A prime example of a brilliant and switched-on PR
Wrapping up a week at MediaCity in Salford has prompted me to write about a positive PR experience I had when I was last up there.
The backstory:
5pm and no guest in sight
I was working on a story for the Today programme that I thought would be very easy to organise: I needed a hotel/leisure analyst to come on the show the next morning to discuss some industry news that had emerged that day. Sourcing that guest should have been simple but for some reason, it wasn’t (perhaps because it was very much holiday season). I was calling and emailing PRs and press offices and throwing out multiple LinkedIn messages. Towards the end of the day – about 5pm - I contacted a PR called Ed, an experienced in-house PR for a financial services firm. Though it was almost the end of the day when I spoke to him, he gave the impression he was going to go out of his way to see if any of his analyst colleagues would be available. Ed continued to keep me in the loop. About an hour later, he found someone. But Ed was upfront: his analyst hadn’t been on live radio before. “To be honest, we wouldn’t usually just throw him on the Today programme.” (For anyone not in the UK, Radio 4’s Today programme is probably viewed as the most prestigious radio programme and is the radio show most businesses aspire to feature on). But he was confident in his knowledge and ability.
“Look,” I said. “I’ll be briefing and interviewing him. If I don’t think he's good enough, he won’t be going on.”
At 7pm we all jumped on a call (usually I like one-to-one briefings but given everyone’s slight apprehension, the PR was on there too).
I put Mr Analyst through a round of questions. And you know what, I wouldn’t have known at all that this was going to be his first live radio rodeo. He came across as confident, articulate, and knowledgeable. I reassured him that I thought he was excellent.
I called Ed afterwards to reiterate what I’d said.
And then 15 minutes later I had to call ed again. Actually, can Mr Analyst come on another radio show - Wake Up to Money - an hour earlier? (About 5.30am!). Ed and I agreed that actually this was a great opportunity - yes, he’d have to set his alarm clock an hour earlier, but he had the chance to go through a similar interview with the same presenter on a different show and build his confidence.
But it also meant poor Ed – already staying way past his working day to help organise this – would also be getting up even earlier so he could be awake during both interviews.
And the next day, Mr Analyst was fantastic, with strong feedback from the editor and the rest of the team. I text Ed to thank him for his hard work in making the interview him.
Throughout all my interactions with Ed, he stood out. He was experienced, assured, on the ball, and transparent - he was upfront about Mr Analyst’s lack of experience but also in his confidence in him. He worked late and had a very early wake-up call. He kept me in the loop. I wasn’t having to chase and chase. I felt like I could trust him.
Everyone gained something from the situation. We delivered a great guest who could explain the topic with ease and expertise, while Ed saw his analyst presented as an expert on two national radio shows. It meant that Mr Analyst is now down as an expert on the BBC's system, meaning any journalist needing an expert in the hotel/leisure industry has his contact information to hand. It's also meant that I would contact Ed again in a heartbeat if I needed an analyst perspective.
So a big thanks to all the hardworking PRs putting in the extra effort and time behind the scenes.