Memorably, Alastair Campbell told the enquiry how he believed that a story about Cherie Blair’s pregnancy published by the Daily Mirror could have been obtained by phone hacking and that he believed the press was “frankly putrid in many of its elements”.

While many may have sympathy with Mr Campbell’s views - and with celebrities such as Sienna Miller whose phone was reportedly hacked – we may also remember that it was the former (when in Downing Street) who used the media to ’spin’ New Labour’s messages. And celebrities continue to use the media to leak news of their new film, book, video, TV show or divorce.

Clearly times have changed. Yet it will probably not be the celebrities or the spin doctors – despite their righteous indignation – who force a lasting change in our privacy laws.

It will be the ‘ordinary’ people like the Dowler family or Chris Jefferies (Jo Yeates’ Bristol landlord) whose lives were adversely affected forever by the actions of the media, who will finally bring about a sea-change in our laws.

The public revulsion at their treatment by a small section of the media promises to have a much greater result than the complaints of the well-known.

Time will tell.

It was very noticeable that during the riots in August, the retailers that suffered the most – such as JD Sports – were those that had positioned themselves as a desirable, aspirational brand for the under 25s. Other  retailers who suffered included Foot Locker, Debenhams, Boots and Carphone Warehouse.

These riots are clearly a wake-up call for brands that actively cultivated a “gangster chic” image as they found themselves targeted by looters across the country.

The issue of good brands attracting bad customers is one that must be exercising the minds of many Marketing Directors right now in the wake of the riots. We may well see a radical ’repositioning’ of some brands in the near future.

Meanwhile Abercrombie & Fitch has taken a different route and recently offered money to ‘Jersey Shore’ star Mike Sorrentino to stop wearing their clothes. 

The 29-year-old ‘Jersey Shore’ star – who is regularly seen in the brand – has been asked by the retailer to stop because it could be ‘distressing’ to its customers.

The company was quoted as saying ‘We are deeply concerned that Mr Sorrentino’s association with our brand could cause significant damage to our image.’

Time will tell if other brands follow suit. Whatever happens it is going to be a costly exercise.

Image from International Business Times

As marketers we often tell clients that they should encourage everyone in the organisation to ‘live the brand’.

This covers everything from the way staff answer the telephone to the colour of the plants in Reception, the idea being that the (positive) values of the brand are expressed at every touchpoint between the organisation and the outside world.

Such seamless expression is fine when the values of the brand are positive but the reverse may be true if the values are negative. The recent sad death of the talent singer Amy Winehouse is such a case in point.

Her struggles with alcohol and drugs have been well-documented and it was startling to see that – amongst the floral tributes and cards outside her Camden home – there were (full) bottles of vodka and other drinks, cigarettes and doubtless drug impedimenta discreetly tucked away at the back.

Sadly, it seems that Amy the brand had negative values to which her fans responded wholeheartedly. Certainly she seemed to relish those negative values herself in the latter years of her short life – and became her own brand, living it to the full.

While this is probably a unique situation there is a lesson here for all brands, particularly those  in alcohol, music and leisure.

Beware of how your brand values are being perceived by your customers – it may not be how you imagined it!

Customers have long memories and in the age of wide consumer choice corporations should remember that!

Our ‘battles’ have continued during December, culminating in an ‘interesting’ exchange with Unicom over the installation of our new broadband service.

Having waited for 10 days for the new broadband line to go live – a ‘normal’ wait apparently – we were then told that the necessary router would not be posted to us until the line was live.

When it was pointed out that due to the snow and Christmas deliveries we might not receive the router until January – but would have to pay for the line from the date of it going live – we were told by a Supervisor that it was the ‘procedure’ and could not be changed for anyone.  Even a Director would tell us the same thing.

When this was challenged, the message came back that ‘procedure was good customer relations’. So, the system rules at Unicom and we are now very unhappy customers with long memories.

Clearly all businesses have to have systems and procedures but the customer must remain King. Companies of all sizes forget that at their peril!

A recent article on ten of the greatest advertising campaigns in the Mail on Sunday newspaper by advertising ‘guru’ Trevor Beattie included Obama’s ‘Yes We Can’ election campaign.

Beattie cited the campaign as being ‘a perfect fusion of advertising campaign management and political campaign management, all geared to selling Brand Obama’. Certainly, the silk screen poster of Obama has become as instantly recognisable as the famous poster of Che Guevara.

Yet – just as in business – a brand has to deliver on its promise and clearly for many Brand Obama has not done that.

In recent weeks the President has suffered a dramatic drop in popularity, with some polls giving him an approval rating of less than 40%.

Not only have the Republicans mobilised to win back some of the 435 seats in Congress but also those in  the Senate. 

Traditionally, these elections are a snapshot of how the President is doing.  If the predictions are correct  the Democrats will lose their majority in Congress through a significant shift in power in US politics.

So where did it go wrong for Obama?

Perhaps the answer is that the emphasis was on the image of the politician – the brand Obama – rather than the reality of what he – and the Democrats – actually stood for and would deliver.

Just as a logo is not a brand, a glossy image is not a brand. A brand has to stand for something and deliver repeatedly on its promise – where to provide stylish, well-made clothing (Zara) or luxury cars (Mercedes).

Whatever happens in the forthcoming elections, Brand Obama clearly needs a revamp and a re-definition of its core values.

As Trevor Beattie says ‘As a how-to-do it lesson [the campaign] will surely endure, but was the promise just too great?’.  Time will tell.

While Churchill’s nodding dog has been on tour and has even ’starred’ in Christmas pantomime last year and at Pontin’s this summer, a whole film of ‘oh yes’  would probably be too much!

Where agency VCCP have been so clever with the Meerkat marketing is that they have created a complete ‘back story’ for Aleksandr and his family so harnessing our sympathy  for the struggles of his ancestors and further engaging with us.

In the ‘Battle of Fearlessness’ advert (part two of the triology) there are great lines such as ‘its only a fur wound’ which make everyone laugh.

Like Wallace & Gromit , a film ‘(The Adventures of Aleksandr Orlov’? ) would be popular with all ages regardless of background.

Could Aleksandr be that rare being – a brand concept that started as an advert but becomes an entity independent of Comparethe market.com?

Now that would be subliminal advertising! Simples!

Marketers are sometimes scornful of large corporations lending their name to promotions and events that really do add value to the brand.

 But in the case of Red Bull and the Cliff Diving World Series 2010 such criticism does not apply. In fact, it is a case study on how to get it right!

 A recent short break in mid-May found us in La Rochelle on the South West coast of France. Arriving at the historic port early afternoon we were surprised to find the roads closed and many people milling around but assumed that it was a usual Saturday in a tourist location.

 We were swiftly told how wrong we were by the hotel receptionist who told us proudly that the town was ‘en fête’ due to the ‘plongeurs’.

 To call the guys who so dived so beautifully off one of the historic towers (over 90 feet or 27.5 metres high) merely ‘divers’ is to do them a disservice. Their dives were breathtaking, of Olympic standard and the whole event an amazing spectacle.

 See the videos at Red Bull Cliff Diving Series 2010 La Rochelle May 2010

 But in branding terms it was a triumph. Not only were the guys (dressed in Red Bull swimming trunks) gorgeous to look at but when they dived they literally had wings – reinforcing in a visual way the brand message of the drink!  

 The resulting pictures and videos are stunning but the attention to detail was impressive.

 All the cafes had special Red Bull promotions. Everyone could see the action due to the location and the huge television screen linked to a camera above the diving platform.

 The usual hospitality village was located away from the main viewing area and the whole event was free.

 Despite the massive scale of the competition, next morning virtually nothing remained, all the structures – including the diving platform – having been taken down overnight. 

The result was a great event which can only have added to the audience’s positive impression of the brand.

Obviously there are lots of other platforms – and new social media sites – but the main players continue to dominate the social media space.

That said, as the market stabilizes it is time to use the tools more strategically and concentrate on the message rather than the shiny new medium.

At Cerco we are increasingly being asked to devise a social media strategy for clients. Only this week we advised on the use of a private Twitter group for passing information around a group of multi-national and multi-discipline salespeople.

The client was astonished at the versatility of Twitter and how the real time information would supplement their intranet – all free of charge.

For an excellent article on Twitter best practice see: http://blog.spurinteractive.com/2010/03/07/twitter-best-practices-for-social-media-marketing/

Author Steve Latham makes the valid point that too many tweets are about me, my thoughts and my status.

If you are using Twitter for business, do not tell us that you are standing in a supermarket queue. Your (business audience) does not care.

We have recently witnessed two cases of ‘careless (Twitter) talk costing sales’ – to paraphrase the old WW2 saying.

In both cases the Twitterers forgot they had potential clients following them and made totally inappropriate comments, losing themselves future work and attracting much negative ‘buzz’.

So the old Marketing adage of the message being as important as the medium still holds good!

Amongst the information discussed, he mentioned that sales of travel books were down yet sales of celebrity memoirs ‘held up well’. He sounded quite surprised by the fact.

This leads one to consider why one would buy the (ghost-written) memoir of a minor sports celebrity as a present rather than that lovely Lonely Planet book on the Galapagos Islands!

Is there a message here for marketers and PR experts? Has the travel book lost its allure in the face of the wealth of Z list autobiographies or have people stopped buying travel books in the winter as an instant ‘escape’ for themselves or their loved ones? Food for thought!