Sometimes PR Can Unexpectedly Strike Gold

A lot of people believe that ‘no news, is good news,’ and to an extent, that’s a fair comment when discussing global disasters or financial nightmares. To a journalist, no news is a stressful day in the office.

PR on the other hand, works in mysterious ways. When the ‘obvious’ news dries up, a story you wouldn’t expect to hit the headlines will step forward and illuminate under the national spotlight.

One thing that has always interested me is the length of news, regardless of the content.

ITV’s News at Ten is a 30-minute news programme which editors and producers work tirelessly to fill. Some days the news flows into the newsroom like a torrent, and other days journalists bash frantically away at keyboards in search of news. If there’s no news, why isn’t the programme shortened?

When the stories aren’t there, the news has to be found.

Today is a day when the news seems rather parched, with bin collections leading on 24-hour news channels and a Marmite-flavoured chocolate bar having many news programmes discussing whether you’ll ‘love it, or hate it.’

It was that which got me thinking. Is some news only news when there’s an opening to shine?

It’s a moment in print and broadcast, which I like to call ‘PR serendipity.’ It’s when a story is distributed to the media with no expectations of great success, yet you find that an editor has decided to publish it, or hoist it up the news agenda.

This morning was a great example of PR serendipity.

To me, a Marmite-flavoured chocolate bar sounds intriguing, yet to others, the concept may sound grotesque. On the local radio station this morning, the presenters were discussing the chocolate bar and the studio phones were rammed with callers willing to air their opinions. The relaxed topic of conversation reflected the glorious morning’s weather and that Friday feeling.

Today was an excellent opening for Marmite to have their new chocolate bar on the news agenda, and to an extent, it was down to luck.

I thought of the reaction at Marmite HQ, being aware that the country was going to wake to their brand on the radio, only to find a tsunami had struck in Asia, or Colonel Gaddafi had been captured. Without doubt the topic of conversation around the UK would have been very different.

Marmite was very lucky this morning and the lack of breaking news allowed their brand to be discussed on air. Excluding advertisement, newspapers work with the same theory. It makes you wonder what news was left off the agenda when 9/11 happened. What else were we supposed to know that day?How would News at Ten have filled a 30-minute programme?

As you can see, news works in very odd ways. Some press releases are sure to receive excellent coverage, regardless of the day’s news, where some have to strike lucky.

Sometimes, when you think there isn’t a story, or the press release you want distributing isn’t strong enough to gain prolific publication, it may well come back and surprise you.