Category Guru in a Bottle

June 6, 2014,  Guru in a Bottle, News  No comments

Pfizer’s attempted takeover bid for British drugs company Astra Zeneca has been permanently consigned to the history books and with it the dream of creating the world’s biggest drug company that would’ve been worth a colossal $119bn.

So what went wrong?

Clive Rich, an expert negotiator who’s been behind some pretty big deals in his time, offers the following incisive point of view: “Whenever people negotiate the airwaves always seem to be dominated by organisational issues like price, delivery date, quantity, or valuation. We are all very comfortable hiding behind these issues...

June 6, 2014,  Guru in a Bottle, Innovation, News  No comments

As a result of being part of the Accenture Alumni network, I was invited to a fascinating event this week at the firm’s swanky city offices in London.

The agenda for the Breakfast Briefing was ‘Sustainability24’ and this turned out to be a 24 hour global event over 10 countries across six continents simultaneously broadcast over the internet.

Accenture had set out to explore every facet of the sustainability agenda by engaging in debate with its brightest brains alongside clients, journalists, social commentators, academics and of course invited guests and Alumni like myself.

As an example of ‘thought leadership in action’ it was an extremely impressive effort...

June 5, 2014,  Essential Law for Marketers, Guru in a Bottle, News, Public Relations practice  One comment

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Luxembourg has affirmed the legal position that internet users have the right to browse news sites without the threat of infringing copyright law.

The argument, put forward by the Newspaper Licensing Agency (NLA) that represents the interests of media owners, was that even temporary electronic copies made on an individual’s computer required a licence and a licence fee to be paid and this could have cost the PR industry many millions in licensing fees had the ruling of CJEU clarified the legal position today.

The CJEU accepted all of the legal arguments of the PRCA, the largest professional body representing the interests...

May 28, 2014,  Essential Law for Marketers, Guru in a Bottle, Legal update  No comments

All customer contracts for the supply of goods and services need to be reviewed as a matter of urgency as on the 13 June the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 comes into force.

These new Regulations replace the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling Regulations) 2000 and the Cancellation of Contracts made in a Consumers Home or Place of Work Regulations 2008 (known as the Doorstep Selling Regulations).

The new Regulations implement the EU Consumer Rights Directive that brings together a number of disparate existing rules...

May 23, 2014,  Guru in a Bottle, News, Public Relations practice  No comments

Members of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) have watched in horror as high profile showbiz publicist Max Clifford was charged and is now serving a lengthy custodial sentence for a string of highly serious sexual offences against vulnerable young people.

Clifford never applied for membership of the CIPR in his entire career and if he had when I was the CIPR Chairman of Membership, I would’ve rejected his application.

The full extent of Clifford’s deception wasn’t known to many of us who in fact had previous dealings with him but I was aware of how he conducted his business and the way he manipulated clients and the media in order to make himself extraordina...

May 22, 2014,  Events, Guru in a Bottle, News, Thought Leadership  3 comments

Indian voters are pinning their hopes on their new Prime Minister Narendra Modi, leader of the Hindu nationalist BJP, to make good on his promises – a factor that eventually forced the Congress Party to lose its grip on power and suffer crushing defeat at the hands of its rival.

Former India PM Manmohan Singh claims that the legacy of his presidency is a far stronger Indian economy compared to that when he took office a decade earlier.

But the octogenarian became susceptible to a string of corruption scandals within his own party as well as political paralysis where he was seen as being too aloof to stop.

Modi will be sensitive and mindful of the short-comings of his predec...

May 21, 2014,  Essential Law for Marketers, Guru in a Bottle, News  No comments

In a landmark ruling, a German court has ruled Jesus Christ doesn’t hold copyright for works published in his name.

Frankfurt’s higher regional court held that the late American psychologist Helen Schucman, and not Jesus Christ, should be regarded the legal author of a book that Schucman claimed had been dictated to her by Jesus in a series of “waking dreams”.

Germany’s New Christian Endeavour Academy, a registered association, last year published extracts from A Course in Miracles, originally published in 1975, on its website...

May 21, 2014,  Essential Law for Marketers, Guru in a Bottle, Legal update  No comments

In 2006, Colette Pelissier was selling houses in Southern California, and her boyfriend, Brigham Field, was working as a photographer of nude models.

Colette Pelissier wanted to leave the real-estate business, so she convinced her boyfriend to start making adult films. “I had this idea, when the real-estate market was cooling—you know, maybe we could make beautiful erotic movies,” she said.

By 2009 they had launched X-art.com and had started shooting adult films in places like Madrid and Prague as Malibu Media. The website promised its customers erotica featuring “gorgeous fashion models from the USA, Europe, South America and Beyond...

May 20, 2014,  Essential Law for Marketers, Guru in a Bottle, Legal update, News, Sponsorship News  No comments

May 17, 2014,  Guru in a Bottle, Public Relations practice  No comments

This may appear to be an obvious, even a trite question. But in fact it turns out to be incredibly important for all of us that claim to work in the business of public relations today.

When I was speaking at the World Communication Forum in Davos earlier this year, I got to know Paul Holmes and I felt that he was one person in our industry that wasn’t afraid to express his opinion or even ask difficult questions of agency heads that appear to have answers to any question about the industry at their fingertips.

My view, for what it’s worth, is that we are in the reputation business...