HOW I SEE IT - Adrian Brady, CEO, Eulogy
First things first - it's a 'miss'. Let's face it, far from being 'just another' charity event, the Poppy Appeal is at the very heart of British society. It is part of the DNA in a calendar where people identify and commemorate significant events and dates each year.
But rather than just have a savage pop at Shell - which surely must realise its mistake at a corporate level - perhaps we should simply use this as an example of what PR can add in terms of effective management of reputation, internal morale and general consumer satisfaction for a brand.
Undoubtedly, the whole debacle is about as much of a miss as this column has ever seen, but the real miss is the misconception that such a decision should ever be made outside of the comms remit.
MISS