Tips, thoughts and the latest happenings in broadcast PR and general PR. The Shout! Communications’ blog keeps our followers up-to-date about what’s happening on television, online and on radio.
In some countries it is known as ‘Cucumber Time’, but in Britain it’s the silly season. The term was coined in an edition of the Saturday Review published in 1861 and the phrase has just stuck. We’re now at the tail end of the summer, the point when radio and TV programmes allow themselves to be more frivolous, but are you making the most of it?
The dinner was lovely, the wine flowing and the chemistry was great….but then you never heard from him again. Had you offended him? Was he dead? You’ve been left wondering what on earth happened after what had seemed an enjoyable evening.
Shout! Communications recently hosted a broadcast networking event with ITV’s Head of UK Specialists, Andrew Dagnell. Andrew was appointed by ITV in 2017 and now looks after the home news specialists who report on topics such as health, science and consumer issues.
So, you’ve booked in your broadcast campaign and the launch day has finally arrived. Now it’s showtime and the pressure is on your spokesperson to weave in key messages and branding within the interviews, to keep you, or if you’re an agency, your client happy.
Securing overseas coverage for clients is becoming much more prevalent and often the icing on the cake off the back of a successful UK campaign. Many clients have an EMEA and global brief too and selling in to international broadcasters is increasingly a requirement.
Tears, tempers and tantrums and that’s just the parents …. Often the kids are brilliant to work with, but the proud mums and dads can sometimes over promise and under deliver when it comes to their child’s ability in front of the camera, literally pushing them in front of the camera in some cases, when their child is tearful and reluctant.
Much like comparing TV to radio, some stories simply aren’t made for everything. If you’ve got a story with a visual aspect then TV will, naturally, be more appropriate than radio. However, if your campaign is based on spreading information to the masses using spokespeople and statistics, then radio will be the way to go.
We recently had the pleasure of hosting Jim Grice, Head of News and Current Affairs at London Live, at Shout! Communications for a ‘Small Talk’. As a regional and national media veteran, we knew Jim’s insights would be invaluable to us and our guests, so we’d like to share them with those of you who weren’t there.
At Shout! Communications we don’t think broadcast PR IS separate from “mainstream” PR, and it has always amazed us that there are those in the industry who think it is anything other than an integral part of any campaign. In our experience broadcast is generally “the icing on the cake” and when a client is reviewing how a story has gone it is coverage on television and radio in particular that stands out to them as a highlight.