Daniel Pearce: What pubs can learn from Michael Jackson
Where were you when you heard that Michael Jackson had died?
For a few days the 'King of Pop's' sad demise was the story that dominated every news outlet going, and at the time of writing pages of newspapers are still being dedicated to the story.
And, yes, it even made it onto ThePublican.com and into the pages of The Publican. One of my first reactions on hearing that Michael Jackson was no more was to start thinking about what the pub angle was.
Don't call me callous. When a major news story grips the national consciousness we wouldn't be doing our job if we didn't look for the way it touched pubs.
It didn't take too long for the news team to come up with a way in which it did, discovering that Michael Jackson songs had rapidly become the most popular tunes on pub jukeboxes in the days following his death.
Sadly in this year of years for the pub trade it didn't take long for the usual difficult news about the licensed trade to take over once more.
After months of bad news there are still announcements about redundancies and pub companies in difficulty coming through every week, with Diageo and Pubs 'n' Bars featuring in the latest reports.
With so much going on it would be easy for the difficult trading conditions to impact on the impression you make on your customers as they come into the pub this summer.
Pubs may be at the opposite end of the spectrum from Michael Jackson, but in many ways they are just as much a part of the entertainment business. Just as he put on a show when he was out on stage, whatever was going on behind it, so must pubs.
Put brutally, customers don't want to hear about the difficulties of the trade when they go to the pub - they simply want to have a good time.
And that's one of the key messages of Proud of Pubs Week, which launches this weekend. Four years after the Proud of Pubs campaign to promote the positive face of the pub trade was launched, the message is back and it is more relevant than ever.
Join our campaign, take on board the ideas and suggestions we have set out on ThePublican.com, and we hope you will benefit from the increased media coverage this year.
Come on. It's going to be a Thriller!
