She cut her teeth at GGT under David Trott, and there started a 12-year creative partnership with the copywriter Tim Hearn, with whom she created the Cadbury's Flake "Girl in the bath" commercial and a series of Holsten Pils adverts starring Jeff Goldblum. Advertising guru Neil French's pithy analysis of why there are so few senior female creatives - "They're crap" - was greeted with outrage by many in the industry. But Kate Stanners, one of a tiny handful of women in the top echelons of UK advertising, laughs heartily at the remarks French, a senior executive with the global giant WPP, nicknamed the Godfather, allegedly made at a $125-a-head dinner in Toronto. These include the charming assertion that women will inevitably "wimp out and go suckle something". Stanners, who recently joined Saatchi & Saatchi UK as executive creative director, says: "It's just laughable It seems a rather ridiculous statement to make. When he sued his record company, it prevented him making a new album for a full two years, allowing him to emerge at the end of the dispute creatively refreshed while keeping his face on the front pages day after day.Using the media to lengthen and underwrite a career in this way is a trick many singers have played deftly, the essential thing being "not too much, not too little".Occasionally, though, a hit song can be a good idea.. George Michael's instant interview with CNN after being busted in a toilet was the perfect example, followed by another with Michael Parkinson. The result: a week later he was given a standing ovation by diners when he arrived at a London restaurant.Many people think the golden rule is that publicity can only be as valuable as the music it's selling But that's not quite true The real media kings can cover a bad musical patch Again George Michael is the ultimate, if unwitting, example.
The truth is, among the vast crowds they were hardly noticed - many people thought they were a copycat group, cheap holiday entertainment. But the next day their manager was able to announce that the Beach Boys had played a gig at the Washington Memorial and one million people had come.The media were derogatory: it was a scam. But Nancy Reagan stepped in and chastised them - the Beach Boys were her favourite group, as American as burgers and apple pie. The story ran and ran, and one month later the Beach Boys were back in 3,000-seater concert halls earning top bucks.The sixth type of PR is the sharp thinking needed to turn a disaster into a positive story. On 4 July, he took the Beach Boys to Washington where they set up alongside the Washington Memorial and played for an hour. "How dare you criticise me for using an automatic voice tuner," he blasted. "Don't you use spellcheck on your computer?"The fifth type of publicity is the giant PR scam that takes an artist to another level.
It might be breaking America, or it might be making a comeback after a bad spell. In the mid-1970s the Beach Boys had reached an all-time low, playing little more than pub gigs for a few hundred dollars a night.They turned to a new manager, Tom Hewlett. Last month he harangued his critics at a press conference to launch his new album. Bono is probably the consummate example - after months of championing Africa, haranguing presidents and duetting to the United Nations with Bob Geldof, his ancient rock group hardly needed any extra publicity to haul a new album to the number one spot. The fourth type of publicity - organising interviews to promote a new album or tour - is the most mundane Yet in the hands of a natural self-publicist such as Robbie Williams it can be transformed into a special event.
