Absolutely Joanna…

“They laughed, when I said I wanted to be a comedian” Bob Monkhouse would tell each and every audience, before adding, with a twinkle in his eye, “well, they’re not laughing now”. Similarly they laughed, or rather winced, in 1993, when the then Institute of Public Relations’ President gave Jennifer Saunders the special award for services to public relations for her role as writer and star of Absolutely Fabulous. Bizarrely, the IPR claimed that Jennifer had captured ‘the inner soul of our business.’ I don’t think she graced the awards ceremony with an appearance, but I remember a fellow diner joking that at least they didn’t give the award to Joanna Lumley as well.

Sixteen years later, things look rather different. Joanna Lumley’s success in forcibly representing the Gurkhas, even to Prime Ministerial level, is one of the PR events of the year to date. The question is, what does it tell us about the business of communication and influence?

Well your spokesperson clearly matters - would the Gurkhas have achieved as much with a Gurkha spokesperson? Sadly, no.

In the current age of expense scandals and a third term administration, the Government is weak and vulnerable. For many single issue causes, the death throes of this Government may offer a special opportunity to make real headway.

"All great campaigns acquire momentum that makes them unstoppable..."

All great campaigns acquire momentum that makes them unstoppable and the Gurkha Justice campaign was a great example of that. Several Government attempts to take the heat out of the situation were simply blown away by the momentum that the campaign built up.

Authenticity is the marketing buzz word of the year, and Joanna combined authenticity (through her family experience) with celebrity. Celebrity support without authenticity is fairly hollow, but with authenticity, absolutely powerful.

Perhaps most of all, we should be reminded to think laterally about our public policy campaigns, but also to remember the basics. The core of our profession is persuasion not compulsion. And to persuade people that it's not what you say about yourself that carries most weight, but what others say about you. Joanna Lumley was seen as independent from the plight of the Gurkhas and therefore far more credible. In this year when authority figures - from Government, to corporations, to parents and teachers - have less credibility, the key to success is what 'independent experts' say about your company. In our view, spending extra effort communicating with the key influencers, is more important now than ever before.

Sixteen years ago they laughed when one half of Ab Fab picked up a PR award. I suspect that few of us would be laughing if Joanna Lumley was named ‘PR personality of the year’ for 2009, because she really has captured the ‘inner soul’ of our business.