54 | MEDIA & MARKETING Press launches
www.opp.org.uk | JUNE 2010
4. Timetables.
For Cathy Hawker (London Evening Standard) “the dream is to get an agenda two weeks before a trip so that you have time to look over it and discuss what changes you would like.” However, PRs take note, she adds, “sadly this remains just a
Liz Rowlinson: The Daily Mail
dream for many trips”. Journalists agree that a trip should be structured to within an hour or two but not so tight they’re being whisked from a to b on the stopwatch. Spending time usefully involves a balancing act between
property, the local area and free time. As Diarmaid nicely puts it, “most journalists like property but aren’t as attracted to a developer’s property as the developer is”. Property is property and at the end of the day it’s all about the place.
5. Role of the PR.
Having a proper PR in attendance is preferred by most journalists, espe- cially if something goes wrong with the travel arrangements. They do not want to spend their own time trying to sort out hotel problems or working out a news schedule to get
Gordon Miller: The Financial Times
home . Zoe sees the PR as someone who is there “to ensure everything goes smoothly admin-wise but also, ideally, to stop their client prevent- ing us from doing what we need to do such as seeing other proper- ties in the area beyond their own
development”. Gordon agrees that it is very useful to have a referee in place. He also appreciates the way in which a good PR can get him ac- cess to the right person at the right time. “The PR mediates. Their role is to ensure I get the story I need”.
6. Press Packs.
If you are a PR, please cover your eyes now as the majority of the journalists I interviewed fior this piece admitted to dumping their press packs in the hotel room to “make space for something we actually want to take home”. Ouch.
Cathy Hawker: Evening Standard
Cheryl points out that “we don’t want too much hassle when we return as deadlines can be tight and we want to get on with it”. This means providing high resolution digital pictures and case studies of the area or the development in
question in a timely fashion. More and more journalists prefer the pa- perless approach as well. If you can put all of your information, graphs, statistics and pictures on a disk or a memory stick, then you will be in their good books immediately.
7. Sympathy call.
Journalists ... do spare a thought for us PRs.
If we’ve spent hours
creating an itinerary at your re- quest, don’t show up at the airport and say “so what’s the name of the resort?” – at least pretend you’ve read it. If you choose to live an
Journalists: Be nice to your PR
hour from an international airport, consider getting a train or a lift rather than racking up a £200 taxi fare. Although we understand that if we choose to put you on a 6am flight you may not have an option. And whilst we cannot dictate the
timing or content of your final copy, do keep us informed of when the article might appear. If our client has just spent a lot of money on you, you can bet that he’ll be breathing down our necks for his return on investment…
MEDIA
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