‘Yes, I’m a media whore but who else is going to represent the industry?’

Controversial figure Russell Quirk confirms what many estate agents have suspected for some time, but says his success has been built on the lack of industry CEOs prepared to go on TV and radio.

property industry

Former emoov CEO and controversial property industry figure Russell Quirk has admitted that he’s a ‘media whore’ but said his success in gaining coverage for himself and his clients is partly due to a lack of senior ‘personalities’ within the industry.

During an interview with Chris Watkins, the 52-year-old has revealed that during his time at emoov he realised he had the opportunity to become a spokesperson for the industry because so few other CEOs put their ‘head above the parapet’ and were prepared to have strong opinions.

“I’ve learned to become a media whore and that goes a long way with journalists,” he says.

Although Quirk doesn’t name them during the interview, he infers that many of the UK property industry’s leaders rarely make public statements on issues other than for their annual reports or when things go wrong.

Property industry

“I’m not sure there’s ever been a sophisticated PR effort within the property industry, really, other than the good work that John Wriglesworth before he sold out to Instincif,” says Quirk.

“But he wasn’t opinionated – what you need these days is personal brand rather than corporate brand and social media has allowed that to happen.”

Quirk says that to become a property industry media spokesperson agents have to warm to live or recorded media appearances and also get up early or stay up late to be on TV and radio and “drop everything when they ask, so it’s not for everyone,” he says.

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2 Comments

  1. Really Russell? John Wriglesworth not controversial? Calling for 100% mortgages or saying a housing market crash was less likely than finding Elvis on the moon or Dolly Parton not sleeping on her front. That kind of thing!
    Neil Mackwood
    Former Director Property – The Wriglesworth Consultancy

    1. Opinions are a dime a dozen in this fragmented industry and most of the “media whores” and soi-dissant industry spokespersons aren’t up to speed on what’s actually happening within individual firms. It’s not the role of the CEO to be a media spokesperson and press coverage won’t help them solve any of their problems.

      Employing the services of the media whores won’t help, either. A few column inches in the national press won’t turn a good Agency into a great one.

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