Gorkana meets…Daily Mail’s City Editor

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Alex Brummer, City Editor of the Daily Mail and author of Bad Banks, on the failure of comms during the financial crisis, the public’s increased scrutiny of The City and how access is key to getting a better position in the press.

2014 saw the publication of your seventh book, Bad Banks: Greed, Incompetence and the Next Global Crisis. Why did you feel it was the right time to revisit the attitudes and practices of banks in such detail?

I’d looked at it in 2007 and 2008, with a book called The Crunch, and theAlex Brummer MAIN publisher felt it was a good idea to pick up where the story left off. It really brings it right up to date. The bad behaviour of the banks has stretched way beyond 2007. In many ways the behaviour following the crisis was as bad as before.

Whilst you were writing Bad Banks, which scandal did you find the most shocking?

They are all pretty shocking. The most interesting were the international scandals, around sanctions-busting and the circumvention of sanctions that had been put in place by Western governments. A large part of the book is about money laundering and sanctions-busting around HSBC. Then there’s the foreign exchange scandal that is only now unravelling. The book also deals with the interest rate rigging scandal, which cost people a lot of money.

The title of the book suggests future banking crises – what have been the regulatory political failures since the 2007 crash?

The regulatory structure has been totally overhauled, and it’s working its way back. What should it have picked up and what didn’t it get? The Co-operative Bank is an example of the system not moving fast enough to deal with a potential problem. The checking processes to assess the fitness and properness of directors failed miserably. How did the Rev. Paul Flowers ever get to be Chairman of a high street bank?

Also, the culture inside the banks is something that the FCA never really managed to get at. In the build up to the financial crisis, the incentives culture in investment banks infested the retail banks. We find inside the retail banks the same kind of incentives that caused people to engage in selling products that people didn’t really need; Payment Protection Insurance is the most obvious example. There’s also the interest rate swaps sold to small businesses and even up to the present day, banks like Lloyds have been circumventing regulation to sell products that people have opted out of selling. Those kinds of practices at the retail end have continued right on.

So why isn’t this issue being tackled by politicians?

I think we’ll hear a lot about bankers in the run up to the Election, but there are no real winners here.

The Tories still use the idea that the crisis was Labour’s fault, and that the banking crisis was at the heart of the financial crisis. However, there’s been so much that has gone wrong since the last election. The Conservatives have tried to close a lot of the loopholes, but some of the really big reforms, like the separation of retail from investment, still haven’t taken place. The banks are working hard to slow that process.

The other thing that didn’t change was the bonuses. Until 2013/2014, Barclays were paying out more in bonuses to their bankers than they were in dividends, even after the government and regulators told them not to do so.

Was there lacklustre coverage of banking practices in the media before the 2007 crash?

In the build-up to the financial crisis, the press were useless. They portrayed people like Fred Goodwin and Bob Diamond as demigods who could do no wrong. I think that is largely about the way that people in financial journalism at the time didn’t want to have villains – they wanted heroes. I’ve been around for a long time and have been very sceptical of this. Everybody has clay feet, and some of the stuff that was going on was unacceptable and stupid. It takes years to settle down a big bank merger, but RBS was buying everything they could get their hands on – you can’t do that. We have seen the consequences, because the IT systems couldn’t cope.

Since the financial crisis, is the increased media scrutiny on banks an overcompensation for failings to address it?

Earlier this year, Jamie Dimon, of JP Morgan, said that the banks were under assault. They aren’t under assault for nothing. They have become too big, too powerful, too overweaning – more interested in the bankers than the customers. I thought it was farcical that a bank like JP Morgan, who have had to pay nearly $30 billion in penalties and fines, but still manage to produce record profits of $24 billion, should be complaining. Dimon was not complaining when he was Obama’s favourite banker and was welcomed to the White House on a number of occasions. He only started complaining when they made mistakes, like the London Whale affair which is documented in the book, and he became persona non grata. The fact remains, they were willing to tolerate bad practice in every part of that bank at one time or another.

Was comms part of the problem before the financial crisis?

I think a lot of it was misleading during the crisis. It’s difficult with banks, because they are such sensitive things. If confidence goes, then people walk out the door. If you work for a bank, you would be stupid to say that something is very badly wrong. You have to steer a path. The good communicators found ways of dealing with those problems, but some of them lied through their teeth.

Have things improved?

I don’t think the culture has changed that much, it will take years. These new broader banking standards have been set up to clean that up.

Is the public more aware of what’s going on in The City now?

I think the public is more interested. The problem is no-one wants to kill the goose that laid the golden egg. The City is still the leading earner for Britain in terms of foreign currency and trade, and the world’s biggest banking and commodity trading centre. All of that is important for our prosperity. There’s a dichotomy here. There are businesses that live off banking. It’s an important part of the economy, that can’t be stripped out.

Talking now about your role at the Daily Mail, what is it about your City pages that set them apart from the competition?

We have a much steadier City staff than other papers do. Since I’ve been City Editor at the Mail, there have been six at The Times and five or six at The Telegraph. Being an Editor today is about being able to draw lines backwards and forwards, and understand where companies are coming from. At the Mail, we are providing a service aiming at private investors, rather than the institutions we write about. We’re much more interested in the consumer than the other City pages are – as interested in the consumers of utility products as the shareholders of those companies.

How can PRs help with this?

What we need is good, clear information when things are going wrong. It’s about trust and availability. It’s hard to get right – there are companies which are incredibly difficult to get to. Companies which provide more access at senior levels, without doubt, get a better position in the press.

It’s not who’s in your contact book, it’s who’s in there that will answer your calls. I have people who I know will always call back.

Is the fact that business stories regularly appear on the main pages a sign that business is becoming more mainstream?

We punt a lot of stories up to the front of the paper; from complex economic stuff, deflation and IMF reports through to the supermarkets. The second tier stories won’t make it, unless it’s a big personality story. When Harriet Green resigned from Thomas Cook, she got a lot of coverage at the front end of the paper. Women in general get a bit more attention than men, particularly in the Mail which has a large female readership.

Alex was speaking to Gorkana’s David Keevill.

Gorkana meets…Daily Mail’s City Editor

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Alex Brummer, City Editor of the Daily Mail and author of Bad Banks, on the failure of comms during the financial crisis, the public’s increased scrutiny of The City and how access is key to getting a better position in the press.

2014 saw the publication of your seventh book, Bad Banks: Greed, Incompetence and the Next Global Crisis. Why did you feel it was the right time to revisit the attitudes and practices of banks in such detail?

I’d looked at it in 2007 and 2008, with a book called The Crunch, and the publisher felt it was a good idea to pick up where the story left off. It really brings it right up to date. The bad behaviour of the banks has stretched way beyond 2007. In many ways the behaviour following the crisis was as bad as before.

Whilst you were writing Bad Banks, which scandal did you find the most shocking?

They are all pretty shocking. The most interesting were the international scandals, around sanctions-busting and the circumvention of sanctions that had been put in place by Western governments. A large part of the book is about money laundering and sanctions-busting around HSBC. Then there’s the foreign exchange scandal that is only now unravelling. The book also deals with the interest rate rigging scandal, which cost people a lot of money.

The title of the book suggests future banking crises – what have been the regulatory political failures since the 2007 crash?

The regulatory structure has been totally overhauled, and it’s working its way back. What should it have picked up and what didn’t it get? The Co-operative Bank is an example of the system not moving fast enough to deal with a potential problem. The checking processes to assess the fitness and properness of directors failed miserably. How did the Rev. Paul Flowers ever get to be Chairman of a high street bank?

Also, the culture inside the banks is something that the FCA never really managed to get at. In the build up to the financial crisis, the incentives culture in investment banks infested the retail banks. We find inside the retail banks the same kind of incentives that caused people to engage in selling products that people didn’t really need; Payment Protection Insurance is the most obvious example. There’s also the interest rate swaps sold to small businesses and even up to the present day, banks like Lloyds have been circumventing regulation to sell products that people have opted out of selling. Those kinds of practices at the retail end have continued right on.

So why isn’t this issue being tackled by politicians?

I think we’ll hear a lot about bankers in the run up to the Election, but there are no real winners here.

The Tories still use the idea that the crisis was Labour’s fault, and that the banking crisis was at the heart of the financial crisis. However, there’s been so much that has gone wrong since the last election. The Conservatives have tried to close a lot of the loopholes, but some of the really big reforms, like the separation of retail from investment, still haven’t taken place. The banks are working hard to slow that process.

The other thing that didn’t change was the bonuses. Until 2013/2014, Barclays were paying out more in bonuses to their bankers than they were in dividends, even after the government and regulators told them not to do so.

Was there lacklustre coverage of banking practices in the media before the 2007 crash?

In the build-up to the financial crisis, the press were useless. They portrayed people like Fred Goodwin and Bob Diamond as demigods who could do no wrong. I think that is largely about the way that people in financial journalism at the time didn’t want to have villains – they wanted heroes. I’ve been around for a long time and have been very sceptical of this. Everybody has clay feet, and some of the stuff that was going on was unacceptable and stupid. It takes years to settle down a big bank merger, but RBS was buying everything they could get their hands on – you can’t do that. We have seen the consequences, because the IT systems couldn’t cope.

Since the financial crisis, is the increased media scrutiny on banks an overcompensation for failings to address it?

Earlier this year, Jamie Dimon, of JP Morgan, said that the banks were under assault. They aren’t under assault for nothing. They have become too big, too powerful, too overweaning – more interested in the bankers than the customers. I thought it was farcical that a bank like JP Morgan, who have had to pay nearly $30 billion in penalties and fines, but still manage to produce record profits of $24 billion, should be complaining. Dimon was not complaining when he was Obama’s favourite banker and was welcomed to the White House on a number of occasions. He only started complaining when they made mistakes, like the London Whale affair which is documented in the book, and he became persona non grata. The fact remains, they were willing to tolerate bad practice in every part of that bank at one time or another.

Was comms part of the problem before the financial crisis?

I think a lot of it was misleading during the crisis. It’s difficult with banks, because they are such sensitive things. If confidence goes, then people walk out the door. If you work for a bank, you would be stupid to say that something is very badly wrong. You have to steer a path. The good communicators found ways of dealing with those problems, but some of them lied through their teeth.

Have things improved?

I don’t think the culture has changed that much, it will take years. These new broader banking standards have been set up to clean that up.

Is the public more aware of what’s going on in The City now?

I think the public is more interested. The problem is no-one wants to kill the goose that laid the golden egg. The City is still the leading earner for Britain in terms of foreign currency and trade, and the world’s biggest banking and commodity trading centre. All of that is important for our prosperity. There’s a dichotomy here. There are businesses that live off banking. It’s an important part of the economy, that can’t be stripped out.

Talking now about your role at the Daily Mail, what is it about your City pages that set them apart from the competition?

We have a much steadier City staff than other papers do. Since I’ve been City Editor at the Mail, there have been six at The Times and five or six at The Telegraph. Being an Editor today is about being able to draw lines backwards and forwards, and understand where companies are coming from. At the Mail, we are providing a service aiming at private investors, rather than the institutions we write about. We’re much more interested in the consumer than the other City pages are – as interested in the consumers of utility products as the shareholders of those companies.

How can PRs help with this?

What we need is good, clear information when things are going wrong. It’s about trust and availability. It’s hard to get right – there are companies which are incredibly difficult to get to. Companies which provide more access at senior levels, without doubt, get a better position in the press.

It’s not who’s in your contact book, it’s who’s in there that will answer your calls. I have people who I know will always call back.

Is the fact that business stories regularly appear on the main pages a sign that business is becoming more mainstream?

We punt a lot of stories up to the front of the paper; from complex economic stuff, deflation and IMF reports through to the supermarkets. The second tier stories won’t make it, unless it’s a big personality story.

When Harriet Green resigned from Thomas Cook, she got a lot of coverage at the front end of the paper.

Women in general get a bit more attention than men, particularly in the Mail which has a large female readership.

Still doing it Frank’s way

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While many UK agencies obsess about world domination and flinging open their doors on foreign shores, Frank PR has just opened its third UK office and is finding diversity and healthy profits on home soil.

Fresh from opening McFrank, its first Scottish office, a month ago, Frank founder and chairman Graham Goodkind tells Gorkana it’s the UK where he sees the long term future of the brand.

McFrank is headed up by former Ultimo head of PR Claire Morrison and is described as just like the original Frank but with a distinctly Scottish accent and some Glaswegian swagger.

It follows the first regional offshoot, Manc Frank, led by Graeme Anthony, which opened three years ago in March. Graham says it’s a “regional powerhouse”, with the team moving office four times to keep up with rapid expansion.

Fee income doubled from year one to two and is up 63% so far this financial year (ends June) and total fee income is expected to be around £600,000, with “very healthy margins”.

“I’m very pleased with how Manc Frank has taken off and its success was a big factor in us deciding to launch McFrank,” says Graham.

Memorable campaigns from the Manchester team include a new electric train launch for First Trans Pennine Express, which saw two Olympic gold medallists trigger an experiential illumination stunt; while for Weetabix On The Go, the team created the world’s fastest milk float, setting a new Guinness World Record and “wowing the media” along the way.

Graham says an important by-product of the regional Frank offices is a more diverse team – an issue about which he is passionate.

“If we’re just based in London then all we’re going to attract is people who have come to London. Actually having an agency in Manchester or Glasgow allows us to capture the cream of the crop without them having to up sticks.

“There’s a finite talent pool in London but when you go to other parts of the country you tap into that talent pool.”

International

While the focus for the foreseeable future is on the UK, Frank still has an international presence.

Frank Australia has been operating successfully for nearly six years and now numbers around 12 people, but Graham believes there is huge opportunity in the coming years.

“In PR terms, I think Australia is catching up with the UK in terms of importance. PR used to be a bit like the poor relation, like it once was in the UK, but definitely in the last two to three years I’ve noticed a groundswell and a sense of recognition that it’s important.

“If we can be the brand there when this growth is happening then it’s an exciting time.”

But the experience of opening in Australia, where “the brand was pretty well known before launch”, was very different to launching in New York, in August 2012, and starting from scratch.

Graham admits it was a tough market to crack.

“The size and scale of the US market is just so different. You need to be a 30 to 40 people agency until you’re taken at all seriously, and until you build scale it’s very difficult.”

However, mid-last year Frank hit on a virtual agency model idea – “a bit by accident” – and for the first time since launching has been profitable every month.

“We took the existing Frank clients and rehoused them and the staff working on the business into other agencies with which we’ve built up good links. We still manage the client relationship at a senior level from the UK.

“For future clients we will help devise their US PR strategy and approach from the UK and then find them the right team at another agency to do the day-to-day stuff.

“We’ve built up some fantastic connections in New York and beyond and know our way around the US PR scene well.”

Frank at 15

Back in London, and 2015 marks an important milestone for the agency which clocks up 15 years in business later this year.

In 2000, after working at Lynne Franks PR, Graham decided to set up the down-to-earth and straight-talking agency with colleague Andrew Bloch.

It has grown to become one of the biggest consumer agencies in the UK working with a huge number of household names over the years, and earning a reputation for its stand-out creativity.

But 15 years on, does Graham think Frank still has what it takes?

“I think we still lead the industry in terms of creativity and profitability and that’s some achievement to have done that year in and year out for 15 years.

“You see other agencies executing Frank-type ideas and clients come to us and say ‘that’s a very Frank idea’ and it’s a really nice compliment as long as we’re also doing those ideas – which we definitely are.

“The quality of work we’ve been producing over the last year has been as good as ever; we still have the same creative juice we’ve always had and that’s pleasing when you’re in year 15 and still producing the same sort of work as in year one.

“You see a lot of agencies that are hot for a year or two but hopefully we’ve managed to keep that going well into our second decade.”

Reflecting on the last decade and a half and he seems almost surprised by what he and the team have achieved.

“We’re well past where I could ever have visualised Frank to be when we launched. When I started the business, my frame of reference was my old agency Lynne Franks PR, and Frank has gone well beyond that in terms of size and scale.

“In 2000 I would never have envisaged us having offices in London, Manchester, Glasgow, New York and Sydney. When I look at the clocks on the wall behind me telling me the time in all those offices I still have to pinch myself sometimes.

“One thing I will say about Frank is that on the one hand you have all this creativity and wacky ideas and all these fantastic campaigns and on the other side is a fantastic business and it was always set up as a business first.”

Which begs the obvious question – does he consider himself a business man or a PR man first?

“I think I’d define myself as a business man who happens to love PR. There are many better PR people than me and I’m lucky enough to have been able to work with so many of them.

“I’d say I’m probably more of a creative person than a PR person anyway. I love getting involved at the ideas stage and still do. And it has given me a real buzz to have been behind plenty of our award-winning campaigns over the years.

“I think what’s a bit unusual is that as well as the creative side I also love the commercial side.

“In terms of knowing how to run an agency happily and very profitably at the same time, maximising value for shareholders, making the tough decisions that go with it, and doing this consistently over a good few years, I really enjoyed doing that. And I think I’ve done an OK job at it too!”

Graham’s favourite (publishable!) memories from the last 15 years:

Most memorable campaign?

The HP Sauce Jimmy White/Jimmy Brown campaign, where HP sponsored the brown ball in snooker, and we got Jimmy to change his surname by deed poll from White to Brown, to commemorate the deal, was probably our most famous idea.

As well as scooping virtually every award at the time, it also helped us win lots of new business and gave us a big growth spurt.

Best pitch win?

Winning the Brylcreem business was pretty special. We found out on our first birthday and it represented our first real mainstream, proper FMCG client and we felt that we’d ‘arrived’.

Best award win?

Being named Marketing’s PR agency of the year three times stands out as a high – it’s the only PR award you can’t enter.

Best personal memory?

Helping charities like Cancer Research UK and Beatbullying is a bit more heart warming I guess than selling more stuff.

Favourite Frank mascot?

Flying Frank still makes me smile. We thought it would be good fun to buy a greyhound, so we did, and renamed him by doggy deed poll. He raced at Walthamstow and won quite a few times. He also became the first dog with a blog and whenever Frank did anything with a celeb we’d get a message from him or her to Flying Frank. The dog became a PR campaign himself and a fantastic talking point. He’s retired now, but never far from our thoughts.

Favourite people memory?

We’ve had some brilliant people work here over the years, both in terms of ability and personality. The stray cats of the PR world is a term that I’ve heard used for people who work here, which I think is a nice description. The culture has always allowed people to be themselves and we’ve had a few characters in our time who have really come out of their shells on our twice-yearly away days.

And finally…

Doing the deal to sell Frank in 2007 was also a pretty good moment! The deal set the bar for M&A activity in the UK PR market. It set me and my family up for life financially so that’s hard not to forget. I remember signing the paperwork; there was a room full of legal documents so it literally took a whole afternoon. Then the lawyers popped open the champagne expecting a big celebration. Andrew and I said ‘thanks but no thanks’ as we had a pitch the next day and had to head back to the office for a long evening to finish it off and rehearse. The lawyers were a bit gobsmacked. But we did win the pitch. In fact, I don’t actually think Andrew and I ever stopped to toast that deal…

Graham was speaking to Gorkana’s Celina Maguire.

Gorkana meets…Mashable UK

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Blathnaid Healy, UK editor of Mashable, on her community of super-sharers, embracing British English and why she’s open to pitches from PRs.

You were appointed editor of Mashable UK in October, a month before the site’s UK launch – how have things been going?

It has been going great. Before the launch of our London office, the UK was our second largest audience by country so we’ve been catering to our existing community, as well as reaching new people. In the past few months we’ve been digging our teeth in and covering everything from breaking news to offbeat stories and longer, feature-style content.

The site claims a staggering 40 million unique users – what makes Mashable stand out?

Our aim is to document the digital evolution and how it empowers and inspires its audiences around the globe. From innovations in business, technology, entertainment and environment, to breaking news from around the world, we tell stories around the topics that mean most to our readers. Our global audience is also one of the most engaged, with more than 21 million social followers. In fact, three Mashable articles are shared every second, a testament to our community of super-sharers.

How would you describe the site in five words?

Stories you’ll want to share.

What changes did you have to make to the content to make it ready for a UK audience?

We’ve embraced British English! So you’ll see spellings like colour, organisation, centre etc in stories written from the London office as well as lots of Britishisms. Obviously with a growing team here on the ground we’re focused on what people are paying attention to in a way that just wasn’t possible from our US offices. Over the next few months you’ll see more changes as we grow the team here.

What are the key sections on the site?

An exciting feature we introduced on the site recently is the Hero Unit, which debuted globally last autumn. It highlights the most timely and breaking news stories at the moment at the top of the site so that our audience can find the most important stories of the day first.

Mashable readers have been described as ‘millennials and those who think like them.’ Tell us more.

We typically describe our audience as the Connected Generation. This is an audience that has grown up with technology or is constantly immersed in it. We’re conscious that you don’t need to be in the millennial age bracket to think like a millennial. In general, what we see is that our audience responds quickly to news and trends – they’re early adopters who like to get to things first and share it on.

How have UK readers embraced the new site?

We’ve felt very welcomed by UK readers and seen our content shared well across social platforms. Things we’ve seen at this stage that have shared very well tend to be about current cultural trends, technology, and photo or video-led content.

How big is the UK team and who looks after what?

At the moment we’re a team of two. UK deputy editor Tim Chester joined in late October, about a week after I started. Between us we generate the majority of the content you see on the site that has a London dateline. Tim has a background in travel writing, music journalism and long-form features, while my background is predominantly in news so we’ve got a very complementary skillset here in the office. We’re in the process of growing the team and are currently recruiting an assistant editor. Keep an eye on our jobs’ section as we will be posting other roles very soon.

How would you describe your relationship with PRs? How best can PRs help with content?

We’re open to pitches so PRs are welcome to email us. Due to the high volume of emails we get, we can’t respond to all, but if we’re interested in following up, we’ll reach out.

Three top tips for PRs when pitching?

I think the key things are to firstly look at the type of stories we cover. We’re very focused on the UK so any pitches relevant to our market will catch our eye. If it’s a global story or news that is relevant to another market, get familiar with our editors and reporters in the US or elsewhere since they may also be receptive to your pitch. Finally, always ensure your pitches are clear and concise as we get hit with a lot in a day.

And finally Mashable has said it has created a tool that can predict which stories would go viral. Tell us more…

Mashable’s Velocity platform is a technology that predicts and tracks the viral life cycle of digital media content. Developed by our in-house product team, Velocity scours the web collecting data around how people engage with content and feeds the information into an algorithm, which forecasts what content is about to go viral next. In the newsroom, it has been immensely helpful in allowing us to cover and curate stories hours before other outlets.

Blathnaid was talking to Gorkana’s Richard O’Donnell

Gorkana meets…VICE News EU

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Hannah Strange, Managing Editor of VICE News EU, on reporting on the blindspots in traditional media, managing the fastest growing channel on YouTube and how PRs and NGOs can provide essential access.

Talk us through your role at VICE News

I am the Managing Editor for Europe on the editorial side. My role is about running editorial coverage from the London side of the operation, which is Europe and the UK, but also Africa and the Middle East too – areas that really fit broadly within our timezone. It can also be dealing with territories beyond that when everyone else is asleep. We’re trying to get it to be a rolling, 24-hour operation.

I run all the correspondents in that area, and commission on a daily basis, as well as editing and looking forward for our longer term planned projects.

I also work with the video teams, and the Head of News and Supervising Producer who specifically take charge of video. That’s more in terms of co-ordination and ideas, as opposed to dealing with video directly.

How many countries do you have correspondents in?

About 10 European countries, five or six African ones and another 10 or 15 in Latin America. It is about 50 countries altogether.

Is it difficult to get reporters on the ground in certain regions?

We are very careful about the safety aspect. We do pride ourselves on getting correspondents into places where people aren’t going, but you do have to be extremely careful. We are very strong on security consultations and risk assessment.

In terms of negotiating access, we place a lot of importance on cultivating relationships often with local reporters and NGOs. We make use of our alliances like that. Instead of dispatching British journalists to cover the story, we try to work a little bit more from the inside out.

What makes the ideal story for VICE News?

Something unreported. There are huge regions of the world where stuff is going on unnoticed, and is only covered in local media. I like those stories where we can get under the surface and report what’s happening.

We published a story in Ethiopia about the massacre of the Suri tribe, allegedly carried out by government security forces; we got the first photos of the massacre documented.

There are things beneath the surface like that, that aren’t getting reported a lot. It’s about getting to the bottom of things.

How would we spot a VICE reader?

Smart, savvy, inquisitive and cynical 16-34 year olds who no longer approach or consume news in a traditional sense. Our audience is global, they read their news on mobile devices and want stories beyond the headlines.

Why do you think VICE News speaks to a younger generation?

It’s our coverage. We’re not doing anything flashy or youth-targeted. For me, we are going beyond what traditional media is looking at. It’s not about trying to be cool or dazzle young people with special effects.

I come from a traditional media background at The Times and The Telegraph. One of the experiences I had as a correspondent was that there are huge areas of the world that were blindspots for traditional media.

They often have a set sense of who their reader is, and they don’t go beyond that. There are so many stories out there that fall off the map because of traditional perceptions.

We’re proving that young people are thirsty for information and are interested in the world. They want to get a bit beyond what they’re hearing day-in, day-out.

Do you think the idea of this generation being attention-deficit is wrong?

I think it is. Young people consume news in a different way in a digital age. We tend to flit between things online, as opposed to reading one paper like our parents did. That is a general trend. The media is catering to that – everyone is doing their news in smaller bits. I think we are showing that isn’t the case, and we are putting out documentaries that are longer. We’ll put out five segments in ten minutes, and then we’ll put out the whole video. You get a choice of how you want to watch it. The ability to consume it in the way that suits you as a viewer is good for people in the modern age.

We’re finding our YouTube documentaries are very successful. We’re the fastest growing channel on YouTube at the moment. We had 180 million views since our channel launched in March last year. The viewers are there, it’s just about the content needing to be good enough. People are obsessed at the moment with what medium gets the most traffic; I think that sometimes what we forget is that the good traffic comes from a really good story.

What tends to drive viewers to the site?

At the moment it is predominantly through social media. I think Facebook is our biggest driver. It is the way so many young people read their news.

How can PRs help VICE News?

We are interested in speaking to NGOs. We do a lot with Amnesty and Reprieve and people like that, and security consultancies who might have done investigations, as well as think tanks.

We try and make use of NGOs because they have great access. It goes back to those relationships, and getting access to people on the ground. What’s more, we will actually read your releases!

When are your key planning meetings?

Our main meeting is 2pm GMT; 9am in the US. We have a conference call and it’s all done on Google Hangouts. By that time I’ll have got the day going and will have things underway and published, so I’ll fill them in on what’s going on and what’s broken that morning.

Before that, I’m in touch with my correspondents individually. We do also have UK office meetings on a Monday, where we get together and look at what’s going on that week, anything up people’s sleeves and that’s when we talk about co-ordination across video and editorial.

Is there anything about a release which is guaranteed to catch your eye?

It always should have a catchy subject line, as you don’t have a lot of time to read these things. It’s important to lay out in very clear, certain terms, what is the story – nothing too indepth and complicated.

VICE News tends to follow stories for longer than most traditional media outlets – why is that?

We are not so tied to the news agenda. We cover the main stories of the day, but we do continue to dig at a story longer than other people. An example of this is the coverage of the missing students in Mexico, which to a lot of media, would be a big story for a few days. As long as there’s a story to look into, we will continue to investigate it regardless of whether it’s the ‘top’ news story of the day. We don’t think something like this can be told in 500 words or a two-minute video.

Our Ukraine series, Russian Roulette, is onto Dispatch 87, and has been amazingly successful. It’s had about 37 million hits on Youtube. It shows that people want to know what happens once the main news stories have switched off.

Since launch, how difficult has it been to convince people that VICE News is as authoritative as other more established outlets?
Coming from a youth magazine background meant that people looked at us and wondered if we’re a news organisation. We’re confident in what we do, and we believe we have something to say about stories that people are interested in. We’ve done a lot of good hard-hitting editorials. We have shown time and time again that we are authoritative, and our readers like that we’re not telling them what we should be interested in. We’re not imagining our readers to be a certain person that wants certain things to be packaged for them in a certain way. We trust them to be interested and want to know about the world.

Greenbrook hires Sunday Times journo

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Business Reporter Matthew Goodman, who has worked the private equity beat at The Sunday Times for thirteen years, is to join the senior team at Greenbrook Communications.

Matthew, who will join Greenbrook as a Consultant, has worked in journalism for twenty years, and has spent the last thirteen at The Sunday Times writing on a broad range of issues with a focus on the private equity, leisure and pharmaceutical sectors.

“We are delighted that one of the UK’s most established business reporters has decided to join the firm and we look forward to welcoming him to the team”, said Andrew Honnor, Managing Partner. “I am sure that his experience as a business journalist over many years will be of great benefit to our clients.”

Today’s news follows the recent appointments of David Trenchard, current Vice-Chairman of investment firm Knight Vinke, as an Advisor to the firm and Alex Jones, former Preqin private equity specialist, as a Consultant.

Matthew’s details are yet to be announced.

Gorkana meets…The Telegraph’s music editor

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Bernadette McNulty, music editor at The Telegraph, on her diverse readership, reviewer shenanigans and why PRs shouldn’t differentiate between print and online.

As well as being music editor at The Telegraph, you also write about film, art, TV and books across the paper’s culture pages. Tell us about your role.

I plan, commission and edit music reviews, comment and features as well as writing them, and I also write across culture page areas like TV, art and film.

There is also the growing area of online content production, managing homepages and promoting our stuff across social networks.

The Telegraph arts desk has always been run so that most editors write for me, it’s a good combination. Music can be a bit of an introverted world, but for readers, it’s just another part of their cultural life. Appreciating that as an editor and writer is important.

How big is the arts team and who covers what?

The culture desk covers arts and TV in print and online, news and features. We’re about 20 people I think. Most areas have somebody that looks after them in print and online but everyone knows what is going in most areas and is expected to edit and produce online across areas.

How much content do you produce each day?

It varies, depending on what reviews are coming in, if we have feature content in the paper the next day and whether there are breaking stories that we’re doing as news stories, or, as comment pieces. When print called the shots, you had a much clearer sense of how much you had to produce each day; it’s definitely more fluid now, particularly with so many different ways of covering stories.

How would we be able to spot one of your readers?

Good looking, cracking jokes, getting a round in at the bar. I actually like the fact that I know my readership is pretty diverse. They are people who are interested in music, even if they aren’t obsessively going to gigs or following the very latest trends. I like the breadth and intelligence and open-minded tastes of our readership.

What does a typical week look like for you?

Monday tends to be short term scheduling for the week ahead in terms of when we are publishing stuff, if there are stories we need to follow up from the weekend and if we need to do react to something else. Midweek is taken up with the weekend supplements and the end of the week is when we look more towards longer term commissioning.

How do you like to work with PRs?

Brief, honest, direct exchanges are the best. Emails are the best primary method. Understanding what/how much we cover saves so much time. Facts are good, when/how somebody is available etc.

Is there anything PRs should avoid doing when getting in touch?

Chasing every single CD release multiple times is not going to be that helpful when we don’t even review singles. Telling me something is really Telegraph is a bit of a turn off as are long press releases, even if they are fascinating.

But really, the biggest issue is online vs print. We work across them and don’t differentiate. PRs often seem split into print and online and there is a focus on when things are running in print and less interest in what original material we can run online or how we can present the story differently. Increasing online audiences at The Telegraph have come from thinking about digital formats differently and not letting print dictate commissioning. It’s good for everyone as there are more readers for any review or interview so it would be great if PRs came with that broader view.

Some other niggles are just trying to hear music for review any more or difficult-to-use online music platforms and sometimes the shenanigans getting reviewers into gigs.

What about online content? How much original content is created for the site?

More and more. And obviously the style of the content is different.

What are you top tips for PRs when pitching?

Being familiar with what we publish online and in print is essential.

And finally, (we have to ask) what’s the most memorable concert you ever attended?

The Smiths, Wolverhampton Civic Hall, 1988. It was meant to be Morrissey’s first solo gig, and you got in free if you were wearing a Smiths’ t-shirt. I queued all day with friends but there were so many people we didn’t get in. But the sense loving music brought with it excitement, drama, danger, high emotion, camaraderie and standing in the proximity of amazingly cool-looking kids really stayed with me.

Gorkana meets…the Daily Mirror’s head of social

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Alex Hudson, head of social content at the Daily Mirror, on why everyone will end up being a social content journalist, the importance of exclusivity and the growing opportunities for PRs.

Firstly, tell us about the new social content team you’re heading up…

It’s a difficult thing to explain because the team’s role is not primarily to post stuff on social media, just to create content on the site – or off – that is worth sharing. This means our job is to create stories that provoke an emotion, provide unique insight, show something that hasn’t been seen before and create stories that our audience cares about.

It sounds like just being a reporter, and it is to an extent, but the key is that we’re all news journalists who know how to tell stories in new ways. So in our short existence, we’ve played a key part in killing the Dapper Laughs character, exposed half-truths (lies) of the Department for Justice, posed five questions that everyone needs to ask about the new JK Rowling film and questioned the reality of a living wage – it’s an incredibly varied brief.

Everyone will be social content journalists in five years’ time; we’re just continually trying to push at the new, whatever that may be.

The team’s core purpose is to find a story that’s exclusive, or at least not already plastered all over the internet, find an interesting treatment and produce an innovative piece – not a 1,000-word essay that’d bore readers to death – about an issue the audience cares about that they really can get involved in.

If we can tell a story using Snapchat, why wouldn’t we? If we could tell a story best using tweets, let’s do it that way. If we can prove a government is lying most succinctly by writing it in a listicle format, let’s write one. If it requires a 20-minute video to tell the story best, let’s pick up our DSLRs.

Everyone needs to stop dismissing a format as “too high-brow” or “too trashy”. If it’s done correctly for the correct story, there are no limits on the sort of content people want to consume. Well, we hope at least.

Bit of a tricky role to explain to your parents?

That’s been the case throughout my career. My parents have always been incredibly supportive but, with the generation they are from, even making a living being on the internet is a confusing career to have, never mind running the interactivity behind BBC Question Time. My dad still won’t join Facebook or Twitter because he has security concerns.

How big is the team and who does what?

It’s a small team for the moment (though who knows how that could go in the future?) with deputy, Richard Beech, social content journalist Sophie Gadd and me. Our brief is wide and no story – if it’s good enough and hits an area of newsworthiness – is off the cards but we all have personal specialisms. Sophie is best at finding gems of stories online, in the quietest and most hidden corners of the net. She’s working on this story now about, well, I can’t tell you that but she unearths and stands up incredible news stories. Well, that and why Staines is not terrible.

Richard’s specialism is more around treating issues in a new and innovative way. We managed to get kicked out of Topshop recently for trying to take photos of his legs next to the mannequin to demonstrate its size. And he’s the Mirror’s man for Doctor Who. Though that’s hotly contested.

My specialism is a weird mix of technology and politics. I come from being a producer on BBC Question Time and BBC Click so it’s obvious to see where that comes from. Technology is at a fascinating stage of innovation and political coverage over the next six months, and how the media manages to deal with everyone being given a voice, is a fascinating challenge.

Have you been given specific community targets to reach?

Not yet (1,000 shares is about the average minimum we’re aiming at and 45% of traffic coming from social) but it’s about moving the Mirror brand forward. It’s about cementing the Mirror brand as a place where content is worth reading, sharing and going back to.

Gone are the days where uniques are as important as brand recognition, quality of content, trust in the content, return visits, shares, dwell time and click throughs.

What will it take for the Mirror to be uttered in the same breath as the BBC, the Guardian, the Daily Mail, The Telegraph as far as off diary, varied reportage that’s worth sharing? I think we’ve already come a long way (look at how the Mirror is growing) but there’s still a way to go.

Look at the new hires – Olivia Solon from Wired, James Andrews from Yahoo and others – and see the sort of place the Mirror is headed.

How much content on average is being pushed out each day?

From us, it really depends on the day with an average of five pieces. But it’s quite early to know. We balance indepth original stuff with quickfire “look what we’ve found on the internet”. There’s little to gain from “here’s something everyone’s talking about on Reddit” without any insight into what’s really going on. It’s treating it in a different way, distilling the most affecting bits of what’s going on, whether on social or elsewhere, and being inspired by things taking place. That takes time.

You hear of journalists crashing out 15 pieces a day without any real bespoke reporting. That’s not what this team does, for the most part. We can do that but wouldn’t the audience be better served with just a link to the content we’re “borrowing” from if there’s nothing to add?

How keen are The Mirror’s journalists to get involved with social media?

Depends on the journalist but most are keen. Part of the role is to share best practice with sourcing material. We’re sitting and brainstorming, for want of a better word, with different sections as we’re the young(ish) geeky team who are employed to make mischief and challenge the idea of how news works, and that it really isn’t an 800-word inverse triangle any more. Unless it’s about the Illuminati, then that’d be kind of fitting.

And give any journalist a chance to have their voice heard and they’d jump at it wouldn’t they?

What subjects tend to get the most retweets?

You know as well as I do that it’s not retweets that are important, it’s clickthroughs, dwell time and organic shares. For that, Harry Potter is gold, Dapper Laughs got us into the top 100 most shared pieces in the world and a piece about Spanish left wing politics had our readers pondering for quite a while.

In the same way as people are now slowly understanding that different stories can be targeted at different social platforms (picture stories sit best on Pinterest, snap news works best on Twitter, longer pieces on Facebook), the same is true about what sort of interactions you want your social posts to have – a tweet aimed at people clicking through needs to be different from a tweet aimed at gathering UGC.

All this is different from a tweet aimed at provoking off-site social share.

For me so far from my personal account, the tweet that’s travelled furthest was a picture of the House of Commons (a very quiet one) when they were discussing the living wage.

How do you like to work with PRs?

We’re in a position, happily, where we don’t need (or want) to be driven by PR content. PRs need to approach us in an incredibly honest way and not just expect us to regurgitate content. If it’s puff or it’s just wishy washy then there really isn’t any point in sending it to us.

Come and talk to us in person, grab a coffee with us and talk through what we’re up to. The best thing you can offer is access, whether that be with people, places, objects or time but give us those things early and give us freedom. A food bank press release would be better served (excuse the pun) if we got it a week before so we could head down to a food bank and see it for ourselves. A museum press release probably won’t work but what if we could get in that museum and explore?

We don’t have definite answers yet about what does and doesn’t work so we’ll be guided by data and the continuing desire to produce “good” stories.

Does what you’re doing open up more opportunities for PRs?

Yes but it won’t be a talking head interview with a CEO while we sip free champagne. My team is brilliant, slightly frighteningly so, at getting a sliver of inspiration and turning a nothing into something quite brilliant. You’ll have to trust us that what you think might be a little bit odd will make for a good story.

What’s the best way for PRs with ideas to get in contact?

Email us and call us. Invite us out for a coffee as it’s so easy to forget an email from a person we’ve never met with a “Dear [algorithm]” top. Meet us before you pitch anything specific so we can give you a better idea of the things we’re after – exclusive content, freedom to take opportunities you have to offer and make news out of them, access to places/people – without sounding weird.

Is there potential for sponsored social content?

Maybe, which is deliberately vague. We haven’t worked it out yet. This team won’t produce content at the request of advertisers but the commercial team is always looking for opportunities, particularly as we look at series and seasons of related content.

Are you experimenting with any platforms?

Definitely yes but I can’t say any more about that at the moment.

What does success look like and how will you measure it?

Success looks like Mirror content being shared widely across the internet because we’re producing unique stories, breaking stories first, finding viral content before anyone else and creating very shareable content of our own.

This will be measured, ultimately, by shares, by minutes on site for the things we are responsible for, by number of returning and loyal readers and simply hearing “did you see that thing on the Mirror?” as often as possible.

Alex was talking to Gorkana’s Richard O’Donnell

Adam Clyne joins Weber

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Weber Shandwick has appointed TVC’s Adam Clyne as head of digital in EMEA.

Adam, who will be based in London, will lead digital operations across Weber Shandwick’s 33 office network across EMEA.

Adam was global commercial director at TVC and The Economist Group, which bought the agency in 2012. While there, he was responsible for positioning TVC as a leading content agency and expanded the firm into Europe and the U.S as MD for TVC International.

His client campaign experience includes Ralph Lauren, Tesco, Coca Cola, Heineken and Royal Caribbean.

Before TVC, Adam was MD and commercial director at PR agency Geronimo Communications (now Kindred). Before that, he founded integrated creative agency The Lab, which merged into Geronimo.

Colin Byrne, UK and EMEA CEO at Weber Shandwick, said: “Given the content creation and social media engagement opportunities now open to clients, I am delighted that someone with Adam’s outstanding experience and vision is joining us to lead our fast growing work in this area.”

Chris Perry, global president of digital at Weber Shandwick, said: “The more companies build content-driven PR and marketing programs, the greater the need to deliver with exponential inventiveness, flair and impact. Adam’s track record for breaking new creative ground to drive business results speaks for itself. He will be an invaluable partner for our clients and colleagues in Europe, and an integral part of our global leadership team.”
Adam said: “I’m incredibly excited to be joining this renowned and award-winning agency, known not only for its leadership in public relations but for constantly pushing boundaries in digital and social media. The digital campaigns they deliver are ground-breaking, the team is really smart, and I’m looking forward to working with some of the greatest brands in the world to continue reimagining what it means to engage in today’s digital world.”

10 pitching tips for Christmas

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Pitch your way to more and better coverage in 2015 with these tips from Gorkana briefings and interviews over the last six months.

  • Go with the personal touch

Cosmopolitan’s digital beauty editor, Bridget March, likes the personal approach when being pitched to. “Blanket emails tend to be put on the back burner, while something personally addressed to me is going to get more of my attention.”

The Sun’s travel editor, Lisa Minot, says: “PRs should be aware that sending emails that start ‘Dear Sunday Mirror editor’, will only lead to one thing – a deleted email.” She is still surprised how often this happens.

The best pitches come from PRs who have looked at the site, suggested which part they saw their idea working best, and referenced similar pieces which have already run, says Maggie Hitchins, editor of Stylist.co.uk. “The blanket approach rarely works well.”

  • Be creative

PRs can help by thinking big, creative and cross-platform, according to NME.com editor Greg Cochrane. “I think it’s about thinking a little bit outside of the box and trusting us to do something cool with your artist.”

Gemma Morris, presenter of Sky News tech show Swipe, says she is always looking for great places to film the programme and getting suggestions from PRs is invaluable. “We sometimes forget just how many clients one PR may be working on and want to get ideas in for future programmes.”

BritMums co-founder Susanna Scott say: “We want to hear ideas and, most importantly, what a brand wants to get out of the BritMums community.”

HELLO! Fashion Monthly deputy editor Jill Wanless says there are hundreds of opportunities for brands in the magazine. “If there isn’t already a dialogue with someone on the HELLO! Fashion Magazine team, brands should get in touch.”

All ideas are welcome, says Craig Glenday, editor-in-chief of Guinness World Records. “If you’re thinking about suggesting a Guinness World Records attempt for your client, don’t be afraid to contact us, we want to hear from you!”

  • Exclusive means exclusive

For Newsweek, European editor Richard Addis: “The story has to be a scoop; and it has to be a scoop that Newsweek cares about.” Online content will be short scoops (around 200 words), while the print edition will feature long scoops (about 5,000 words). All long print features end up online as well.

The Sun’s Lisa Minot says if a PR can offer an exclusive glance at something like a new hotel, theme park or ride, she will definitely be interested.

The HELLO! Fashion Monthly team would like every story they feature to be exclusive, especially if it has a celebrity angle.

Getting a story first is always a great way to grab Stylist’s attention, even if it’s only a couple of hours before any other media outlet. Those two hours matter, as the team want readers to come to the site because they know it’s the first to break news.

If a tech story is covered by another news outlet, the Sky Swipe team will need to look at how much coverage it has achieved before deciding to use it – they don’t want to be seen as regurgitating content.

  • Bespoke your pitch

Oliver Davis, co-editor of film blog Flickering Myth, says: “Make sure the pitch is related to what we’re about. We’re often sent links for articles or projects that, although fascinating and well thought out, have absolutely nothing to do with movies.”

For Ger Tierney, executive fashion editor at i-D magazine, it’s always best to suggest where in the magazine the story would sit – “when it’s specific and exclusive, that’s always great”.

PRs need to have something substantial to offer when selling in to the Cosmopolitan team. If it’s a real life story, have case studies and experts ready and waiting. If it’s a celebrity story, the team will need access to talent, or exclusive pictures or videos.

Stylist.co.uk readers expect lengthy, fact-filled features with well researched information, like they find in the magazine, so pitches need to reflect this.

  • Think about your approach

John Robertson, editor and founder of The Everyday Man, says: “A large part of my daily routine involves sifting through the influx of PR emails.”

EatFit associate editor Joel Snape says: “I almost never answer my phone – email is absolutely the best way to contact me.”

Stylist.co.uk’s editor Maggie Hitchins gets around 100 email pitches a day and says the best way to stand out from the crowd are emails that are three lines long that tell her what’s on offer, what part of the site it could work best on, a reference to a similar story and strong pictures to accompany the copy.

“I always feel like a cop-out saying this, but email is best. I really do look at all the emails I receive and get back to as many as I can. Calling beforehand doesn’t make me any more or less likely to look at an email,” says Dan Grabham, editor of Lifehacker UK.

Love Sunday’s Zoe Cripps finds it tricky if PRs contact her by phone, especially if it’s deadline day. It’s always best to send information via email so she can refer back to it at any time.

  • Timing is everything

Wesley Johnson, chief news editor at the Press Association, gets in at around 7, check the papers, social media, news sites and overnight wires before morning conference with the rest of the agency.

For NME’s Greg Cochrane, the day starts as soon as he wake ups when he checks what’s going on in the world of music. In the office, team NME begins the day with a cross-platform content meeting, which is all about sharing ideas, resources and planning. Before that, he’ll meet with NME’s development team in its daily stand-up.

Stylist mornings begin with the team scouring competitor news websites, going through social media channels and checking emails to work out what the big news stories of the day will be. The rest of the day is spent producing evergreen content around beauty, fashion, lifestyle, food, books.

BuzzFeed’s Tabatha Leggett gets in at 9am, checks yesterday’s stats and gets on with commissioning, editing, and writing posts. She usually leaves the office at 5pm.

  • Know the deal breakers

Susanna Scott at BritMums says that PRs should never refer to the BritMums community as “Mummy bloggers”. The correct term is “parenting lifestyle bloggers”. PRs should take into account that Mums blog about everything – from lifestyle, politics, travel, food, fashion and crafts, as well as their roles as Mums.

Elise Holman, sports producer for Al Jazeera English, says PRs need to understand what the channel and news style is about. “Most of the time I’m approached by people or companies who clearly don’t understand what we might be interested in.”

“Avoid sending giant high res images when we haven’t asked for them, and teeny tiny postage stamp-sized ones when we’ve asked for high res”, says Gay Times editor Darren Scott. “And don’t call me to speedily read a press release you’ve just sent me. Sometimes it’s like talking in tongues.”

  • The rise of video

The Sun’s travel team is always on the lookout for strong video content, but it can’t just be a glorified advert, a marketing tool or over branded. Some branding is fine but it needs to be balanced. The Sun also has a very good in-house video team so if a PR can provide footage, there a lots of things they can do to make it work for SunOnline.

Cosmopolitan.co.uk regularly works in partnership with PRs on original content. Digital fashion editor Jess Edwards wants to increase video content for the fashion section. She’s keen to try out ‘how to’ videos and wants to hear from PRs with ideas.

In the last year NME.com delivered several firsts; an interactive video map guide to Damon Albarn’s debut solo album, a 10-minute career retrospective mini documentary about Blondie, and the team live streamed the NME Awards for the first time in the magazine’s history.

  • Make your events stand out

After work launches and first thing in the morning events are always better for Zoe Cripps, beauty writer at Sunday People supplement Love Sunday. But if there’s a glass of wine offered somewhere in the invite too, all the better.

When it comes to big tech events, PRs should let the team know months in advance so the Sky Swipe team can work out logistics. Deciding on which events to attend comes down to what will look best on screen and how many people will be affected by the story.

PRs need to put themselves into a mum or dad’s shoes when thinking about working with BritMums. Between 3pm and 8pm are the busiest time of the day with the school run, home time, dinner and bed so 6pm cocktails won’t work. The “sweet spot” during the week to connect with bloggers will be 10:30am to 1pm. If it’s a weekend event, make sure there’s something for the kids to do.

  • PRs are essential

“The team could not produce Swipe without PRs,” says Sky’s Gemma Morris. “Where would we be without you guys?”

Lisa Minot says PRs are essential for the travel pages at The Sun. “The pages would not exist were it not for a good relationships with PRs. I need you as much as you need me.”

Of the content produced in one week at Stylist.co.uk, about 30% was generated by PRs approaching the team with ideas.

“I always try and be as helpful as I can,” says Gay Times’ Darren Scott. “I need them, they – sometimes – need me…You never know which big contract or company they’re going to work with next. And if you’ve been rude before…”

“The rise of branded content means that PRs have a much stronger role to play in what makes it onto a site these days”, says High50’s Stefano Hatfield, but means they have to know how digital journalism works inside out.”