As the Mayoral campaign hots up, I’m watching news bulletins which included the fact that, thanks to the Terminal 5 fiasco and some rather unpleasant remarks about living in the UK from folks like Madonna, hip travellers in the US are using the phrase “You’ve been Londoned”.
It means all the things we’re fed up of: lost baggage, transport delays, overpriced food and all the rest. I’ve already banged on here about how I dearly wish we had decent standards of service in this country, but phrases like “You’ve been Londoned” show that our reputation is spreading- and not in a good way. This is disastrous PR, at a time when the City needs all the buoyancy it can get.
My first impressions of New York a couple of weeks back suggest that Americans are right to criticise. Despite lengthy queues at immigration due to the same security pressures as we are experiencing, the staff at JFK could not have been more accomodating. The delays were kept short, new staff had been drafted in, they were friendly and eminently capable. There were staff assigned whose sole job was to help the elderly and infirm to find a free passport booth. Very impressive. My return to Heathrow from a trip last week took me through UK immigration- staffed by pressured and confused individuals. Pity the poor visitor whose first experience of UK hospitality was our absolute lack of any sort of can-do attitude.
But let’s be fair here. I don’t know what Madonna’s beef is, but I think London’s transport system under Ken Livingstone has experienced nothing short of a renaissance. Investment has been matched with real results- I could be parachuted to a random bus stop in London from outer space and still easily find my way to Tooting.
The problem is, these good bits of the story get lost in the mire of lousy experiences. And that’s where our capital city desperately needs some decent PR. Any business with a high-profile failure needs a shot in the arm, and a few commentators fighting the right corner will do the job. After all, the media is hungry. They want spokespeople. It’s not as though there’s no opportunity for Visit London, the Mayor’s Office, BA, BAA or any of the other parties involved to get some airtime.
Yet here I am, watching the news, and wondering when someone’s going to stick up for this city. Oh look, at last, a spokesperson for Visit London. And she’s Australian. Now, I’m no PR guru, but wouldn’t you expect the first media defence of our city to come from someone who at least sounds like they live here?
Filed under: PR, current affairs | Tagged: media relations, PR, rants
