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The Headliner

Every week, media experts from Eulogy, an independent and award-winning communications agency, dissect the biggest stories to help brands understand and influence the agenda.
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Now displaying: Category: Business
Mar 14, 2018

The Russian spy saga continues to dominate the front pages this week. The PM announced a 24-hour warning for Moscow to release a “credible response” to the attack before more extensive measures will be activated. The tension is certainly building.

From poison to spitting: the shock factor headlines continued as former Liverpool FC captain, Jamie Carragher, was suspended by Sky Sports after a video was released of him spitting out of his car at a Manchester United fan and his 14-year-old daughter. Has football rivalry gone too far this time? And what role has social media played?

Ever wanted to cut yourself off from the perpetual insanity of global politics and live on a pig farm? Well, former Nike chief, Erik Hagerman, has done just that. He’s retreated to Ohio to completely detach himself from fake – and, of course, real – news. Is his drastic decision a one off, or a sign of widespread political unhappiness in the USA?

In the lead up to St Patrick’s Day, our Irish chairman discusses ‘Brand Ireland’. Brands are launching their biggest and greenest themed PR stunts, but which will come out top? As the Irish might say, it ain’t over ‘til it’s clover.

And, finally: new month, new Evening Standard. This week, the Evening Standard released its first redesign in a decade. It is certainly going for originality, adding emojis for the weather, pink business pages and dropping “London” from its masthead. Listen in for our take.

May 19, 2017

The NHS was crippled by hackers, but who dunit? Was it North Korea? The Americans? The Russians? No one knows for sure, but everyone has been quick to the point the finger. Thank heavens for Marcus Hutchins, a 22 year old surfer from Poole, whose computer wizardry saved the day.

 

Also online this week, Theresa May did her first live Facebook Q&A. The public responded with a flurry of angry emojis and strangely a flutter of flowers. But was this really the way to engage voters? Or just another political stunt? And did a certain Jeremy from Islington, steal May’s moment?

 

Moors murderer Ian Brady died on Tuesday, having never revealed the location of Keith Bennett’s remains, but the nation’s fascination with monsters and all things morbid lives on.  

 

Quit the diet and throw out the veg box. It’s tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergines and whole grains that are making us fat. Or rather the lectin in plants that’s doing the damage according to a new book by Dr Steven Gundry. Nothing it seems is safe to eat. Pass the lard, I’m going lectin free. 

 

This year’s Bafta speeches made the headlines for more than one reason. The BBC cut off Damilola Taylor’s father’s emotional knife crime plea. Should acceptance speeches be kept light and anecdotal? Or are they a powerful platform for pressing issues? And the legendary Joanna Lumley showed her unique perspective on the industry when accepting an award for long-standing contribution.

 

Finally a McDonald’s advert left a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths, getting scores of complaints that it had exploited child bereavement. Brands may want to strike an cord, but it essential that their efforts to connect are not felt as emotional manipulation.

 

Feb 3, 2017

This week we talk travel. Rail fares got simpler but getting into the US got more complicated for some. The overhaul of Britain’s rail fares should mean less confusion at the ticket machine and will hopefully be good news for long-suffering passengers - but is all really as it appears? Meanwhile, across the pond, Trump's rushed-in travel ban has sparked fury and protests. Brands have been quick to make their feelings on the divisive policy known. But will wading into politics give them personality or alienate customers who feel differently?

 

Somewhere else in time and a relative dimension, it was announced that Peter Capaldi’s days as Dr Who are numbered. The papers are rife with speculation of who will be the next Time Lord and whether or not after 12 Lords audiences are finally ready for a Time Lady.

 

Back on Earth, two of the big six energy companies have said they are considering rewarding loyal customers. Those on the higher standard tariff could receive perks such as a free boiler service. Can new loyalty schemes make us feel warm and fuzzy towards our energy providers? Or is it not enough to change the temperature of our relationship?

 

This podcast is strategic, creative, specialised and passionate. But so it seems is everyone else. LinkedIn has revealed the 10 most overused marketing buzzwords on CVs. Just how many are on your CV? Finally a bucket list for your nostrils, 21 scents to smell before you die. From jasmine in Grasse to maple syrup in NYC and Durian fruit in Bangkok. We assault your senses with the most distinctive scents from around the world. 

 

For the full report listen in as Chloe, Adrian and Ollie pick apart the biggest stories of the week. If you want to hear more come visit us at http://www.eulogy.co.uk/views/

 

And if you have any feedback please email podcast@eulogy.co.uk.

 

Jan 26, 2017

It is the social media platform of choice for centennials, where delete is the default but with more than 100 million daily users Snapchat is big business. Ahead of what could be the year’s biggest IPO, Snapchat is cleaning up its act to boost advertising revenues and drive its perceived value to the limit. In a bid to show just how grown up it is and attract new advertising revenue Snapchat has announced it will be cracking down on racy content and fake news. Can the ephemeral social media site keep it users engaged while courting investors?

 

Quit the kale smoothie and calm it with the quinoa, the “clean eating” fad has turned toxic. In pursuit of healthier lives and svelte figures, many of us got on 2016’s hottest dietary bandwagon. Despite the hunger pangs and cravings, we followed so-called new food gurus such as Ella Mills (aka Deliciously Ella) and the Hemsley sisters. But following concerns the restrictive diet legitimated eating disorders, is this food fad now passé? Will 2017 be the year we swap the spiralizer for the rainbow sprinkle?

 

The woman’s work wardrobe was the subject of a joint Committee report - High heels and workplace dress codes, which found that unscrupulous employers are forcing force female employees to wear revealing dresses and reapply makeup in the workplace. While most commentators found this to be unacceptable and depressing, Piers Morgan took to Twitter to defend the rights of employers to insist women wear high heels. After all, he argued wearing heels is no more uncomfortable than wearing a suit. Right?

 

For the full report listen in as Chloe, Katie and Scot pick apart the biggest stories of the week. If you want to hear more come visit us at http://www.eulogy.co.uk/views/. And if you have any feedback please email podcast@eulogy.co.uk

Jan 13, 2017

President Barack Obama bid a teary farewell to his fans and followers in a moving speech last night and thanked them for their passionate support, which, as German paper Handelsblatt said, catapulted a little-known senator from Illinois into the world's most powerful leader. "You made me a better president; you made me a better man," he told supporters. The two-term president doesn't leave behind a blinding record of success but a sense of melancholy. His call to change the world and make it better wasn't followed because the world refuses to better itself.

 

Getting worse is a familiar theme to the NHS. Whoever said physician, heal thyself had clearly never had to figure out Britain’s health service’s budget. This week the Red Cross described the organisation as a humanitarian crisis. Doctors warned the Prime Minister that it’s at breaking point, with patients waiting hours on trolleys and ambulance queues outside A&E units. Going on the offense, Labour leader Jeremy Corby, focused all six of his Prime Minister questions on chaos in Accident and Emergency. In an obvious dig at Theresa May’s vision for Britain, he sniped: “we've got the ‘shared society’ all right - more people sharing hospital corridors on trolleys". Yet the Prime Minister dug in her heels at the weekly duel, claiming the Red Cross's warning of a "humanitarian crisis" was "irresponsible and overblown".

 

From the train wreck of Britain’s National Health Service to a health issue affecting air planes – airborne obesity, as calls for an airline fat tax have raised their head again this week. Last hitting headlines back in 2012, with pricey air fare ‘extras’ soaring people are once again debating whether airlines should charge travellers, and not just baggage, by weight.

 

Back on the ground, the FBI is tightening its investigative grip on Volkswagen. The Feds have questioned several employees as expert witnesses to learn which top executives knew of the emissions-cheating software, and when. Like a duck in a storm, the car giant is handling the emergency by appearing calm on the surface, and paddling for dear life underneath. One of our crisis experts, James, joins us to point out that there’s actually  some good news and growth for the owner of Audi, Bentley and Volkswagen in the eye of this storm.

 

If only this week’s Donald Trump news was as small and insignificant as an FBI-tainted storm. Like Volkswagen’s emissions scandal, however, lies are at the centre of this new scandal. This is about the explosive allegations that have circulated through government, intelligence services including the CIA and media about the President-elect’s relationship with Russia.

 

The furore is about unsubstantiated claims that have circulated in intelligence reports between the CIA, the president and the president-elect. They include allegations that the Kremlin has been assisting Trump for a least five years, and that the Russian security service, the FSB, “compromised Trump through his activities in Moscow sufficiently to be able to blackmail him”. Days away from his inauguration, Trump calls the story a “fake news witch hunt.”

 

Amusing and terrifying as the new imbroglio is, at The Headliner we’re more interested in the dangerous precedent set by reporting of the scandal. By publicising the existence of an unconfirmed intelligence report – purportedly from a private British firm - CNN placed the fuse. Every other publisher refused to light it, however, except for Buzzfeed, which made the report public. Buzzfeed’s editor-in-chief, Ben Smith said in an internal memo to staff: “Publishing this document was not an easy or simple call, and people of good will may disagree with our choice. But publishing this dossier reflects how we see the job of reporters in 2017.”

 

So, Buzzfeed expects its journalists to report as follows, in the words of Brad Heath of USA Today: “Here’s a thing that might or might not be true, without supporting evidence; decide for yourself if it’s legit.” If this is the new normal for reporting, public figures, brands and their PRs and lawyers will be on high alert in the year ahead.

 

Oh, and we talk about 'Thundersnow'. Want to know what the heck that is? Listen in as our panel of Chloe, James and Scot pick apart the biggest stories of the week. If you want to hear more of our expert views, come visit us at http://www.eulogy.co.uk/views/

Jan 9, 2017

This week on The Headliner...

President-elect Trump says that he doesn't believe the US intelligence community's assessment that the hack of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) was the work of the Russians. This, despite evidence from other countries, including British intelligence, which shows that Putin had ok’d a US hack in 2015 in order to strike during the 2016 election campaigns. Mr. Trump now plans to cut CIA jobs, and restructure the America’s top spy service. Part of the Trump transition team, former CIA director James Woolsey quit before The Donald’s comments. Outgoing Vice President of the USA, Joe Biden, meanwhile simply told the incoming President to “grow up.”

With those two major political super powers changing the face of democracy, in the UK two powerful titans of industry are also wrestling for control of public opinion. the British media. Max Mosely, who successfully sued billionaire, Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers Ltd for a 2008 exposé, is calling for punishing reforms to the UK media under Article 40, which seeks to impose state regulation on the Press. The so-called “sleazy millionaire with a grudge against the Press” has almost “single-handedly funded ” Impress, the only press regulator approved by the government, with £3.8 million. Predictably, there has been a media outcry, and no wonder; press freedom, which guards against political corruption, is a fundamental right of a free people.

Do Brits care about such liberties, or are we too busy talking about how we should dress for shopping? It’s the latter, judging by the volume of social conversation – and press coverage – about two women who went shopping in their pyjamas. It's hardly a burka ban, but people have still gotten hot under their presumably starched collars about the two Romany travelers dressing down for snack shopping from retailer Tesco.  

Those attending the world’s biggest technology show, CES Las Vegas, were given an even better reason to never get out of ‘the sack’, let alone change out of their bed wear to go to the shops. Techies at the Sleep Number 360 (catchy name) have invented a bed that can warm your feet, adjust in real time to your biometrics, light up when you leave the bed, and automatically sense when you're snoring. It also records your sleep quality via an app and can help you smarten up your bedtime routine. Like some of the best memories, some of the products on view should very much stay in Vegas. The $200 Kératase Hair Coach hairbrush has sensors to monitor how you brush your hair and how roughly, whether it's wet or dry, and a microphone to listen out for dry hair tangles. It then feeds all that data into an app that checks local weather and wind speed.

For the full report listen in as our panel of Chloe, Ollie and Jax pick apart the biggest stories of the week. If you want to hear more of our expert views, come visit us at http://www.eulogy.co.uk/views/

 

 

Dec 16, 2016

This week on The Headliner...

Theresa May’s message is getting more confusing by the day. She claims she doesn’t want celebrity, yet took part in a Sunday Times puff piece with very little to say. Then, she claimed to be on the side of Britain’s financially struggling JAMs (‘Just about managing’), but did so whilst wearing a £1,000 pair of trousers. As a politician unable to exert any real force of change on the world, is she the ghost of Christmas present? Or should I say, presents - after all, her eye wateringly expensive trousers have since sold out, so some poor souls are going to be unwrapping what presenter Ollie calls "wipe-clean flares" on the 25th. May’s counterpart in Venezuela also says one thing but is doing another – the president has vowed, Robin Hood-style, to rob from a rich toy retailer to give away presents to poor children. But all is not what it seems.

 

For our ghost of Christmas past, search giant Google released its sobering review of a truly annus horriblis in search. It makes depressing viewing at times, not least because of this week’s disturbing revelations about Russia’s state-sponsored hacking influencing the US election. However, Google gives its review a characteristically positive slant, by searching for and finding that which gives us hope. Though verging on the syrupy, it’s a much-needed injection of optimism, and a reminder that in nihilistic times, many of us simply want to love our fellow folk.

 

However, if it’s doom you want, then Mark Carney has a big bowl of for you to feast on. The Governor of the Bank of England is this week doubling as our ghost of Christmas future. He says that robots are set to take 15 million British jobs in the next decade. Thankfully for our presenters Ollie, Chloe and Scot - and your humble The Headliner podcast – it seems that creative sector jobs are safe for now.

Have a Merry Xmas everyone. We’ll be back in the New Year with more irrepressible, irritating and irresistible headliners.

 If you want to hear more of our expert views, come visit us at http://www.eulogy.co.uk/views/  

Dec 5, 2016

This week, our media analysts Ollie, Adam and Scot discuss the Brexit leak - can we "have our cake and eat it", as Number 10 put it? The Government hasn't really had an eye for detail with Brexit so far - nor has it weeded out idiotic security practices. 

From a leak to a political over-up: there's a new victim of Russia's state-sponsored doping programme - but also a benefactor, with a Team GB athlete being upgraded from silver to gold. With doping scandals mounting, are brands still willing to risk sponsoring top athletes in scandalous sports? 

For one sports brand, athletes haven't caused any problems - but is Director of Public Affairs might just have alienated its most influential customer base. Sport lifestyle apparel and footwear maker, New Balance, has relied on trendy Millennials to boost the appeal and value of its products, but by siding with the Trump administration, its most influential shoppers have started burning their expensive sneakers in protest. 

With the crumbling leadership of traditional pillars of society - the captains of industry, sports stars and political leaders - an unlikely new hero of wholesomeness has emerged: a gangsta rapper. We chart the unstoppable rise of DJ Khaled from Miami DJ to music mogul. His positive message is resonating with Millennials and Centennials, all thanks to total mastery of digital marketing platform, Snapchat, where he has built an audience of more than 6 million devotees.  

Every week, media experts from Eulogy, an independent and award-winning communications agency, dissect the biggest stories to help brands understand and influence the agenda. 

If you want to hear more of our expert views, come visit us at http://www.eulogy.co.uk/views/

 
Nov 25, 2016

Every week, media experts from Eulogy, an independent and award-winning communications agency, dissect the biggest stories to help brands understand and influence the agenda. 

This week, it's our (UK) Autumn Statement special. Chloe, Ollie and Scot discuss whether the Chancellor, Philip Hammond is a puppet or a prisoner, and whether he can help Britain's ailing economy.

This week The Independent vividly described the UK as Sonny Liston, grimly sitting in the corner after the Muhammed Ali-like assault of Brexit vote's knock on the economy, following the release of new figures from Credit Suisse's global wealth report. We discuss how the remainer and leaver media tackle the story. 

And finally, we have some good news for Jane Austen lovers. 

Read our view on the Autumn Statement here

And if you want to hear more of our expert views, click this-a-way: http://www.eulogy.co.uk/views/

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