The Week in PR

Google gains some integrity and loses some money, China does the opposite and Myleene Klass gets the support of the Tory leader. Who’s been having a PR dream and who’s been having the nightmare this week?

 Google pulls out of China

Early in the week Google said it will end the controversial censorship of its search service in China and risk being thrown out of the world’s most populous internet market. Google’s move follows what it claims were Chinese-based attempts to hack into its systems and those of other international companies. 

China’s freedom and human rights reputation has never been very buoyant, but the Google move hit the country where it hurts, portraying it as a poor investment option. As for Google, it will undoubtedly lose revenue from the withdrawal, even though it isn’t actually the top player in China, but what it loses in cash it gains in integrity, something famously important to the company.

 China set to become world’s largest economy

 Reports from China’s customs office say that the country’s exports rose by 17.7% to $130.7bn in December, mean that China has overtaken Germany to become the world’s largest exporter.  This data comes hot on the heels of Friday’s news that China has leap-frogged the US to become the world’s largest automotive market.  Continuing with this trend of super growth will mean that by 2010 China will become the second-largest economy in the world, and most likely then become the world’s largest.

 Google downplays Nexus One sales

Google’s Nexus One mobile phone is reported to have sold just 20,500 handsets in its first week, according to mobile analysis firm Flurry. The company says that puts it on just one-twelfth of the Motorola Droid’s first week sales, and one-eightieth of those of the iPhone 3GS. Google is not making any public comment, but it has earlier said that total sales of just 150,000 would not be disappointing.

The company has also acknowledged publicly that because this is the first time it is selling a physical product to the public, the process is unlikely to be as smooth as established retailers might hope for.

 RBS brings bonuses back from the dead

 RBS reluctantly reignited the City bonus row this week when chief executive Stephen Hester admitted to MPs he had to pay big bonuses to stop bankers leaving for higher rewards at rivals.  Hester promised MPs on the Treasury Select Committee that bonuses would be the “minimum we can get away with” (nice use of language) but that the bank was a “part prisoner to the market”.  He also admitted that even his parents think he is paid too much. We think a bit of media training could have helped Hester couch these admissions in a rather less incendiary way.

 Nation turns to pastry

 Gregg’s got a lot of great PR last year, based on their recession-busting performance and back-to-basics approach. Here’s some more. The baker has reported it has sold one million mince pies in the run-up to Christmas.  Yesterday, Ken McMeikan, the chief executive, said that he was “slightly more optimistic” about continuing growth at his stores in 2010. He has good reason to be upbeat, given that Greggs delivered solid 1.1 per cent growth in underlying sales for the four weeks to 26 December, despite being up against strong comparable sales a year ago. This was driven in part by soaring sales of mince pies and festive bakes, as well as the “nation’s favourite” sausage rolls.

 Nation rejects books

 Is this the last hurrah for the traditional bookshop? Or is it its rebirth? Waterstone’s, Britain’s only remaining nationwide chain of bookshops, is going back to its roots amid plunging sales. Waterstone’s, squeezed by online bookshops on one side and supermarkets on the other, is attempting what some observers believe is one last throw of the dice to create a “specialist chain relevant in a Google world”.

 Poor trading over Christmas prompted HMV Group, the owner of Waterstone’s, to replace its managing director, Gerry Johnson, with Dominic Myers, pledge to hand back control to managers and reduce its reliance on celebrity biographies. The new model harks back to the days when bookstore shelves would reflect local tastes.

 Cameron backs Myleene

David Cameron has a handy habit for saying what we’re all thinking. In an interview with ‘This Morning’, David Cameron has called for the return of “common sense policing” after officers ticked off television presenter Myleene Klass for confronting intruders at her home.  The Tory leader described the decision to warn the Marks & Spencer’s model for threatening a pair of youths prowling in her garden as “ridiculous”.

 Stonewall gives a lesson in appropriate survey use

 A brilliant example of a relevant, newsworthy and durable survey is Stonewall’s employers’ index, now in its 6^th year.  This year’s index has revealed the news that five UK police forces are among the most gay-friendly employers in the country.  Although IBM won the overall title of gay-friendly employer of the year, Hampshire Constabulary was in second place and the forces in Kent, Merseyside, West Midlands and the Metropolitan Police were placed in the Top 20.

A further six forces earned places in the Top 50.  The index rigorously measures the performance of employers, including site visits and anonymous questionnaires to more than 7,000 gay staff about what it is like to work there.