You know you a true PR genius when he can take all the ingredients of a knock, and bat them right round into a triumph. I am the second member of the Mandate team to wax lyrical about Becks in the last few weeks. But then, there is much to wax lyrical about.
The latest example is Golden Balls’ taking the final death-throw of his England football career and turning it into almost a week’s media coverage of the continuing value of Brand Beckham. Just as the sight of him ever putting on a pair of boots recedes into memory, almost every UK national (and a fair few international broadcasters) have stressed to Adidas and co that the value of a Beckham endorsement is now likely to … go up.
Granted it helps that he has been fired by someone whose popularity is today only a short notch above a pantomime villain. And granted he did manage to look the most competent of our players in South Africa by staying on the sideline and leaving the performance of those actually on the pitch to do his work for him.
But, a big old part of his success comes no doubt from brilliant strategising, and great media handling. The king is still on the PR throne…