THE PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT
We have always believed that there is much more to public relations than just public relations.
A good PR executive should be put in charge of song selection, label and business partnerships, all A&R issues, legal affairs and personal relationships to ensure a successful profile amongst local radio djs and columnists on women’s magazines.
Anything short of this is tantamount to swallowing a fistful of cyanide tablets. The music just won’t stand a chance.
To gain good PR for a pop group, you need the very best people. People with skills that vary from knowledge of analysis and strategy, to intimate relationships with owners of lap dancing clubs and men who are willing to shoot other men for cash payment.
It is only with this matrix of specialised and non-specialised skills that the communications objectives can be effectively realised.
The PR campaign for the Hit Parade involves a discreet guerrilla strategy focused on the participation of a secret group of people who are invisible to the untrained eye. These people are called fans of the band.
The PR team tells journalists that a large, ‘virtual army’ of these invisible fans exists and as a result the brand are written about in favourable light.
Don Donne, President of Public Relations, JSH Records
Jason
Gibblets, Head of Radio, JSH Records
THE INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
The Hit Parade is what many people call the ‘quintessential English pop’ group. They play Rickenbacker guitars, they read the poems of Philip Larkin and John Betjeman, and t hey like to search out rare shrubs such as Cornus controversa ‘Variegata’ and Itea ilicifolia.
Some commentators have wondered what place this group has in the modern world. This thought will never be more relevant than in the meetings held by the JSH Records International Department.
These unfortunate devils have the job of trying to sell the music of The Hit Parade around the world.
One modern American commentator writes: “The Hit Parade confirm my idea of England: Part nursing home, part morgue, for something partly dying, partly dead”.
But this is to miss the point of the group and the playful way in which The Hit Parade handle delicate subjects such as the imminent destruction of humankind.
Look at the band’s website – the-hit-parade.co.uk – to see how successful they’ve been. The Hit Parade themes of despair, gloom and rejection are universally recognised no matter what corner of the world you happen to be living in.