Why The FAI Have Had A Hand In A Big Own Goal

Dan Clifford, director at Haslimann Taylor, writes:

What is the most own goals ever scored in a World Cup playoff match? I’m not really sure but the Republic of Ireland and France seemed to be trying to beat the record during (and more importantly following) their recent clash in Dublin.

How should you handle a sporting travesty like the one Ireland faced? And should France, in the shape of Thierry Henry, have acted differently in the first place?

Firstly, Henry was unlikely to own up to the handball, and to be fair, he probably wouldn’t be expected to. Football is a massive game of very small margins and players strive for every advantage they can gain – whether that be appealing for a throw in when they know they were the last person to touch the ball, or pulling the odd shirt or two on the blind side of the referee.

The poor judgement that Henry then made was to take on the role of lead consoler of broken hearted Irishman when the final whistle blew. In 2005, Haslimann Taylor was working with Andrew Flintoff when the memorable image of him kneeling beside a broken Brett Lee was captured, and given to the sporting world as an icon of true competitive spirit. But this was very different – Freddie was not harbouring a grubby secret about how the result came about and he was not attempting some reputation protection; it was a natural outpouring of emotion after five days of toil. Henry’s ‘gesture’ towards Richard Dunne smacked of a quick PR exercise, and if anything left everyone who had seen a TV replay of the winning goal cringing with embarrassment.

Ireland would have emerged with huge credit for the way they handled the injustice, had it not been for the bungling FAI flying in studs first yet again. Calling for the match to be replayed was desperate, ridiculous, and a waste of time. All it did was damage the goodwill felt toward every green shirt for the way things had unfolded. If we replayed every game where an injustice had occurred then hardly a result would ever stand – and it wouldn’t be football. And the FAI should know that.

And then there are the French, who said nothing at all. You would have imagined it to take about an hour for the French Football Federation to produce a statement defending Henry, sympathising with Ireland, admitting that they were hugely fortunate to progress and drawing line under the tie – but they chose to keep their heads below the parapet and leave their striker to be demonised.

Then, to make matters worse, Henry waited for FIFA to declare that replaying the game was an impossibility before announcing that he felt a reply was the fairest solution (it wasn’t going to happen) and admitting that he considered retiring due to the lack of support from his football bosses in France – but decided against it because it wanted to be in the World Cup. Further salting Irish wounds.

All in all - as a very public example of a crisis communications test – Thierry Henry, the FFF and the FAI have all failed miserably.

HT Celebrates PRide Success!

HT's Emma Howden and Jess Hardisty celebrate scooping a CIPR Midlands Gold PRide Award 2009 for Best Campaign Under £10k for Help Stops Snoring Boot Camp.

Haslimann Taylor Organises the UK's First Snore-chestra!

Haslimann Taylor is organising the UK's first snore-chestra on behalf of client Helps Stop Snoring and is calling for snorers to take part.

Helps Stop Snoring will take the noises made by UK snorers and create a tuneful alternative to the usual night time racket. Snorers who feature in the Helps Stop Snoring snore-chestra will be given a year's supply of anti-snoring products.

Senior account manager Emma Howden said: "We know that snoring can be a real nuisance, and no one suffers more than the person who is sleeping next to a culprit. We’re launching the UK’s first snore-chestra to put a smile on the faces of hacked off partners and want snorers from across the country to sign-up, or volunteer the services of someone they know."

"The Helps Stop Snoring snore-chestra is a fun way to communicate a serious message, with snoring affecting 15 millions across the UK. Plus, if the entries are good enough we may even send the finished song to Simon Cowell for him to critique!"

Entries are also welcome from snoring pets, with both dogs and cats notorious for their snoozing sounds.

Snorers looking to snooze their way into the Helps Stop Snoring snore-chestra can enter by emailing stopsnoring@htpr.co.uk, or calling the snoring hotline 0845 270 0602. Snore-chestra hopefuls with then be asked to complete a short questionnaire and submit their snoring sound clip. The closing date is Sunday, 22nd November 2009.

Mobile Phones Are The Ticket To Ride In UK First For Bus Users!

Haslimann Taylor has launched a unique new mobile phone ticketing service for client Arriva, already securing four TV pieces, nine radio broadcasts and 32 press cuttings.

The company is the first UK bus operator to offer people the chance to buy daily, weekly and four-weekly tickets via their mobile phones, which they then show to the driver when boarding.

Arriva's m-ticketing service is believed to be the largest deployment of its kind in the world, covering approximately 1,000 routes served by the company’s regional fleet of 4,500 buses.

Denver Coulson, account director, said: "The mobile phone is an essential part of modern life and so launching this service gives additional flexibility and convenience to Arriva’s customers."

"Customers can buy tickets using their phone at anytime from wherever they happen to be. It saves them searching out the cash to buy a ticket and speeds up getting on the bus as they simply show the ticket on the phone display to the driver."

War Of Words

Heather Power, account director at Haslimann Taylor, writes:

It will be a sad day when Terry Wogan finally gives himself a well-earned lie in and retires from his regular breakfast show on BBC Radio 2 at the end of the year. And I’m not just bemoaning the loss of the country’s most popular radio show. Sir Tel has long been a staunch defender of the English language and I worry that his departure could mark the start of further deterioration of our linguistic standards.

At the risk of sounding like a TOG (one of Terry’s Old Geezers and Gals) is it just me who gets wound up by the increasingly slovenly use of language, poor use of grammar and shocking spelling in much of our day to day communication? “I got an invite for the party.” No, you received an invitation. “I was sat watching the TV.” No, you were sitting.

Gordon Brown’s mistake-riddled letter widely reported by the media in recent days is just the latest high profile example of the sorry state of affairs we are all too often faced with.

While the sentiment behind such a hand written note is worthy, I can’t help taking the old fashioned view that poor attention to detail in one area implies carelessness elsewhere. I’m not trying to make a political statement but, in most cases, I can’t really see any excuse. In the workplace in particular - whether that be government, a PR agency or any other business - surely we should be doing all we can to make our communication - and by implication our organisation – appear professional?

Maybe in these days of e-books and SMS messages, nobody has time for the good old dictionary anymore. Perhaps the apostrophe is too small a trifle for people to be bothered with. But I certainly don’t subscribe to the common view that it is modern technology that is fuelling the decline of our use of language. In fact, many forms of e-communication actually make it easier for us to get things right (making mistakes even more inexcusable). Surely the quick use of a spell check tool isn’t too much to ask before you press the send button on that hastily scribed email?

To paraphrase another well known linguaphile, Stephen Fry, just because you use Facebook and Twitter doesn’t mean that you don’t also read books. Like Stephen, I’m happy that such new methods of communication have resulted in new words being introduced into the English language – like the verb ‘to text’. All I’m asking is that people don’t throw out the old standards while embracing the new.

So, with Terry set to disappear from the daily breakfast routine of over eight million Brits, who will man the barricades to stop the nation from sliding into a linguistic abyss? At least the public outcry over Gordon Brown’s hastily scribbled note (however hyped up by the media) would seem to suggest that there is still a glimmer of hope for us all.

Former Hack Carves His Way Up The Career Ladder

PR consultancy Haslimann Taylor has promoted Denver Coulson to the role of account director. A former journalist, Denver joined the company as a graduate trainee and has quickly risen through the ranks to his latest position.

Denver has over five years’ PR experience across sectors such as leisure, food and drink, transport, travel and motoring. His new role will see him drive some of the agency’s key accounts including Arriva, Papa John’s and Mitchells and Butlers. He will also be part of HT’s management team and play a key role in new business development.

Speaking on the promotion, Denver said: “Since joining Haslimann Taylor five years ago, I have benefitted from the opportunities offered by one of the major agencies outside London. The range of clients and accounts that I have been able to work on has not only helped me progress my career but has led to an enjoyable half decade at the company.

“The culture at Haslimann Taylor encourages personal development and I’m looking forward to continuing this in my new role, while embracing the new opportunities.”

Managing director Bron Eames said: “Good writing skills are core to effective public relations and as a former journalist Denver has excelled in driving his clients’ key messages in the media. As well as inspiring his team to deliver results for their clients, Denver has a huge amount of creativity and energy and an excellent sense of humour. We are delighted to promote Denver to account director in recognition of his outstanding work.”

Denver Coulson, account director at Haslimann Taylor PR