The second in the Business Nightmare series with Evan Davis aired on BBC2 this evening and didn’t disappoint. Check out the post I wrote last week about the first episode.
Tonight’s programme featured Apple’s iPhone 4 signal issues, Hoover’s flight giveaway fiasco and Yardley’s rebranding. Two highlights for me were Gerald Ratner’s story and Sunny Delight. I heard Gerald speak at the Comms Directors’ Forum last year and found him to be humourous and engaging. He had the whole audience in stitches with his candid recollection of his PR disaster and the tale of woe that followed his comments. I found it interesting to see his wife on the TV programme having heard him speak about how she helped “dig him out” of his bed when he was going through the darkest days following the collapse of his company.
Bizarrely, at the same conference I met the journalist who broke the Sunny Delight ‘orange child’ story, which also featured in this programme. I learnt today from the programme that at the same time the story appeared in the press, the company had created an advert featuring snowmen who turned orange.
If you missed the show, it is available on BBC iPlayer and there is one episode left in the series. The final one is due to be shown on Thursday at 8pm on BBC Two and is entitled Disastrous Decisions. The Open University has a good site packed full of resources supporting the programme including some videos on marketing. You can see it here.
Have you see any good programmes lately relating to the world of Comms? I’d love to know your thoughts, do get in touch, Rachel.
Not a programme as such, but I like to check out the BBC College of Journalism website from time to time. It contains a wealth of advice for journalists who are learning their trade but much of the content – covering issues such as good writing, video production and, increasingly, the impact of social media – will be of interest to internal communicators, too. The accessible way the website is structured and the fact that the video tutorials feature many of the BBC’s most famous faces really draws you in.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/journalism/
Hi Bob thank you for leaving your comment. I agree it looks like a good site and will keep an eye on the content to see if there’s anything I can dip in and out of, Rachel.