, readers and the book publishing industry. As self-publishing merges with the traditional publishing, it’s expected that both will grow in a mutually beneficial way. 

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