Scenario

Our client, a management consultancy, was announcing the use of business analytical tools that had enabled a very novel discovery. A book was to be published about the work.

The requirement was to reach an influential and widely spread international audience but within a modest budget.

Strategy

We recommended that we should build up interest and excitement by:

• Exploiting London’s strength as an international media centre by holding a press conference for its international press corps, but concentrating on the media of wealthier territories as space was limited
• Including a “countdown” press release with invitations to this conference. The release would explain why the discovery was important but not reveal the “punchline”
• Adhering rigidly to the embargo and not succumbing to any pleas to do embargo breaking deals with major media (and there were plenty of offers)
• Selling the story in hard - in advance and on the day of the conference

Result

An exciting and stimulating press conference with a turnout of about 40 journalists from national UK media, TV and radio, international news agencies and foreign journalists based in London.

Major coverage was given to the story in The Times, Daily Telegraph, Guardian, Independent, Daily Mail and London Metro. Follow up coverage in The Observer, Sunday Telegraph and The Times. Numerous broadcasts including: Channel 4 News which did a major item in its flagship 7.00 pm news; BBC Today Programme and BBC Six O’Clock News.

Also widespread and major international coverage – within two days nearly 100 international news items were tracked, ranging from the Los Angeles Times to Pravda.

Over the following few weeks our client continued to receive requests worldwide for interviews and speaking engagements. Interest took off and within four weeks Google searches produced about 14,000 items on the story. The book quickly sold out its initial print run.