How PR allowed beaten Brown to fight all the way

It could have been Labour's ruination, a public relations Howitzer blast through their hope to be a key player in the UK's new power game.
When Gordon Brown was caught out after meeting Rochdale's Gillian Duffy, it seemed his under-pressure party would quickly become total no-hopers.
Yet something happened that day to ensure Labour would be able to build a post-election platform in an effort to keep David Cameron out of Downing Street.
That little something was the highest point of a PR roller-coaster ride that sped through the final week of the UK's 2010 General Election campaign.
That little something was an instinctive piece of common-man PR.
It was a humble apology.
Without it, Brown was out of the game.
With it, he ensured that today - albeit beaten in the polls and still looking like the vote's big loser - he feels able to offer Labour to Nick Clegg as credible power partner.

The PR journey from Lancashire to London was just as fascinating as anything political in the past few days.
On April 28, as Clegg's two media-crammed battle buses continued their nationwide odysseys and as Cameron's placard wavers turned the small screen bluer than TV's Tease Me 2 (Sky channel 948, I'm told), Brown was engaged in some back-to-basics PR.
The PM's advisers asked Sky TV to mic up his lapel as he visited Labour-held Rochdale. It's common PR practice, showing that the politician's in touch with the people. Arguably, it worked - until he got back in the limo.
The "bigoted woman" comment, the subsequent live Sky TV coverage of Mrs Duffy's reaction, the wall-to-wall semi-comedic splurge on BBC Radio 5 Live and the head-in-hands moment with BBC Radio 2 helped create a PR nightmare.
A proactive local stunt had become a reactive national panic.
Realisation dawned that more PR was needed to limit the damage.
And they called it right: Brown took the unprecented step of returning to Mrs Duffy to apologise. Yes, we all chortled, but deep down everyman Britain actually gave credit to Brown for doing the right thing. He himself took strength from it and bounced back with his best live TV debate and a number of notable speeches.

By nipping a potentially catastrophic problem in the bud with some humble, common sense PR action, Brown lived to fight another day.
It's a lesson we can all learn, especially those in a spot of bother.

Post-election Swansea Bay Media Highlights

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For all those interested in & working in the Swansea Bay media
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Online BBC
Lembit goes - Liberal Democrat Lembit Opik loses Montgomeryshire. Click
Hain's plea - Peter Hain's work together call. Click

Out west - Labour wins Swansea West by 504 votes. Click

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Online South Wales Evening Post Click
Plaid win - Plaid hold Carmarthen East and Dinefwr on dramatic night. Click
Brown bid - Brown 'will try to form coalition government'. Click
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Links Twitter | Website
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April 9's Swansea Bay Media Highlights

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For all those interested in & working in the Swansea Bay media
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Online BBC Cymru Wales Click
Local top story - Five men and two women have been arrested following a nine-month police surveillance operation targeting drugs in Swansea and Neath Port Talbot. Click
Euro rugby - Video of Wales and Scarlets fly-half Stephen Jones answering questions about his future and his big game this weekend against Jonny Wilkinson’s Toulon. Click
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Broadcast The Wave Click
Editorial - Neath Port Talbot councillors have given the ok to the construction of a Scottish & Southern Energy gas-fired power station in Baglan Bay. Hundreds of construction jobs should follow.
General Election - Excellent snapshot of the runners and riders named so far for Swansea Bay constituencies. Click
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Print Western Mail Click
Editorial - An image of Shirley Bassey's glittering appearance - wellington boots an' all - at the 2007 Glastonbury Festival is to go on display at London's National Portrait Gallery. It was taken by photographer Venetia Dearden.
Commercial - It's always good to enter professional awards contests as there can be a decent PR spin-off. Today, Riba (the Royal Institute of British Architects) praise work on projects such as Port Talbot's Margam Discovery Centre (Loyn & Co), Langland's Idle Rocks and Gower's Pennard House (both by Hyde + Hyde).
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More tabloid tales as Swansea West mimics the media

The General Election campaign's tabloid tide continues as the race for Swansea West hots up.
As previously reported, Lib Dem hopeful Peter May has busily issued Mirror lookalike publications.
Now tried and tested media style is being harnessed by May's national colleagues ... and by Labour candidate Geraint Davies.
A four-page red-top from Nick Clegg and co dropped through the Media Master letterbox this week.
The Cleggster's pictured on the front with warzone troops, there's a huge red CHANGE topping the page one lead and a predictable dig at the Tories.
The centre spread features a cleverly done Mirror-style feature complete with Labour report card, urgent tickertape fonts and headline lifts from the national press.
Nick Clegg photo count: Six.
Labour's punchy effort is a localised plea for support. It's called Swansea Families and plays the language card with a hint of Welsh.
The splash is an attack on Swansea Council's non-Labour administration and how it's handling education budget cuts.
Would-be MP Geraint Davies is pictured across half the front page in an uncaptioned image with three schoolkids, possibly his daughters.

Headlines inside include: Our NHS for all our futures, Jobs and services ... or cuts?, Building a stronger, greener Wales and For children, wildlife and hearts.
In tabloid terms, it's not quite as polished an effort as the Lib Dems' Your Community News - but it was printed in Wales and is a lively, worthwhile effort. I'm not sure when it was published but I picked it up yesterday in the foyer of a St Helen's Road office building occupied by chartered accountants McAlister & Co and the Castle ward's Communities First people.
Geraint Davies photo count: 15.

April 8's Swansea Bay Media Highlights

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For all those interested in & working in the Swansea Bay media
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Print South Wales Evening Post Click
Editorial - Three strong pages of southwest Wales General Election coverage include: Hain: Labour set for tough fight, Putting safety first could be key for parties.
Opinion - Although Swansea has a need for more affordable housing, it'd be a shame if the former Woolworth store was taken over - as is possible - by social housing group Gwalia. It's retail we need there.
Commercial – Richard Burton lives! Music fans are being urged, through advertising, to see Cardiff International Arena's War of the Worlds in December - complete with11ft hologram of the Port Talbot actor.
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Online South Wales Guardian Click
Editorial - Amman Valley goalkeeping legend Dai Davies has thrown his weight behind a campaign to bring the National Eisteddfod back to Ammanford in 2014. Click
Commercial – The Guardian’s Text Links give welcome online exposure to print ads, including Cross Hands’ Evolution Gym, auctioneers Peter Francis and pressure washer specialist PWS.
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Broadcast BBC Radio Wales Click
Key local story - A planned £450m gas-fired power station at Baglan Bay could get the ok from Neath Port Talbot councillors today. Its construction by Scottish & Southern Energy would create more than 1,000 jobs.
You heard it here - Proposed legislation to raise tax on cider is likely to be dropped today as MPs and peers face tonight's pre-General Election new laws deadline.
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Links Twitter | Website
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April 7's Swansea Bay Media Highlights – Midweek Online Special

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For all those interested in & working in the Swansea Bay media
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South Wales Evening Post Click
Editorial – Lots of reader comment on the General Election announcement, including “People can change things themselves; they don't need politicians,” from Anon, Neath. Click
Commercial – Best home page banner ad for a while ... The Football Pools people have gone for some splendid retro-style photography. Click
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Swansea Sound Click
Station bosses thank listeners for donating to the station’s Easter Egg Appeal, aided by Corus, Tesco and the NSPCC. Click
Commercial – Well done to the lovely Norton House Hotel for getting some promotional kick-back from playing a key role in the station’s Local Heroes campaign. Click
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BBC Wales Click
Editorial - Thousands turned up to a three-day Doctor Who roadshow at the Swansea Big Screen. Click
Recommended - A women studying in Swansea to become a teacher has been chosen as a coach for the French sailing team in the London 2012 Olympics. Click
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Links Twitter | Website
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Media campaign is good news for Swansea Lib-Dems

He's at it again! The cheeky politician-cum-publisher Peter May has once more taken a few leaves out of the media's book in his Swansea West General Election campaign.
The politically neutral Media Master has already welcomed the innovative and energetic approach of Councillor May, a Lib-Dem cabinet member on Swansea Council.
And all I can say now is: "Keep 'em coming!"
His latest missive to flutter through this particular Killay letterbox is similar to an earlier campaign promo. Swansea World comes in A4 magazine form, has eight pages and is modelled on newstand favourite That's Life. Colourful and, in presentation terms, cheery without being brash, it features all the usual magazine tricks-of-the-trade.
On the front there's a big picture of the poll hopeful with his city in the background. Inside there are eight more images of the same fella.
Nick Clegg gets in there with a few photos of him (smiling), Gordon Brown features as well (not smiling) and David Cameron is, erm, nowhere to be seen. Plaid don't get a look in either.
It's clever stuff by the Lib-Dems who obviously see Swansea West as a key target this summer.
It'd be lovely to see the Tories bringing out their own version of the Daily Mail, Labour weighing in with a Mirror wannabe and Plaid giving us their own version of The Independent.
However, I've a feeling their own rather slow-out-of-the-blocks literature is going to be a little less eyecatching than that of Councillor May.

Swansea media tracks publisher's Plaid push

Back to the subject of all-things-Welsh glossy Cambria ... its publisher Henry Jones-Davies is to stand in the General Election.
He'll be a Plaid Cymru candidate for Preseli, Pembrokeshire.
Henry claims to be one of a "new breed of people’s representative (not politician) that can lead to real change in Wales."
He says: "The London parties have always let Wales down. Their politicians have their own agendas - they are concerned with the advancement of their own careers and their own interests, and with lining their own pockets."
I'm sure that contemporaries throughout the southwest Wales media will follow his campaign with interest.
Catch up with him at his website and on Facebook.

Swansea Bay election coverage goes tabloid

Joy of General Election joys - Councillor Peter May has delivered another mock news publication.
The Lib-Dem hope is publishing his heart out in his bid to oust Labour from Swansea West.
A few days ago Media Master reported on the former maths teacher's cheeky mag - http://bit.ly/9QwG4M.
Today the Media Master letter box was penetrated by Swansea West News, a red-top tabloid lookalike.
In traditional demographic terms, it has the look which suggests Andy Capp-style left-wing fodder.
It's got a screaming headline - in black and red - which has a dig at Gordon Brown, George W Bush and Tony Blair. Over some incident concerning Iraq.
It's got a front page promo panel claiming that Swansea Bay families would be quids in with Nick Clegg in No 10.
Inside there's a cleverly presented editorial comment column which has a smidgen of Lib-Dem bias.
The back page peters out a little disappointingly, without any element of Premiership football scandal.
However, praise is due to Councillor May for doing a few things rival Swansea West candidates aren't - at least not at this abode ... 1 Communicating, 2 Being light-hearted, 3 Flatteringly using media know-how to deliver a message.
He shows that there's life in the old tabloid yet - even if it is only four pages thick and is printed in the England by a company headed by a dyed-in-the-wool Tory and slashing jobs.

Swansea Bay has a new free magazine!

Full credit to Swansea Council politician Peter May, the media mogul behind the latest glossy mag to hit Swansea Bay.
To boost his General Election campaign for the Swansea West constituency, the Lib-Dem hopeful has created a promo document that will take some beating.
This blog isn't intended to be an ad for Kirsty Williams & Co, but May's effort is a bright, chatty A4 publication that's eyecatching because it mimics best-selling fun-and-gossip mag Take a Break.
The cover of Swansea World is all bright colours, punchy copywriting and photos of humanity (well, Councillor May and Nick Clegg).
It's just popped through the letter box and is datelined Winter 2009. It comes complete with a Welcome from the Editor column, features tagged "Exclusive!" and, wait for it, even a sudoku.
It's an extremely clever piece of marketing, hitting a target audience quite likely to be fatigued by the more traditional electioneering techniques.
Okay, so Swansea World may not be around for long but it does prove that there's still power in print.
Let's hope it prompts his election opponents to raise their own games.