Pitching to journalists: the good, the bad and the ugly

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The rise of digital, social and paid for content has many in the industry talking about new ways of working, but traditional media relations still has a fundamental part to play in PR.

With more and more brands seeking even more ways to influence their target consumer, a story Pitching to Journalists1featuring your brand in a trusted publication is still seen by many as the Holy Grail.

But, while it is no surprise that a PR pitch to a journalist needs to be brief, to the point and, above all, honest, there are many ways to get a pitch right or, indeed, wrong.

This White Paper asks journalists from across the media spectrum, as well as senior PR professionals, what makes for a well-delivered PR pitch to the press, whether it’s by email or (if you’re really brave) by phone.

Delving into their own experiences, both good and bad, journalists and PRs offer a mix of dos and don’ts for building strong relationships with the influential in the media in 2016.

Download the White Paper now to find out more.

Ex EE comms director writes book on brand’s birth

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Stuart Jackson, former communications director at EE, is co-author of ‘The 4G Mobile Revolution: Creation, Innovation and Transformation at EE’; the story of the British mobile network operator, EE, published by Kogan Page.

4G mobile revolution 1

Olaf Swantee, former CEO of EE, and Jackson wrote the book, which charts the joint venture between Orange and T-Mobile, and the birth of EE, right up until its purchase by BT in 2015.

It promises to offer an insider’s perspective on a unique business journey, and aims to make the lessons learned applicable for professionals operating within a range of disciplines and industries.

Jackson said: “With the right support and engagement from the top, communications can be the most powerful tool in a business’ armoury. That’s where we got to with EE. We used communications to power up the business and act as a lever to create an agile business with an impactful story that the competition couldn’t keep up with. The book includes examples of how we did that, packaging up our story to create a powerful and engaging narrative that looked beyond our industry and toward legacy, societal and industrial transformation.”

Swantee added: “The EE story is unique. We took two great companies and transformed them to become the market leader, building a new mobile digital infrastructure for Britain in the process. It was a huge task delivered by many exceptionally talented people and I wanted to make sure that we captured the good, the bad and the ugly of the journey – what worked as well as what didn’t.”

The 4G Mobile Revolution book will be published on 3 August 2016.

 

INSIGHTEC appoints Red Lorry Yellow Lorry as UK PR agency

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Red Lorry Yellow Lorry will provide INSIGHTEC with an awareness campaign targeting both patients and medical professionals.

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INSIGHTEC aims to highlight its work in the development of breakthrough medical technology, such as its MR-guided Focused Ultrasound (MRgFUS) therapy platform.

Susan Wills, INSIGHTEC’s country manager for the UK and Ireland, said: “MRgFUS has the potential to improve the quality of healthcare treatments to patients and to minimise the trauma to the patient and their families, whilst accelerating their recovery and saving costs for the healthcare system. It is exciting to be working with Red Lorry Yellow Lorry in order to educate patients and providers on the benefits of this new treatment alternative and to help accelerate the adoption of MRgFUS to make a change to millions of lives.”

The MRgFUS platform uses focused ultrasound waves to safely ablate targeted tissue. The non-invasive therapy can be used to treat a variety of neurological, oncological and gynaecological conditions.

Guy Walsingham, managing director at Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, said: “INSIGHTEC’s innovative Exablate platform pushes the boundaries of what is possible in medical technology, to give patients more treatment options. We’re very proud to be working with a company that’s at the forefront of its industry and highlighting the amazing work they’re doing in treating these conditions.”

 

The Gorkana Weekly Industry News Brief: 21 to 27 May 2016

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Missed out on this week’s PR News? Get your handy round-up of the essential highlights of PR and media stories, features and events content over the last seven days on Gorkana News.

People News

Pernod 2

Aurélie Kane

Pernod Ricard, which includes brands Absolut Vodka, Beefeater Gin and Jameson Irish Whiskey, has promoted its head of corporate comms, Aurélie Kane, to comms and corporate affairs director.

Shirin Majid has rejoined Weber Shandwick to become creative director, 17 years after starting her PR career at the agency’s Washington, D.C. office.

VFS Global, the world’s largest outsourcing and technology services specialist for governments and diplomatic missions, has appointed Kuoni Group’s Peter Brun to chief comms officer.

Hotwire’s deputy MD, Matt Cross, has been promoted to MD of the UK business, four years after joining the agency as a director.

Global social media agency We Are Social has boosted its creative and production teams by hiring All Together Now’s Daniel Evans as associate creative director and Hello You Creatives’ founder Dan Vallint-Riggs as its first shooting director.

Pitch Wins

3 Monkeys Zeno has been handed a European comms brief by global broadband networking tech provider ZyXEL.

German life sciences company Bayer has chosen WPP agencies Finsbury and Hering Schuppener to work alongside its retained adviser, Brunswick, on its £42.8 billion ($62 billion) bid to buy American agrochemical company Monsanto.

New “social crowd” platform Crowdmix has chosen Manifest as its retained comms agency, with a brief to handle the platform’s UK launch this Summer.

Agency News

WPP-owned Clarion has restructured its senior team, with MD of 12 years Amanda Meyrick stepping into the role of CEO to lead a newly-formed board of four managing partners, as the agency turns 30 this year and takes on a new brand identity, ‘Clever Works’.

image004This weekend, Clarion has created a pop-up store in BOXPARK, Shoreditch to push Aldi’s award winning-range of wines and beers. The store will be open from 26 to 28 May and run a range of wine-tasting masterclasses. More information can be found here.

Scottish PR agency The BIG Partnership has expanded its offering in the North West of England with the launch of a new Manchester office, and brought in Sarah Lawless from marketing agency One to head it up.

Events

Media briefing with International Business Times UK
Big changes are taking place at International Business Times, a digital first news organisation, which reaches 55 million global readers a month. At an exclusive Gorkana media briefing this week, its recently appointed UK editor-in-chief John Crowley and managing editor Julian Kossoff revealed the recruitment of several top flight journalists to strengthen its news team and bolster IBT UK’s mission to cover the untold stories that ‘fall through the cracks’. At the media briefing, Crowley announced the appointment of Gaurav Sharma, as business editor at IBT UK.

Join Gorkana’s media briefing with The Sun’s city editor, Rhodri Phillips
On Thursday 2 June, Gorkana is holding a media briefing with Rhodri Phillips, city editor at The Sun. The national newspaper’s long-running city page offers a condensed take on major business and financial stories and tends to focus on the successes and failures of well-known consumer brands and retailers.

To register to attend the event, click here.

News Analysis

Twitter icon 2 BCPRs respond to Twitter’s new 140 rules
Twitter’s latest efforts to improve user and financial growth have seen the platform create more space for users to express themselves through its famous 140 character limit. Gorkana gets feedback from PR and content experts on how they feel about the latest changes and how they might make Twitter more accessible.

Journalist News

Guarav Sharma has been appointed business editor at International Business Times. Sharma has previously worked with CNBC Europe, Euromoney, IDG, Incisive Media and Emap.

Alain Tolhurst has been promoted to digital politics editor at The Sun.

Dan Kelly has been appointed as commissioning editor at BBC World News. Kelly was previously assistant editor at BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme and Newsnight.

Joanna Carr has been appointed head of current affairs at BBC News. She joins the team from BBC Radio 4, where she held a news and current affairs editorial role.

Features

60 Seconds with Nissan Europe’s comms VP, Stuart Jackson
Stuart Jackson, comms VP at Nissan and founder of UP Communications, on his unique hiring techniques, why journalism in the 90s was ‘like the Wild West’ and why people shouldn’t use the word ‘comms’ as a verb.

PR Case Study: WheresTheSticker
When the Food Standards Agency looked to encourage restaurant goers to seek out its green ratings stickers in restaurant windows, Threepipe came up with “thumb stopping” video content to hijack the high levels of  “#foodporn” on social media. Video clips featured a cockroach emerging from a steak sandwich and a bloody plaster surfacing on a bowl of soup.

Behind the Headlines with Stir PR MD Alicia Mellish
Alicia Mellish, MD of Stir PR, on what’s led her to appreciate vacuum packed food, the marker for campaign success and why PR should be seen as the gatekeeper to a brand’s most powerful influencers.

 

Cultural Communications wins PR brief to launch travel festival Beyond

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Cultural Communications has been appointed by Steppes Travel to support the launch of its inaugural travel festival, Beyond.

Cultural Communications


Beyond is set to take place at the Royal Geographical Society on 17 and 18 September and will include Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Chris Packham, Monty Halls, Charlie Mayhew and Saba Douglas-Hamilton as speakers.

Alongside 16 speaker events, there will be a panel discussion around conservation chaired by Charlie Mayhew featuring conservationist Colin Bell, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust’s Andrew Terry and Professor David Macdonald of WildCRU.

Other highlights will include workshops on photography and filming, a working sculpture studio and art exhibitions.

Cultural Communications’ brief includes initiating and managing partnerships with high-end brands.

Steppes Travel MD Justin Wateridge said: “Beyond is designed to be different. It’s a showcase of some of the world’s greatest adventurers, explorers and conservationists who share a passion for travel and the issues that surround it.

“We want to shine a light on these locally and globally. Cultural Comms stood out to us as connected to the prospects that will make a big difference to the festival.”

Charlotte Heath-Bullock, founder of Cultural Communications, said: “Our brief for Steppes Travel is a fantastic example of what we have done successfully since foundation – creatively and commercially partnering brands together whilst interacting with a highly targeted demographic. Marketing partnerships represents nearly half of what we do as an agency and is a core part of our growth strategy. We’re thrilled to have Steppes Travel on board in our portfolio of clients.”

Radio Relations supports launch of Local Radio Day

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Broadcast PR agency Radio Relations is behind today’s launch of Local Radio Day, a new initiative created by local radio group UKRD to promote the benefits of local radio in the UK.

Local Radio Day has today released research supported by an infographic that was produced by the local_radio_dayRadio Relations team, to show the importance of local radio to the UK communities they serve. The Local Radio Day team researched over 1750 people aged 15+ to identify how important local broadcasters are to people.

Key findings of the Local Radio Day research showed that 94% of respondents get their local news from a local radio source, 88% agreed that local news on the radio is either important or extremely important to them, with 99.5% agreeing that it is a good idea that a local radio station is available in the area it broadcasts to.

Adam Cox, Radio Relations MD, said: “Local Radio is just as important to our clients and our business now as it was ten years ago. When we heard about Local Radio Day we wanted to show our support, not just to this campaign and the 40 plus stations that will be involved, but to the whole radio industry that is going through such a mass amount of change.”

More information about Local Radio Day and its research can be found here.

Wilko hires Brazen

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British high-street chain Wilko has appointed Brazen as its retained PR and social media agency, following a competitive pitch.

Wilko, which has been owned and run by the Wilkinson family for 85 years, has briefed Manchester-based Brazen to handle its consumer PR and social media, devise a community and charity strategy, and brazen wilkoprovide regional support for its 385 UK stores.

Through a series of brand campaigns, a press office function, and social media activity, Brazen will look to build the brand’s reputation, both on and offline, as the store “you can rely on to ‘get stuff done’”.

Board director Sasha Marks will lead the account, supported by a 15-strong team divided across consumer, social, local and charity.

Ben Hurley, Wilko’s senior external comms manager, said: “We needed a forward-thinking agency, full of ideas, which is at the top of its game in both consumer PR and social media. Brazen ticked all the boxes and really impressed us with their creativity and strategic thinking.

“We’re really looking forward to working with Brazen – they have already demonstrated that they understand the Wilko way and why we are different from the many other value retailers on the high street.”

Nina Webb, Brazen CEO, said: “We are thrilled to have been appointed by Wilko. The company is a third generation family-owned retailer and potentially one of the biggest voices for family value on the high street.

“Putting customers at the heart of all our comms, our tactics are designed to position Wilko as the go-to retailer to help them fulfil their day-to-day tasks. Central to everything we do in terms of PR will be offering solutions to help customers get their ‘to-dos’ done with great quality products at great value prices you can rely on all year round.”

Wilko’s product range includes homewares, textiles, DIY, cleaning products, health and beauty lines, stationery, pet products, kitchen, bathroom and garden goods, with 52% of its sales accounted for by its own label products.

EM opens US office for emerging markets

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Financial and corporate comms agency EM has announced its expansion into North America with the opening of a New York office.

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Tom Kiehn and Sergii Pershyn

This the fourth office for the agency, which specialises in financial, corporate and crisis comms for emerging markets such as Russia and China and follows its successful launch in Hong Kong in September 2015.

It has long-established offices in London and Moscow. Initially, the office will be staffed by existing EM employees; Thomas Kiehn, Sergii Pershyn and Quinn Martin.

Tom Blackwell, CEO of EM, said: “This is a major milestone for EM, as we build out the number-one global communications offering for corporates in Russia and other emerging markets. Despite the current political environment, North America continues to be an important destination for our core client base, with around 25% of Russian shares still held by US and Canadian investors.”

Golley Slater wins LDF account

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Golley Slater PR will handle communications for LDF, the largest “non-bank” SME finance provider in the UK.

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Eileen Stretton

LDF is a 30-year-old business that, it says, hasn’t focussed on its PR strategy before now. Following its appointment, Golley Slater’s Leeds office will help the business to convey the benefits of non-bank lending routes by creating “compelling content and news for the SME market” and raising the profile of LDF’s senior management team.

Eileen Stretton, managing director at Golley Slater North, said: “It’s great to get a brief with a really creative challenge: to take a seemingly sensible and dry ‘financial’ message to the media in a fun and creative, broadly relevant way.”

Golley Slater’s activity will commence with the launch of LDF’s asset finance application, lendinghive, securing news coverage around the product launch.

The agency will work alongside the internal marketing team at LDF, reporting to head of marketing, Natalie Powell.

Powell added: “With the launch of lendinghive, and celebrating our 30th anniversary in business, 2016 is a pivotal year for our expanding business and we felt we needed to switch to a more ambitious approach to PR. Our brief reflected that the real nature of the SME market in the UK is such that to only speak to business and trade would be naïve of us – we need to be more holistically relevant to a wide range of small business owners. We chose the Golley Slater team because it showed genuine creativity in how we could get our message to a wider media audience in a compelling way.”

Golley Slater PR North is a division of Golley Slater, a full service marketing agency.

 

Gorkana meets… The Courier editor Richard Neville

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Dundee-based regional newspaper The Courier was named Newspaper of the Year at last week’s Regional Press Awards so Gorkana‘s Josh Gray caught up with its editor, Richard Neville, to find out what he thought secured the top prize for his paper, why the local community remains central to its content and what his plans are for the paper’s 200th anniversary in September.

The Courier won the coveted Newspaper of the Year award (weekly/daily above 20,000 circulation) at the Regional Press Awards last week. What do you think marked your paper out from its competitors?

Richard Neville.

Richard Neville

I suppose it’s the level at which we cover our communities. We still produce four regional editions, sometimes making 40 or so page changes a night. In effect we produce four separate newspapers every night.

Since you joined the newspaper back in 2011 there has been a great deal of transformation in the regional news industry. What has changed at the paper under your editorship and what has stayed the same?

The commitment to the local community has stayed the same, as have the values of trust, respect and fairness. Otherwise we have transformed the title pretty radically over the last four years. First of all we changed format from broadsheet to compact in 2012 and since then we have added in new motoring, homes and what’s on supplements, a stitched and trimmed Saturday magazine and a quarterly business magazine.

We have also expanded the brand by creating a hugely successful Business Awards event and a business breakfast programme. We have also just launched a revamped website and later this year we will be expanding the Saturday magazine and paper, launching a Food and Drink Awards and celebrating our bicentenary with a new book about the paper, its history and how it is produced today.

In a decade in which Scotland has been highly charged by national issues, has it become harder or easier to hone in on items of specific local interest?

I think it has remained the same really. The national debate has run alongside local issues and often formed part of local debate. It has, in the main, been a healthy period in Scottish political life with a noticeable increase in measured debate and discussion.

What are the stories that tend to draw your readership’s attention?

The formula remains the same – anything that makes a big local impact like crimes, accidents and scandals. On top of that there is a growing appetite for the quirky and unconventional stories that have been fuelled by social media. We also see huge responses to videos on our website.

Your paper recently ran the Frank’s Law campaign to raise awareness of dementia in memory of Dundee United player Frank Kopel. How important is a newspaper’s role outside of merely reporting the news?

It’s very important. Frank’s Law was a campaign run by the widow of Frank Kopel, an ex-Dundee United player who suffered from dementia at an early age. The campaign is to extend personal care funding to sufferers below the age of 65. The hard work has been done by Amanda Kopel, but we have done what newspapers should and given a voice to important local campaigners. We support a lot of charities and pressure groups in various causes and I firmly believe that newspaper brands are still the most effective vehicles for getting campaign messages across to the general public and politicians.

How much, if any, of The Courier’s stories are sourced through PR contacts?

Many, many stories are sourced through PR contacts. Sometimes I wish it was fewer but we live in a world where PRs outnumber journalists. We do try to teach our reporters to work with the PR machines but also to talk to real people – it is important that we have a balanced approach to any story we carry.

How would you suggest a PR approach your editorial team to maximise the potential interest and impact of their proposed story?

The best approaches are through our newsdesk and through individual reporters. In my experience nothing beats having individual relationships.

What are your future plans to ensure that The Courier continues to expand its already ample trophy cabinet?

Our year ahead will be dominated by a review of our Saturday product, expanding our new-look website by moving further towards digital first publishing and relocating to our newly refurbished offices back in the centre of Dundee. We are also celebrating the 200th anniversary of The Courier in September, so there is a book to produce and numerous forthcoming supplements and events surrounding that milestone.

Richard was talking to Gorkana’s Josh Gray

The winners of the Regional Press Awards were announced at a ceremony in London last Friday (20 May), with the Journalists’ Charity Award, which this year was won by David Pugh, sponsored by Gorkana.

Below is the full list of winners:

Young Journalist of the Year
Winner: Sophie Prideaux, Bristol Post
Highly Commended: Rob Golledge, Express & Star, Wolverhampton

Business and Finance Journalist of the Year
Winner: Simon Bain, The Herald, Glasgow
Highly Commended: Robin Johnson, Derby Telegraph

Specialist Writer of the Year
Winner: Jeanette Oldham, Birmingham Mail
Highly Commended: Martin George, Eastern Daily Press

Feature Writer of the Year
Winner: Lee Marlow, Leicester Mercury
Highly Commended: Zoe Chamberlain, Birmingham Mail

Columnist of the Year
Winner: Ericka Waller, The Argus, Brighton
Highly Commended: Carolyn Hitt, Western Mail
Highly Commended: Catriona Stewart, The Herald, Glasgow

Weekly Sports Journalist of the Year
Winner: Dave Evans, Newham Recorder
Highly Commended: Jon Colman, The Cumberland News

Daily/Sunday Sports Journalist of the Year
Winner: Carolyn Hitt, Western Mail
Highly Commended: James Pearce, Liverpool Echo
Highly Commended: Suzanne Geldard, Lancashire Telegraph

Weekly Reporter of the Year
Winner: Gareth Davies, Croydon Advertiser
Highly Commended: Ruby Kitchen, Harrogate Advertiser
Highly Commended: William McLennan, Camden New Journal

Daily/Sunday Reporter of the Year
Winner: Jeanette Oldham, Birmingham Mail
Highly Commended: Sophie Doughty, Newcastle Evening Chronicle

Weekly Photographer of the Year
Winner: Michael Gillen, The Falkirk Herald
Highly Commended: Mark Williamson, Stratford-upon-Avon Herald

Daily/Sunday Photographer of the Year
Winner: Kris Miller, The Courier, Dundee
Highly Commended: Jon Lewis, Oxford Mail
Highly Commended: Rob Lock, Lancashire Evening Post

Designer of the Year
Winner: Kathryn Clarke-Mcleod, Western Morning News
Highly Commended: Sian David, Bath Chronicle
Highly Commended: David Lewins, Bristol Post

Supplement of the Year
Winner: Scotland’s 100 Iconic Moments, Sunday Post
Highly Commended: The Way We Were, The Sentinel

Website of the Year
Winner: www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk, Belfast Telegraph
Highly Commended: www.chroniclelive.co.uk, Newcastle Evening Chronicle
Highly Commended: www.dailyecho.co.uk, Southern Daily Echo

The Digital Award
Winner: Trinity Mirror Data Unit
Highly Commended: Hillsborough Inquests, Liverpool Echo
Highly Commended: Pink Un Interactive, Eastern Daily Press

Front Page of the Year
Winner: Thanks Andy, West Briton
Highly Commended: Decency 1 Hatred 0, Newcastle Evening Chronicle

Scoop of the Year
Winner: Shameful, Sophie Doughty, Newcastle Evening Chronicle
Highly Commended: North Sea Gets £1bn vote of confidence, Rita Brown, The Press and Journal, Aberdeen

The Journalists’ Charity Award
Winner: David Pugh

Chairman’s Award
Winner: Hillsborough, 27 Year Fight for Truth, Liverpool Echo

Campaign of the Year
Winner: One in Eight, Hereford Times
Highly Commended: Kids in Crisis, Hull Daily Mail
Highly Commended: Pay up Now, Camden New Journal

Making a Difference
Frank’s Law campaign, The Dundee Courier and Advertiser

Weekly Newspaper (below 20,000)
Winner: The Cumberland News
Highly Commended: Essex Chronicle
Highly Commended: The Scarborough News

Weekly Newspaper (above 20,000)
Winner: Kent Messenger
Highly Commended: Camden New Journal
Highly Commended: The Westmorland Gazette

Daily/Sunday Newspaper (below 20,000)
Winner: The Press, York
Highly Commended: News & Star, Carlisle

Daily/Sunday Newspaper (above 20,000)
Winner: The Courier, Dundee
Highly Commended: Express & Star, Wolverhampton