Ok: I'll start, in the hope of laying the matter to rest for the moment, with the other thread first and the threats associated with it...
Firstly there's no doubt that Moviecom
were closely associated with that project; and I believe the proof of that has been shown. Is there a direct link between them and the threats? That's something I can't prove so won't infer... However from my perspective there are certain 'matters' surrounding this incident that people should, in my view, be aware of...
Moviecom were close to this one... So close in fact that when jounalists from "The Herald" sought a quote they did so
through Moviecom. Not through Fake Bake or Greta Hill-Lyons or through some other PR firm; but though Moviecom...
That fact places them very much at the scene... Whether they were mere service providers or an integral part of the project team isn't quite clear...
However the fact is, for the simple 'sin' of criticising the project, two completely independent members of this forum each seperately recieved threats of violence (which in my own case at least
were reported to the police at the time). There is also a record of the I.P. address of people calling themselves things like "Attitude Adjuster" who's agenda... Well it's all a matter of record; read it for yourself...
In my view it's fairly telling that within
a mere thirteen hours of my pointing out the (fairly serious given the level to which it aspires) technical shortcomings of that video at 21:03 on the 8th of September 2008 I was receiving threatening phonecalls. Telling because up to that point I had kept well out of the thread which had been runing since the 17th of August...
I wrote:
For one if this were the world-class project it’s supposed to be a little more time should have been taken and money spent with regard to the presentation of the characters and making the video....
Why me? Did I hit a
particularly raw nerve perhaps? Personally I suspect so..
The video was not promoted as part of some community project or a lightweight 'throwaway'
but a world-class business project to rival that which we most typically see from the 'Blue chip' world... And
at that level it was grossly incompetent with some very elemetary mistakes being made...
There were a group of individuals and associated companies linked to this particular project. And my point
with regard to the threats is that those threats brought the project,
and everyone asssociated with it into really quite serious disrepute.
Now; in PR terms any true professional would see an urgent and pressing need to actively distance and disassociate themselves from that sort of behaviour. Particulary since it related to a PR project designed to raise the profile of all concerned... Much like a nightclub who's patrons are known for drug dealing or violence, or a football club who's fans have a reputation for thuggery; it's up to the professional organisation to ACTIVELY
and vociferously distance themselves from disorder....
This just didn't happen
in fact matters were compounded...
DID Moviecom, or anyone else associated with the project try to distance themselves from the threats made in response to criticism? No! Instead 'mysterious' posters started to come out of the woodwork... 'Scotsboy' for instance...
Certainly the need to threaten people is out of order, however surely if individuals decide to spout rubbish and riddicule others then stupid things happen.
On that point the supposed person threatened has made a number of threats back, who is in the wrong?
Before I go on let me be clear that I stand by my comments on that video... And do bear in mind my background, the level of training and experience have and the weight that's given to this by credible national bodies...
I saw and heard a lot of Scotsboy's mentality growing up in the Red Road... Apparently threats of violence are an 'expected response' to valid criticism and stating that one will respond responsibly with the full weight of the law behind them is a threat in itself...
Now; if we take it as read that these threats and 'mystery posters' condoning them have nothing to do with either Moviecom, McClumpha or anyone else involved in the project, at this point they have a PR disaster on their hands! It's farly clear that the thread WAS being monitored as at least one senior member of the team involved posted... What did they do to mitigate the problem? To disassociate and distance themselves with it? Nothing...
Bear in mind here that some very serious physical threats were made not just against me but my family; my children in particular... Hollow they may be; but I don't know that. However the mentality of the person who made those threats
and those who tacitly endorse them says much about their level of integrity. As I say; Like the nightclub owner who stands at the side of the road, arms folded while his patrons run amock on the street they are as much a part of 'the problem'
in my view as those directly involved...
In PR terms it's a really bad idea to call
anyone up and threaten them and their kids...
It's a particularly bad idea to phone up a card-carrying journalist who also happens to be an acknowledged expert in their field
and an ex-cop!
Readers may like to note that Forth Valley Jobs, which was run by Greta Hill-Lyons, appears to have shut down. Hill-Lyon is now apparently the self-styled editor of "The Hirer" magazine...
The Hirer Magazine - SOLD OUT - Online business networking, find new business leads and promote your business services!
thehirermagazine.co.uk First Issue of Revamped Hirer Magazine Now Available in Borders | THE DRUM - Advertising, Design, Media, Marketing, Digital, PR - News, Information & Jobs Readers might like to equip themselves with some salt when considering their claimed circulation figures... As the Americans put it; just to the math(s)!
Next to the issue of cost and competence...
As I said;
there really is no such thing as a free lunch, though it's a pattern in business as old as the hills to try and persuade people otherwise...
Go online and you'll find a shedload of people offering to sell you weigh loss tablets that will cause you to loose a stone a month! Go on to any 'health' forum and you'll find glowing testimonies to everything from Chitosan to Hoodia to baking your socks in a biscuit-tin oven and eating them...
Have a look online for so-called 'Mountain Bikes'
that will fall to pieces in six months or so; three if taken off-road. Try the local Sunday Market for 'Prata' handbags, waxed jackets that leak and 'Submariner'-type watches that go tick..tickk..tickkk and cause a nasty green semi-permanent band to appear 'round the wearer's wrist...
And try the local pub for people determined to tell you what a terrifc bargain all these things are... TRULY the spirit of Dell Boy walks among us!
Likewise, as I said, you'll find loads of cowboys offering free web hosting, sites designed for button, free graphics... And you'll find loads of 'home made' offerings too... Here's my favourite...
Lee's Cameras supply an exciting range of Super 8mm, Standard 8mm, 16mm, 9.5mm and 35mm Equipment and Movies and many 6x6 and 35mm Slide Projectors (put on sunglasses before clicking on the 'prices' link!)
They get away with this because they're
very niche... One of maybe half-a-dozen suppliers of such equipment. And they would probably tell you all sorts of positive things about how this site works for them...
If you're the only shop in town then you'll get away with 'special offers' written up in 'inky' on patches of dayglo cardboard... You'll get a way with being a bit dingey, a bit shabby, a bit well... a bit 'corner shop'...
When I moved to this village there were two little shops. Both quite similar, like relics from 1972... Or possibly '62... I lked one, didn't like the other. Didn't like the slightly snooty attitude of one shop's staff. Wasn't impressed by their stock, their prices their attitude... The other was run by a nice lady from the top of the street and though there were nowt' fancy about the place you got what you needed at a reasonable price...
Shop 'A' branches out... Builds a modern 'mini market' with proper signage, electronic tills.. All laid out in modern 'gondolas', proper 'supermarket type' lighting.. Staff all in uniform... STILL a bunch of miserable money-grubbing ****** and not good value at all but... it looked good.
Shop 'B' remains as was... She woulnd't spend the money on upgrading what were at the end of the day 'superficial' aspects of her business... Slowly people dwindled away... Why? Because they couldn't have confidence in that old fashioned corner-shop mentality. Doubts set in about the cleanliness of the place (there was now't wrong in this respect; the place was just 'basic')... Unfounded rumours started circulating...
It was a black black day the last time I walked up there at 9:45pm to pick up what had become my customary nightcap; a solitary bottle of beer and a wee quick natter about the day just past...
!
In another shots of one industrial process were sold to a company making a video for a rival process. The former being shown in a negative light.... 
...Frankly you'd be kiddin' yourself; but no-one else! 
