After Dinner SpeakersMichael Cole’s life and career are unique.
For 27 years he was a front-line reporter. For the last 28, he’s been a leading PR executive, initially at the most celebrated store in the world and latterly running his own agency.
In addition, he’s found the time to present his own television chat show, as “The British Jerry Springer”, present a radio phone-in and write newspaper columns for The Daily Mail and regional morning newspapers.
For 16 years, he was a Director of Fulham Football Club, representing the club in the Premier League and the European Clubs’ Association.
No wonder he’s a popular after-dinner speaker, conference chairman and versatile host at corporate or private events where his wealth of knowledge of luxury brands, high class retailing, handling major crises and dealing with the ravenous modern media gives him an unrivalled ability to tell you what really happens when the worst happens. And what happens next.
Michael reveals truths that are important for you to know, not just in business but in life, and he regularly captivates his audience with the breadth of his experience and the scope of his vision.
Broadcaster:
Michael worked for newspapers and an international news agency before becoming a television reporter.
He started at ITV but spent more than 20 years at BBC TV News where his work twice won the Royal Television Society Award for the Best Home News Story of the Year.
His assignments took him to 56 countries. He covered several major wars and six British General Elections.
As Court Correspondent, accredited to Buckingham Palace, Michael Cole followed the Royal Family around the world.
No wonder he’s a popular after-dinner speaker, conference chairman and versatile host at corporate or private events where his wealth of knowledge of luxury brands, high class retailing, handling major crises and dealing with the ravenous modern media gives him an unrivalled ability to tell you what really happens when the worst happens. And what happens next.
Asked if he knew the Queen, Michael said, “No, But the Queen knows me”; not arrogance, simply the truth as it is the monarch’s job to know who is covering her work for the BBC.
Harrods:
Michael was invited to join the Harrods Group of Companies in 1988 and was a main board director for 10 years.
During that decade, House of Fraser was successfully floated on the London Stock Exchange and Harrods was transformed by the lavish investment of its owner, Mohamed Al Fayed.
As Director of Public Affairs, Michael confronted three huge stories, any one of which would have been more than enough for the CV of most PR men and women.
First, there was the most bitterly fought takeover battle of the 20th. Century against Tiny Rowland of Lonrho (“We won”, says Michael), then the “Cash for Questions” revelations that began the long overdue clean-up of corruption in the House of Commons, and finally the tragedy in Paris on 31 August, 1997, when Mr. Al Fayed’s eldest son Dodi and Diana, Princess of Wales, were killed in a still unresolved collision in an underpass next to the River Seine.
Michael was the spokesman for the Fayed family in the most terrible of circumstances, made more even difficult for him because he had known the victims for more than 12 years and liked them both.
Apart from the Fayed family, Michael Cole is one of the only people in the world who knew the Princess, Dodi and their chauffeur that night, Henri Paul, who used to drive Michael around Paris when he was in the city on business.
When he retired from Harrods in 1998, Michael set up his own company and was immediately invited to host The Michael Cole Show on the Living TV Channel, a very popular programme that ran for 100 editions.
At the same time, he was presenting his own phone-in on TalkSport and wrote a weekly column for The East Anglian Daily Times, the morning paper that circulates in Suffolk where he lives.
In addition to Fulham F.C., Michael has been a non-executive director of a number of leading companies in the City and West End of London, most of them involved in luxury goods and services.
He even took on one public relations assignment that presented even greater problems than those presented by three cases when he was at Harrods.
Sometimes, to selective audiences, Michael reveals what this challenge was and what he had to do in order to meet it.
Perhaps he will tell you what he still regards as The Biggest PR Challenge in the World.
Other speaking topics include:
Swimming with Sharks:
How to survive when crisis hits you or your company and the world’s media are circling in the water, sniffing for blood.
Building a Brand:
How to ensure that your creation achieves the recognition that it merits and attracts the customers when so many good ideas fail.
Luxury:
What is it and how do you make sure that your product or service breaks into the luxury bracket and stays there, where the big bucks are?
What Happens when the Worst Happens:
Disaster and tragedy do not announce themselves but strike you unawares, requiring an immediate and deft response. But what should it be?
Who was Who from 1961/88:
Life as a journalist reporting the major news from Macmillan to the fall of Thatcher, meeting the people who mattered and covering the events that changed history.
On the Royal Road:
Michael’s life as the Court Correspondent of BBC TV News, covering the Queen in the journalistic sense of the word in Britain and her other realms around the world.
