Media Visits – what are they all about?

December 9th, 2011
Love your liver with BLT and EIS

During my time at Democracy, I’ve hit the phones to book in media visits for many different clients, from food to fashion. This week however, I got the chance to experience them for myself.

Along with the British Liver Trust, we took a trip to London to talk to health journalists about Eisberg alcohol free wine’s upcoming campaign with the charity.

Love Your Liver month is an initiative to encourage people to take two to three days off alcohol a week and to be more aware of their own liver health.

The campaign begins in January, so it was a fantastic opportunity to meet face to face with journalists, and to really engage them with the campaign. They loved our idea of a nationwide bus tour of pop up liver clinics, and even pledged, not without trepidation, to come and have their own livers tested when it hits London!

It was also good to hear the trust talk about the medical side of the initiative, reminding us how important liver health actually is, and how small lifestyle changes now can make the world of difference later on.

We had really great feedback and support for the campaign, and  before we’d even boarded the train back to Manchester, we had an email confirming coverage in the Daily Mail Femail, followed by confirmation with Women’s Own!

More importantly, we have developed relationships with key journalists, which we can work hard to maintain and convert to coverage!

So now I know; that’s what media visits are all about!

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The iPad, what else?

January 28th, 2010
Steve Jobs

It would seem rather against the grain to talk about anything that isn’t the iPad today, even though I’ve spent most of my day talking about anything but. (That’s jam sandwiches, pelvic toners, entrepreneurs, baby food menus, hall tests and grapefruit if you were wondering)

Anyway onto the iPad, after reading the announcement via twitter during ‘The Derby’ last night and reading the opinions of tech journalists in the papers this morning I’ve just managed to watch the video on Apple’s site and I have to say, that, just like everyone else, I think it looks like a big iPhone.

I am convinced that, like all Apple products, you won’t realise you need one until you get one (or all your friends do first) and I really like the name; it’s like an iPod, it’s like a pad, geddit? Best use of the name so far in a blog from Stephen Fry today entitled “iPad About”.

So if we’re all reserving judgement on the product, which seems to be the general consensus, the thing we can marvel at instead is Apple’s PR skills. When was the last time someone launched a laptop and the world’s media gave it this amount of attention?

By keeping everything about their product a secret Apple created the ultimate crescendo of excitement around the launch event. Rather than leaking specs or samples to favoured journalists or bloggers, Apple kept the tech community holding their breath and they passed their excitement on to their readers, friends and followers.

If only Apple didn’t seem to enjoy making such beautiful adverts they wouldn’t need to advertise at all.

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MOD tackled by the power of the internet

February 29th, 2008

Until the Drudge Report broke the news yesterday afternoon, nobody knew that Prince Harry had been in Afghanistan for the past two months because of an agreed media blackout.

Or did they.

Author and former SAS soldier Andy McNab said he believed the Taliban would have been aware of Harry’s presence in Afghanistan even before the revelation. During an interview on Radio 4′s PM, he said he’d been offered amateur video footage of the Prince in Afghanistan as early as January.

Now, if the MOD knew, the media knew and the Taliban knew; then the only people left in the dark were us. The ordinary people.

The ethical argument over whether the Drudge Report should have broken the story or held the media blackout is something for their conscience.

But what it does demonstrate is that, however hard you try and keep something quiet, the actions of one of the “ordinary folk” when amplified by the power of the internet can change the media agenda and upset the official chain of command – all at the click of a mouse.

Welcome to the world of citizen media.

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Don’t forget real public forums.

February 7th, 2008

“Reprinted” from the Manchester Evening News, February 5 2008, written by Jennifer O’Grady.

Reputation is created by what people say about you. It’s the first rule of public relations. And one which appears to have been forgotten by Manchester’s PR folk.

For its first 100 years of life, public relations was – in essence – a simple process; some bright chap wrote a press release, they dispatched it to select journalists and – if the journalist liked what they read – the story was printed, to be devoured by the masses.

Well, everything’s changed now. Yes, traditional media still matters but the wonderful world of the Internet has created millions of new writers. And there’s a lot more of them there are journalists.

So why does the majority of Manchester’s PR world completely ignore them?

There are 63m users of Facebook and in excess of 100m blogs worldwide. All of them carrying the writers’ varying opinions on the subjects that matter to them. They blog about the things they like. They post updates on Facebook about the things they hate. And, to the people that read these words, the opinions carry significant weight.

And the PR folk of Manchester? As a rule, they’re hoping that the client won’t notice this revolution. Because they don’t understand it perhaps?

Ordinary people can spread good and bad information about brands faster than any ad campaign, press release or sponsorship. If clients and agencies don’t engage with these new “citizen journalists” – then they’ve lost control over their brand.

So what’s your social media PR like then? A blog is a good first step but the bare minimum in 2008. What about a Facebook group? A MySpace profile? A social media newsroom? Ask your current PR agency about their plans for citizen media – and, with few exceptions, watch panic set in.

If the public isn’t the target of your public relations campaign – then wave goodbye to your reputation.

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