Piers Morgan Outrage Over Brandpool Celebrity Trust Survey Submitted By: Friday's Media Group Monday, 19 April 2010

Piers Morgan outrage over Brandpool celebrity trust survey Submitted by: Friday's Media Group Monday, 19 April 2010

Piers Morgan has expressed outrage at being voted the sixth least trusted celebrity brand ambassador in a survey by ad agency and creative content providers Brandpool. Writing in his Mail On Sunday column, the Britain’s Got Talent judge questioned the logic of the poll, which named the celebrities the public would most and least trust as the faces of an ad campaign. But Brandpool has hit back at Morgan for failing to recognise the purpose of its research. Morgan, who also neglected to credit Brandpool as the source of the study, said: “No real surprises on the Most Trusted list, which is led by ‘national treasures’ such as David Attenborough, Stephen Fry, Richard Branson and Michael Parkinson. “As for the Least Trusted list, I find the logic of this one quite odd. Katie Price, for example, comes top, yet I would argue that she’s one of the most trustworthy people I know… Then I suddenly pop up at No 6, an outrage which perhaps only I feel incensed about. Particularly as that smiley little rodent Russell Brand slithers in at No 7. Making me supposedly less trustworthy than a former heroin junkie and sex addict.” Morgan was also surprised to see Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole, Sharon Osbourne, Tom Cruise and Jonathan Ross in the Least Trusted list. However, he agreed with the inclusion of John Terry, Ashley Cole, Tiger Woods and Tony Blair, all of whom, he said, were “united by a common forked tongue”. Brandpool chairman and creative director John McWilliams said he was disappointed by Morgan’s comments. “Not only does Piers Morgan fail to credit Brandpool as the source of this research but he also misses the point. Our study was never intended to find out whether celebrities are trustworthy or not, but whether the public perceive them to be trustworthy. There’s a big difference,” said McWilliams. “However, he rightly describes our poll as ‘fascinating’ and of course we welcome debate on what’s proving to be a very important topic for marketers.” Leading psychologist Prof Cary Cooper said at the launch of the survey findings last week: “We mustn’t confuse celebrity with trust. Trust is about credibility and substance, and these come from how people live their lives, what they say, and so on.” -Ends- Key findings of the Brandpool Celebrity Trust Survey: Most trusted:

Page 1 1.Sir David Attenborough 46% 2.Stephen Fry 36% 3.Richard Branson 20% 4.Michael Parkinson 19% 5.Sir Terry Wogan / David Dimbleby 16% 6.Jeremy Paxman 14.5% 7.Sir Paul McCartney 13% 8.Eddie Izzard 11.6% 9.Jeremy Clarkson 10.1% 10.Lord Alan Sugar / Christine Bleakley 8.7% Least trusted: 1.Katie Price 39% 2.John Terry / Ashley Cole 31% 3.Amy Winehouse 30% 4.Heather Mills 29% 5.Tiger Woods / Tony Blair 14% 6.Piers Morgan 11.4% 7.Russell Brand 10% 8.Sharon Osbourne / David Beckham 8.6% 9.Simon Cowell / Cheryl Cole 7.2% 10.Tom Cruise / Jonathan Ross 7% Other key findings: •Sir Cliff Richard got more than twice the number of ‘most trusted’ votes than Cheryl Cole. •Homer Simpson was more trusted than Tony Blair, Ant and Dec, Davina McCall, Peter Andre and Gordon Ramsay. •Michael McIntyre was the second most trusted comedian, behind Eddie Izzard. •Celebrities who received no votes in the ‘most trusted’ section of the survey included Wayne Rooney, David Beckham, Piers Morgan and Vernon Kay. •Erudite meerkat Alexander Orlov was rated more trustworthy than Churchill the bulldog. Additional information: Brandpool are about to shake up the advertising agency world with the launch of their highly innovative new ad agency model, which works in much the same way as movie or TV producers operate, by drawing on the best talent from the whole industry, as well as their own in-house resources. ‘The Brandpool Heavyweights’ are the people who’ve created some of the most memorable and successful advertising ever seen. As well as creative principals, John McWilliams and Chris Hill, the Heavyweights are Ann Binnie, Blair Jarvis, Graeham Preston, Jeff Suthons, Dean Turney, Keith Crook, Kevin Kneale, Don Barclay, Martin Cunningham, Phil Rylance, Leighton Ballett and Rich Ward.

Page 2 They are the creative talent on pretty much all the most memorable and successful campaigns of recent times – Ford Puma starring Steve McQueen, ‘Lucky the dog’ for More Than, ‘Creature Comforts’ for the Electricity Association, Tesco, Virgin Atlantic and many more international award-winning campaigns. Their heavyweight experience also includes campaigns for Dr Pepper, BMW, Heineken, John Lewis, Sony Ericsson, Bacardi, BBC, Coca-Cola, Dulux, Motorola, Warburtons, Skol, Kleenex, Red Mountain Coffee, Nestle, Unilever, Red Stripe, Lowenbrau, Toblerone, Eurostar, Sharwoods, Vauxhall, Friends of the Earth, Bendicks chocolates, Blackthorn Cider and BA. ‘The Brandpool Heavyweights’ have won many awards for their work including honours from BAFTA, British TV, Campaign Posters, Cannes, Clio, Creative Circle, D&AD, Direct Marketing, and One Show. Brandpool is part of Loewy Group. John McWilliams, chairman and creative principal of Brandpool, was formerly MD of Arc Advertising Group. Visit http://www.brandpoolgroup.com For more information or images please contact: Nick Henderson or Katie McBreen Friday’s Media Group, 18 Soho Square, London, W1D 3QL Email: [email protected] or [email protected] Telephone: 0845 500 1140

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