Public Relations lessons from Bell Pottinger collapse – Maverick

This is a blog post that I wrote in the Maverick website

PR lessons from Bell Pottinger collapse

As a young man cutting my teeth in journalism during the Thatcher years, I was in awe of the people behind the company, Bell Pottinger, that helped ensure her electoral victories.

I remember they were touted as one of the first public relations firms to use behavioral psychology to good effect.

Now, after being in Public Relations for about 18 years and seeing the Bell Pottinger name reappear into prominence,and with it the man who founded the firm, I must say that it is a letdown.

The man at the helm of that once powerful public relations firm turns out to be a doddering shadow of his former image in the interview below:

He was combative and defensive, he was in denial and he could not even switch off his mobile for an interview- twice.What lessons can we PR people learn from this?

Source: Public Relations lessons from Bell Pottinger collapse – Maverick