There is a politician so bumbling, he accidentally fell into a river during his own contrived photo opportunity, like Miranda Hart with a mandate.

Thank heavens that this man, Boris Johnson, is only mayor of London, and not somewhere important.

The likelihood of Johnson engaging in further foolhardy press calls has increased dramatically, due to his main opponent Ken Livingstone taking bumbling to a whole new, and potentially unelectable level.

In the space of two weeks, Livingstone’s call for mayoral candidates to reveal their income and tax commitments backfired, as his own declaration was not as comprehensive as commentators would have liked.

Days later, Livingstone managed to further entangle himself in the zipper by weeping whilst watching Labour’s “Better Off With Ken” video. Not only is the video approximately eight million times less capable of jerking a tear than an episode of Countdown, spurious media stories abounded that the short film of boo-hoo faced real Londoners may in actuality have been populated by unreal actors.

Ken’s Kalamities have helped Boris bolster his lead over his rival, the latest contradiction to the adage that any publicity is good publicity. That said, with my (Dolce and Gabbana) PR hat on, it makes me wonder if media management has been well utilised in the capital’s mayoral debate. And, with my (Hat Man, Stephenson Street, Birmingham) local hat on, I wonder if media management has been used enough in the run-up to the Birmingham mayor referendum.

The efforts of the Birmingham Post and others mean the business community is engaged.

The youth mayor movement has the promise to reach out to the newly enfranchised. Sterling work has been made by the likes of Julia Higginbottom in the “Yes to a Birmingham Mayor” camp, ensuring the politically conscious have been kept updated with mayoral discussions. The extensive programme of debating events has also, as May approaches, started to engage some more of the undecided.

That still leaves, frustratingly, a large unengaged swathe of the public who feel they don’t have enough of a reason to care. The concern is, if local and national media isn’t sufficiently interested in the Birmingham mayoral debate, there’s a likelihood that the unengaged won’t read about, hear or see reasons to care.

Arguably, a weighty media communications campaign would ensure sufficient journalist interest was generated – and not just that of the local government correspondent.

In Monday’s London Evening Standard, there were six mayor stories, one trailed on the front page.

In Monday’s Birmingham Mail, there was one. It makes you wonder if the campaigns are finding the right angles to get into the news. To be honest, if the campaigns, be it for a “yes” or “no”, don’t find policies or issues that captures the wider interest, perhaps PR methodology could be used to make a difference.

Perhaps, for a simplistic example, we need Mirza Ahmed to paddle in the canal at Brindleyplace, or Liam Byrne to tattoo ‘Yes 2 Mayor’ on his infamously bald bonce. I’m serious. PRs know one brilliant image can make any campaign. Where is the defining one of this campaign?

Thought leadership is the foundation of any public relations strategy - and, we’ve been lucky to have the likes of Lords Adonis and Heseltine, both eloquently pro-mayor.

But, has their knowledge been successfully leveraged? Indeed, have we identified and utilised other appropriate thought leaders for our youthful city? And the celebrity advocates – where are they?

The lack of PR to date is largely intentional: the methodology has been to avoid alienating the public with a barrage of glitzy, gaudy PR stunts. Oh, and there’s not much money to play with either.

Instead, in the case of “Yes to a Birmingham Mayor”, it has been more about providing voters with the space to hear discussions and contribute to debate.

This approach has worked, to a degree. The limitation with this, however, is that it’s not going to quicken the pulses of sub editors or broadcast journalists.

“People Talk in a Big Room” is a not a headline that’s going to hit the homepages of many news websites, meaning the impact of many of these events is predominantly limited (social media commentary notwithstanding) to the halls they take place in.

Unlike the publicity surrounding the Ken and Boris Show, Birmingham is making a decision on a concept rather than a person, so we are understandably in a different place in terms of profiling specific personalities.

And, again, I appreciate the campaigns’ thinking that city residents won’t be swayed by an individual’s charisma when deciding if we should have a mayor or not. However, the PR in me thinks the relative anonymity of the candidates in the eyes of the general public can’t be helpful in raising the profile of the mayoral issue.

Let’s be honest – there’ll be considerably more people in this city that would recognise Liam from One Direction ahead of Liam from Hodge Hill. So, if you add the relatively low profile of the mayoral candidates to the equally low profile as to what a mayor’s powers will actually be, we have a debate that is still a bit under the radar for many.

A clever friend of mine (he’s a Dr of something or other, so he must be clever) believes we should “beware the cult of personality” when forming our views on the mayor referendum. I actually think personality is one of the key factors that the mayoral debate is missing, and I think a greater deployment of PR would have helped bring this to the fore. Hopefully, a good voter turnout in May will prove me wrong, making me as much of a bumbler as Ken and Boris.

* Keith Gabriel is a Birmingham-based PR account manager