Fish Where the Fish Aren't
It's a great thing, in PR, to be able to latch on to a high-profile news event. When our clients can add relevant information to a news meme, it typically results in a burst of terrific coverage. Accordingly, watching, analyzing & responding to the news-of-the-day is an important aspect of most on-going client programs.
(There's a dark side to this type of activity, though: for example, at least one PR agency was rightfully lambasted for using the 9/11 tragedy as fodder for a pitch about their client. Even 5+ years later, that one still rankles.)
In addition to watching the news each day, of course there are also "known" events that many companies tend to circle 'round. The upcoming SuperBowl is one such extravaganza. As a big-time national event, there are many ways that all sorts of companies try to latch on to the game: Marketing-related companies will want to comment on the commercials; on the technology behind the commercials; on the creative trends that led to the making-of the commercials. Internet infrastructure vendors will want to discuss the growing trends of streaming media; surfing-while-watching; spikes in traffic patterns based on in-game and commercial events. Food-related vendors will want to offer-up recipe and party ideas. Big-box retailers will chat-up sales stats for their souped-up TVs.
Water-cooler chat is dead. In an age when our passions have been micro-niched thanks to Tivo, satellite radio, iPods, blogs, etc., each event that truly ties us together as a nation is an especially big deal.
In fact the SuperBowl (and Valentine's Day, and Mother's Day, etc.) is SUCH a big deal that I am increasingly suggesting that --- unless they have a truly compelling angle --- clients should "just enjoy the game." The flood of PR pitches that flood the newsrooms means that journalists are increasingly less inclined to suss 'em all out. Can ya blame them?
Which leads to today's PR tip o' the day: sometimes your PR approach will be much more successful by ignoring the Big News. Provide information and content (whether related to clients or not) in the quieter times, when the media could really use a helping hand, and they'll not only reward you with more in-depth coverage when things are quiet --- they'll also remember you more fondly when you come up with a "touchdown!"-level pitch about the Big Game.
Tags: marketing, superbowl, public+relations
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Comments
Hmmmmm...I applaud the spirit of what you are saying, Todd, but your advice cannot be applied universally. Let's face it, the media stories about all the ancillary things you mention re: the Super Bowl generally WON'T have "a truly compelling angle."
I have a client that provides e-commerce applications for online sellers. We've been working with them through three 'holidy shopping seasons' now and EVERY YEAR the stories are generally the same (what will the online shopping numbers look like, what happened on Cyber Monday, etc.)
Luckily, we've got some very RELEVANT insights to offer and have been able to generate some good coverage because of it. Was our "angle" this year unique? In some cases yes, but mostly it was just offering the right information to the right reporters for the stories we knew from experience were going to be written.
So, of course provide useful content in the quieter times. But in the cases of Big News, maybe you only need to be relevant and helpful, not earth-shatteringly unique.
None of this is to advocate cookie-cutter PR and pitching EVER. Even in these 'low-friction' times, your pitch needs to be useful and individually targeted. But our job can be hard enough. Let's take our swings at the easy pitches when we can! :-)
Posted by: Jesse Ciccone | January 31, 2007 05:28 PM
I think it is all about RELEVANCE and TIMING.
Got a relevant pitch, in tune with the Big Event? Go for it. Just make sure it's really and truly relevant, i.e., not a "stretch"...
And, Plan In Advance. Don'tcha hate it when clients DO have a relevant story, but don't give you the fodder until it's clearly too late? (And then expect miracles, to boot?) ;)
Posted by: Todd Defren | January 31, 2007 05:38 PM
It's actually very discouraging because PR has become so predictable and with littel planning. If you are a security vendor, you wait for hacker to take down a credit card company, issue a survey or try to make a splash that will create buzz taking away from the technology giants at RSA. If you are a consumer product vendor, you try to create buzz by following special holidays and sporting events. And it certainly won't change in the near future. But it will be very interesting to see the next innovative method that PR pros will latch on to.
Posted by: Jin Woo | February 2, 2007 01:44 AM