PR & Media Relations

Randolph Hearst The relationship between the news media and the PR industry is a complex and increasingly symbiotic one. The media is the central vehicle for much of the PR industry's messages. PR practitioners want to place their stories in the news or other publications and programmers. Without being able to do this, PR would lose one of its main avenues for communication with the public. The media in turn has become more dependent on PR to supply content to fill air time or column inches. Whilst newspapers have been steadily shedding staff over the last couple of decades they have simultaneously managed to produce ever thicker publications, and the ever growing ranks of PR are happy to help fill the pages. The power of the big agencies and spin doctor goes beyond this however. As the primary point of contact between businesses and the media, PR people can control access to information which journalists want. This gives them tremendous leverage in negotiating with journalists, as they are in a position to refuse information.

14 PR Tips from Known Journalists Martin Keller Strong Subject lines are very important: Rarely do the terms Press Release ring anyones bell. Write an intriguing headline.

Know what the reporter covers and read some of their stuff before pitching.

Personalize your email; mass email blasts are a turn-off that begs for the Delete button.

Identify a strong news hook. See whats happening in the news cycle and if your subject, client, product fits in. Then shape your pitch.

Is it wise to qualify news release marked as Embargoed news? The WSJ reporter says they never honor embargoed releases. The others were less forceful on that front. Use discretion.

 All of them spoke very highly of HARO as a helpful service that some people, however, abuse on occasion by pitching off- topic which will get you booted off HARO yesterday.

Brevity is always a plus on a pitch.

The panel unanimously turned thumbs down on pitches made through social media like Facebook and Twitter, Fax and the U.S. mail for me this was the eye-opener of the hour. Use their email first. Be prudent about follow up phone calls. Know when the reporters deadlines are and respect them.

Most panelists rely on press releases only for facts; rarely does a news release move any of them to write a story, so really work on your pitch.

Never send attachments.

Never send products (unless asked) or gifts. Most newsrooms cannot accept gifts valued over $20.

You can ask a reporter for face time over coffee or lunch but most will say no; they dont have time. The Weird News guy however was a little more flexible and liked the idea, although hes outside of San Diego in a small town.

The panelists all described the best pitches as those that are current to news making which means you might actually have to watch TV, listen to radio and read the newspaper and web news aggregators (believe it or not, a few people I know in this profession never do!)

Its fine to provide background to reporters for future news stories, esp. if you missed being part of something they just wrote about and you want your client on their radar.

Tools of PR 1. Newspapers 2. Magazines 3. Books 4. Radio 5. Television 6. Direct Mail 7. Telephone 8. Exhibits 9. Fairs 10.House Organs 11.DVs & CDs

Case Study about Titanic Video Lunch Research 1. Because of great success of Titanic in theater, block buster decided to launch new video legend & record breaking video sales. 2. First of all blockbuster analyzes the theatre attendance & Previous hit movies video sales for the future sales videos. 3. Previous Box Office hits both The Lion King & Jerry Maguire provided record video sale to Blockbuster. 4. Blockbuster analyzed consumer, video rental & purchase habits. 5. Blockbuster research showed that consumer like to buy videos when an incentive is offered. 6. Target audience was young females because research revealed that young females were the main audience of Titanic at theater.

Planning 1. Capitalize on consumer fascinate with the Titanic movie to attract consumers to blockbuster video stores 2. Generate incremental traffic & sales revenue for Blockbuster through the Titanic video release. 3. Generate media coverage of Blockbusters granteed availability of Titanic. 4. Dominate market share of presold Titanic videos. 5. Enhance Blockbusters image as the video store leader. 6. Generate awareness of Blockbusters GiftCard. Objectives 1. Presell at least 500,000 videos before the video release. 2. Offer the Titanic videos to consumer sooner than other video stores. 3. Develop a promotion/special event that attract at least 500,000 customers to Blockbuster Video stores throughout the U.S & encourages them to purchase or rent Titanic at blockbuster 4. Obtain at least $ 2 million in free media exposure for Blockbuster Videos. Strategy 1. The public relation team organized Blockbuster Titanic midnight sale event at each store. 2. Tied them to radio remotes & visual spectacles for potential media 3. Also engage local media foe coverage 4. Because of evening time of events news broadcasters & the media was guaranteed strong visuals 5. PR team conducted a nationwide media relation campaign to inform news outlets of Blockbuster events & available spokespersons in each city. 6. More than 4000 Blockbuster stores closing time was extended from midnight to 2 AM because of two reasons 1. Long waited Titanic video offered at 12:01 am at Sep 1st 2. Interested media for easy access 7. Offered special incentives at midnight Titanic Midnight Sale Sweepstakes awarded 100 customers who purchased or rented Titanic (get boarding pass) 8. Call 1-888 within 24 hours for a chance to win a luxury cruise in where in the world & also 100 small trips. 9. Limited participation sweepstakes encouraged to stand outside the store hours before the Titanic Midnight Sale creating visuals for the news media.

10. Blockbuster anticipated 5 to 7 percent of consumers would keep the card as a collectors item rather than redeem it infect 75 percent costumers visited the store during the presell period to keep card as a collectors item.

Execution 1. Focus on News media coverage & efforts 2. Blockbusters 34 strongest market stores employees wore period costumes & life jackets, many of them impersonated the movies characters. 3. Pursers welcomed customers & waiters served refreshments. 4. Enhance the media interest PR team faxed alters to media in advance 5. Specifying one store in each market in which Blockbuster spokesperson would be available for comment during the midnight sale. 6. PR person is also available during the events to coordinate media coverage. 7. Blockbuster also hired some videographers to shoot because of limited television crews at that time & provide it to local market. 8. Use radio for free promotion 9. Just 12 hour before at sep 1st noon Blockbuster issued a press release, announcing record breaking sales for new video release & generating further media coverage throughout that day & evening 10. Blockbuster use 34 different public relations consultants all over the United States perceive as a challenge. 11. Entire public relations team to share ideas from city to city through conference calls. Evaluation 1. Blockbuster exceeded every sales & media goals for the launch of the Titanic video release. 2. The midnight sale reached the same epic proportion as the movie. 3. Situation in different cites In Chicago, police directed traffic around the stores. In Los Angeles, 400 people stood in line to buy the video at mid night 4. Blockbusters market share of presold videos generally averages 2 to 3 percent but reached 10 percent for the Titanic video launch, 300 percent increase.

5. Blockbuster presold more than 1 million Titanic videos, the largest number of video sold in the company history & any other retailers. 6. Research indicated that 17 percent of presale customers had been inactive blockbuster members. 7. The average of transactions increased 321 percent over that of a normal business day. 8. During of the first hour of the midnight sale & promotion, Blockbuster received more than 865,000 phone calls from the customers entering the sweepstakes 9. All major local media covered the Titanic video release promotion, & many television news crews visited the stores for live coverage during their 10 pm & 11 pm 10. Newscasters & showed the crowds waiting in line for midnight sale. 11. All national media included CNN & Fox News enhancing Blockbusters image as the video store leader. Basically Titanic is not legally available for release on video until 12:-01 am sept 1st. To keep within the legal parameter, Blockbuster decided to make the video available to fans with a midnight madness sale, Gift with purchase & other incentives to the first 100 people who buy the video.

Case Study - Pakistan's Pink Ribbon Campaign.