Wednesday 15 May 2013

The Great PR Disaster.

MARGATE 2013.  What an opportunity squandered! Not only does a television company want to make a programme about the town but they are also prepared to assist in the renovation of a couple of shops and provide a one day Winter Festival. Margate has received so much help to regenerate and yet it still bleats that it is not enough, not right or not what they want.  Perhaps they need to graft a bit for what they receive, to appreciate it.

Here is a shopping list of items received by Margate recently and I am sure it is not exhaustive

Turner Contemporary                                           £17+ million
TDC clean up for opening                                       £100,000
Old  Town renovation                                          £xxx million
Margate Flood Defence.                                         £5.2 million
 Dreamland                                                            £12+ million pledged
Potras Portas pilot                                                  £100,000
500 free rail tickets                                                £5000+
£10 LondonMargate rail ticket                          £???????
One day “Inland Pier” festival                                £???????


I think the £10 rail ticket should have been from MargateLondon, to allow some of the jaded people of Margate to return to the smoke.  Mary Portas’ comment that many towns have applied but not many have received the money was a coded message that “Margate does not deserve it”.

P.S. Just a quick bit of art I knocked up on the back of a envelope, I didn't realise it was ambiguous until I pictured it.:-)




10 comments:

  1. Ah, so that's how the beauty queens make their money! ; )

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  2. Glad some-one got it Peter, I did not spot it until I posted.

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  3. Were you aware that your blog auto-inserts a full page and intrusive ad for some discounted voucher company? [I think that's what it is for. It annoys me so much that I immediately kill it] A shame for a good blog to annoy in this way. Thought you would want to know.

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  4. Thanks Col, I did not know that I will try to sort it out.

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  5. Ken a couple of thoughts on your blog, when viewed in Google Chrome browser I get the message “this page is in Romanian, would you like to translate,” the other is that the calendar app is generating advertising although I am not getting the full page ads that Col it getting it may be to blame.

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    1. I can read it fine (in English!) via Firefox, and although an ad tried to pop up earlier today it was prevented from doing so by my browser preferences.

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    2. An suggestions for cleansing a blog without a complete wipeout

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    3. It all looks fine to me now that you've got rid of that calendar.

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  6. It seems OK here now too. Thanks for acting so quickly on this niggle.

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  7. I did not see any of the Mary Portas programmes so I am unfit to comment on them. I am mindful of the fact that C4 did not come to Margate for any reason of altruism, nor to make a factual documentary. They came to make a TV Reality Show. Reality shows are formed by skilled selective editing, fake jeopardy and by producer laid traps into which the punters stumble. It all makes good TV, if you like that sort of thing. I suggest that Margate needs the guidance of TV savvy PR person who is capable of manipulating the manipulators.

    The regeneration of Margate Old Town is an excellent example of what can be done when local people care. I hope the same can be done in Ramsgate, one day.

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