Celeb support is only as good as the PRs promoting them

When I started this blog I thought I’d be writing for myself (or maybe me and a couple of friends who work in the sector and are willing to humour me) so I’m amazed that in fact it’s been read by around a thousand people.  Who knew I’d even end up contributing the odd blog for the Guardian’s Voluntary Sector Network?

Apparently with profile comes getting targeted by PR people – which I take as a huge, if unexpected compliment.  On twitter I’ve been asked to promote charity events and singles.  On the blog I’ve been asked for advice and today has seen my first full blown press release!

Only problem is that the PR was close but won’t be winning any cigars from me.  On the left of this blog I explain what I write about; specifically “the use of celebrity in the UK's charity sector”.  Today’s release was about a Hollywood A-lister backing a campaign.  Credit where credit is due it is about charity and it is about celebrity. Apparently they’re asking “Americans to pledge and make a difference”.  How does that relate to the UK?

Ironically said Hollywood A-Lister was in London promoting the UK version of the cause a month ago.  Had I been targeted then I might have blogged something.

The opening paragraph of the email says “Wanted to see if you could show your support and post [Big Hollywood Name]’s PSA for their new campaign”. Have you read my blog? No seriously? Have you? It’s not about promoting particular causes.  It’s about commenting on when charities working with celebrities get it right and when I think they get it wrong. I don’t support any particular cause via this blog – oh and NEVER assume I know what an acronym stands for.  I’m guessing PSA means Public Service Announcement since I don’t think they wanted me to talk about the star’s Prostate Specific Antigen test results.

Celebrities are only as good as the media team that’s promoting their support for the cause.  For me a bêtte noir is the media person who randomly targets you without knowing about your publication or output.  I’m just a little blogger – imagine the amount of stuff that real journalists and TV producers get sent.

I’m always impressed by the media team that spends time scouring newspapers and magazines and can quote chapter and verse on where and when particular publications will use celebrity interviews.  But I’ve seen the same people pitch to a TV or radio show having never watched or listened to it.  Pitching to This Morning is no different to pitching to Celebs on Sunday (The Sunday Mirror Magazine).

In fact I have heard of one Media Manager who was asked to listen to a particular radio show as they had a big awareness event coming up for the condition they represented and it was something that would be common to listeners of that programme.  She didn’t understand why she should listen to the show rather than just shooting off a press release.

Having been on the production side of TV and radio shows I know how irritating untargeted approaches can be.  There’s an element to which doing the work of an over worked, under resourced researcher can pay dividends.  Don’t just have a story, have an item that is fully formed and which fits the format of the programme.  The only way you can do that is by actually knowing how the programme treats stories like yours.  You won’t always get it right but you’ll get more respect and stand a better chance of building a relationship and having your calls taken again if you know their output.

A few years ago a charity for which I worked had a big fundraising event and wanted to try and get on a leading TV magazine programme.  A researcher’s going to think “so what?  Every charity has big fundraising events”.  So I sat down with the media team and we created an item that worked for the format of the show and then persuaded a high profile celebrity to agree in principle to participate before we pitched it to the programme.  Guess what – they went for it.

In the days of iPlayer and online catch-up TV services there really is no excuse for a media team not to know how Daybreak, The One Show, BBC Breakfast, Lorraine, This Morning, The Alan Titchmarsh Show, The Jeremy Vine Show or You and Yours work.

….Oh and if a colleague comments on you sitting in the office watching This Morning on your computer tell them it’s work – honestly!