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MEDIA: My Greatest Mistake Mark Borkowski Publicist
Independent, The (London), Feb 10, 2004
MY COMPANY has always been known for maverick, edgy promotions, and campaigns that have been banned. We represented the Malcolm McLarens of this world and were known for being very rock'n'roll. So, when Carlsberg- Tetley approached us about eight years ago, at the beginning of the alcopop boom, they wanted a wild, rock'n'roll campaign for their new alcopop - Thickhead.
At the time, Two Dogs and Lemonhead were already out (and already controversial), but Thickhead was different: it was a tangerine- flavoured jelly that expanded in the mouth. We had a massive budget, and were free to take as many risks as we liked. We had teams of people winding up politicians all over the country, asking them if they approved of the product and what they were going to do about it; we had posters everywhere saying, "Finally, something sweet to swallow"; and journalists were sent samples in metal cases that they couldn't open.
We thought Middle England would condemn it and young clubbers would be desperate to try it - but we didn't count on the massive anti-alcopop backlash from the media. I still have a cartoon from the Daily Mail of five kids on a picnic, with the caption: "Famous Five get wrecked". It got worse when the press went for Carlsberg- Tetley's bosses in Denmark - at which point I realised that the team we had worked with were more or less renegades and hadn't cleared anything with their superiors.
We launched the product in a bar at lunchtime - and by 6pm all stocks had been withdrawn from every shelf in the country. We had created too much of a stir, and people were even talking about raising questions in Parliament. The mistake wasn't the campaign - we gave them what they asked for - it was that we didn't make clear the risks and the potentially damaging impact of the press on the product.
Now, I never trust anyone who claims to have cleared a campaign with their boss until I have checked it myself. I learnt that you can take risks in PR, but if someone rings up and asks for a rock'n'roll campaign now, I tend to put the phone down.
Copyright 2004 Independent Newspapers UK Limited
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