International media coverage on a local budget

A Media Messaging case study

The Brexit brief

• When social media reputation listening analysts asked us to get them international coverage regarding their Brexit predictions, we were glad to help

• Despite a shoestring budget, we knew we were up to the challenge but we’d have to be clever

• They knew they needed to raise their game in the face of better known competitors and were finding it hard to get cut-through

• We saw it differently… and told their story

Our challenge

• Find the right angles in a crowded market

• Make it relevant and get international coverage in the UK, Spain and Italy (where their academic partners were based)

• Do it fast, do it well, do it on a budget

What did we do?

• Built them a media database from scratch

• Drafted a series of 4 press releases

• Built a solid Q&A pack

• Distributed and sold in press releases

• Worked with them to develop animated ‘media-friendly’ infographic

• Managed all follow-up media contact

• Analysed and produced coverage report

Campaign: structure

Created and distributed 4 separate press releases over 4 weeks in 3 languages:

1. Introducing and explaining the project

2. Mid-project release, with the message that the result could be close

3. Immediate post-project release, highlighting that the client’s method worked, in contrast to traditional method

4. Follow-up release, reiterating the success of the project

Campaign: press releases

Campaign: distribution• Working with the client, we

developed targeted mailing lists

• Allowing us to distribute the press releases by email

• Direct to the inboxes of over 900 named editors and journalists across Europe

• Covering national and international radio and press, science and technology media, news agencies, business media, local radio and press, and influential industry blogs

Campaign results summary

• Coverage in 62 online media outlets, with combined monthly visits of about 225 million

• International coverage – with articles in six European languages

Hungarian Polish Catalan Italian English Spanish0

5

10

15

20

25

Number of articles/interviews

Results: Client messaging

• Nearly all articles were focused solely on the client’s project, with every one of the client’s key marketing messages being included

• Most coverage included links back to the project and client, and nearly half included images or logos provided by the client

Results: Media targets

We gained coverage in all of the client’s main media target areas:

• National and international radio and press: including Corporate Comms magazine, Interactive Tech Republic, SmartPlanet, Flipboard, El Periodico, La Vanguardia, Telecinco and La Razon in Spain; Radio 24 and Tiscali Notizie in Italy; and Yahoo News

• Science and technology media: including ZDNet, Phys.org and Spain’s Tendencias21

• National and international news agencies

• Business media: including El Economista of Spain and EconoTimes

• Local radio and press: in Spain and Italy

• Influential industry blogs: including in Poland, the UK and Hungary

Media coverage: example 1

• ZDNET: The major business technology news website

• 20 million visits a month

• In-depth article, written by a well-known journalist

• Shared 294 times on Twitter, 40 times on Facebook and 102 times on LinkedIn

Media coverage: example 2

• One of Spain’s largest daily newspapers

• Spanish and Catalan editions

• About 14 million online visits a month

• Daily print circulation of about 170,000 copies, with 625,000 readers

• We gained major articles in both languages, online and in print

• The articles were shared at least 14 times on Twitter and 31 times on Facebook

Media coverage: example 3

• Italian national all-news radio station

• One of the top 10 most popular stations in Italy, with over 2 million listeners

• Website receives about 1.1 million visits a month

• Our client was interviewed for over 5 minutes and the interview archived online

Media coverage: example 4

• Leading UK corporate communications magazine

• Print edition distributed to over 6,500 industry professional every month

• Website receives around 3,000 visits a month

• In a 2,000-word article, 800 were dedicated to our client’s project

Social media: coverage sharing

458 shares

133 shares

119 shares

14 shares