Newsjacking PR Agency

Sam Walker, Head of PR.

"Time really is of the essence when it comes to reactive PR."

"As soon as a story breaks, you’re effectively on a timer to get a comment from your client issued to the press. You want to ideally get a comment out within 10 minutes, but I’d say 30 minutes to an hour is the absolute cut off - unless, of course, you’re looking to provide supporting content (such as a snap poll or infographic)."

Example

As the coronavirus pandemic began to pick up pace in early 2020, the DVSA cancelled driving tests for a few days (before the government officially put the UK into lockdown). We worked with Bill Plant Driving School to issue a reactive statement on this which generated 311x pieces of coverage, including being featured on Sunday Times Driving, MSN, Yahoo! and the Express, as well as being picked up by Press Association Media.

Oliver Taylor, Account Executive.

"The best time to attempt newsjacking is after a major story has broke and journalists are looking for additional information to report on. Make a swift decision on how any brands you’re working with can add to the story and think to yourself: why would a journalist report this and, more importantly, why should they?

Merely providing commentary on a breaking story likely isn’t going to result in any coverage, but offering additional information like relevant figures, insight or opinions will. Creativity and originality will often be rewarded too!”

Example

In March ’22, the British government announced its plan to scale back free winter flu jabs in England. We quickly worked with our client medino to pull together an expert comment reacting to the news. The comment covered the importance of the vaccination as the COVID-19 global pandemic had diminished people’s usual exposure to viruses over the last two years, making immune systems lower than ever before. Because of the relevancy of the story, the comment was picked up by major publications like The Guardian and Yahoo! News.

Liz Walsh, Account Executive.

“When it comes to reactive comments, you’ve got to realise that every PR out there with clients in the same industry as yours is going to be fighting to get their comments included in the conversation. A massive thing that you can do to give your client’s comment the edge over everyone else’s is to make it different!

Adding personality, character and quirk to the comment is going to be one of the best things you can do, as journalists will then have a fun option, that’s different to the other hundred comments in their inbox. Just being an expert isn’t enough, you’ve got to offer something new and exciting.”

Beth Cawte, Account Executive.

“When writing a reactive comment to a breaking news story, it’s really important to keep in mind that anyone and everyone in PR will probably be doing the same. If you want to stand out from the crowd, back your comment up with some fresh and eye-catching additional content, such as a snap poll, any data you already have available, or case studies you have to hand.

You want to be bringing something new to the table, so think about content that readers of the original article haven’t seen before. Your comment will join a flood of similar reactive statements in a journalist’s email inbox, so make sure that what you have to add is interesting and newsworthy.”

Example

The news has been full of stories in recent weeks (and months) about energy price caps and increasing bills. In response to this, we quickly pulled together a snap poll for our client Hillarys, asking UK-based homeowners about their energy bills - finding that one in three have been turning their heating down in a bid to keep their bills down. This was very quickly picked up by the Express, both online and in print, offering further insight into a story that was already doing the rounds.

Daisy Sawyer, PR Account Manager

“Forming relationships with journalists is key to securing good coverage for campaigns, but is also so important for landing coverage for your reactive comments.

There are many ways to form relationships, however the traditional way of meeting journalists for a coffee and a chat has become less frequent, with social media interactions and wholesome emails taking the forefront.

One of the most important parts to forming a good relationship is to ensure that you’re providing the journalists with quality content at a good speed and offering something that other PRs wouldn’t be able to.”

Example

During the summer of 2021 we launched the Love Island Growth Index, tracking the potential earnings of the latest batch of Love Island contestants through Instagram sponsored posts. We updated this weekly and pitched to journalists; within no time we started to form some strong relationships, including with the Entertainment Editor at the Metro. This one relationship secured us six pieces of coverage in the Metro, each with follow links back to 10 Yetis within the space of six months. This reactive project of our own also secured us coverage with the likes of The Sun, OK! Magazine, the Daily Mail and Tyla.

Naomi Williams, PR Account Executive

“When it comes to writing reactive comments, relevancy is key. It’s important to always keep an eye on breaking news and, if any relevant stories come out that could be linked to your client in some way, ensure to get a reactive statement out instantly – but make sure it’s relevant. Firstly, it needs to make sense WHY your client is commenting on the story. Secondly, it needs to be clear WHAT they are adding to the story (you can’t just regurgitate what the news outlets are already saying). As long as you can tick both of those boxes, there’s no reason your comment shouldn’t land – assuming you get it out as quickly as possible.”

Example

During the pandemic, the news was full of stories about Britons being unable to travel abroad and opting for staycations in the UK instead. In response to this, we pulled together a reactive comment about the travel restrictions faced by UK residents with the green, amber and red traffic light system and how this had caused a demand for domestic holiday, linking back to a bigger campaign we worked on around the British staycation boom for our client, Perrys. This was very quickly picked up online by the Express and MSN.