Lessons from the rights and wrongs of health and pharmaceutical communications

Lessons from the rights and wrongs of health and pharmaceutical communications

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There have been plenty of challenges in health and pharmaceutical reporting and communications over the last 30 years, with the last three being particularly tumultuous for those tasked with communicating both complex and constantly evolving news to the public.

At a Vuelio lunch held at the Gherkin last month, Channel 4’s health and social care editor Victoria Macdonald shared the lessons to be learned from the good and bad of her 30-year career covering health and pharma.

Read on for her thoughts on high-profile political flubs you won’t want to replicate, the importance of ensuring any promises made can be met, and just how unhealthy misinformation can be to your audience.

PR teams: prime your spokesperson properly

‘Looking back over the various points in my career and the exciting breakthroughs – the scandals, the pandemics – I would say that Covid was an interesting roller coaster.

‘I was the journalist who asked Boris Johnson if he was still shaking hands. I wasn’t actually trying to catch him out; I was genuinely interested. His reply was so astonishing – “Yes,” he said.

“I am shaking hands,” Johnson added. “Only last night I was in a hospital shaking hands with coronavirus patients.”

‘The chief medical officer and the chief scientific adviser went pale as they stood beside him. An hour or so later the Downing Street press office rang to say that of course he hadn’t shaken hands with coronavirus patients.’

Promises must be met

‘My first interaction with the pharmaceutical industry, and whether it was making excessive profits at the sake of people’s lives, was around reputation.

‘I am thinking about a court case in 2001 in which the South African Government won against 39 pharmaceutical companies that had sued because of a provision that would have allowed the production and importation of generic drugs for HIV/Aids. That case was dropped in the end because of national and international pressure.

‘I was there reporting it and it was a momentous day – undermined by the Government actually failing to distribute drugs until they, too, were taken to court.’

Balance celebration with caution

‘There’s news of another Alzheimer drug that can slow cognitive decline by 35%. And the quote was that this could be the beginning of the end of Alzheimer’s disease. The thought is so thrilling and anyone in this room who has seen or is living with family members who have Alzheimer’s knows what it’s like to watch it happening in front of your eyes.

‘This may be too late for our mothers or fathers or grandparents – but maybe it will be ok for us – I hope so.

‘Yet this is another one of those announcements where you have to be so utterly cautious when reporting and communicating it. You want it to be a celebration, you absolutely want it to be the beginning of the end of Alzheimer’s, but you have to tell your audience that there are many caveats.

‘The last thing you want to do is rain on someone’s parade, but neither do you want a relative ringing up and saying where is this drug, why can’t my Mum have it now?’

Inoculate your audience against misinformation

‘That most wonderful moment nine months into the pandemic when the announcement of the first vaccines was made – we had had so many briefings early on in 2020 that no vaccine was in sight and then suddenly there really was.

‘Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, said the Astra Zeneca vaccine’s reputation had been battered by a toxic mix of misinformation, miscommunication, and mishaps.

‘Yet there were trial problems – and reporting on these was very difficult because you didn’t want to lose the excitement of such an important development, but had to give as much information as possible.

‘There was a real change in communications during the pandemic. At first, Government press offices were slow to get up and going. But it got better very quickly.’

‘Looking back on Covid – so much changed and yet also so little’.

For more about maintaining trust and communicating complex campaigns clearly in health and pharmaceutical sectors, download the Vuelio white paper ‘Medical misinformation: How PR can stop the spread’.

8 things you need to know about the use of AI in PR and the media

8 things you need to know about the use of AI in PR and the media

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Will AI ultimately be a help to us in our jobs, or lead to a Skynet-level humans versus artificial intelligence showdown years in the future? We can’t answer that, but we can tell you how technologies like ChatGPT are already impacting public relations, the media, and politics – both for good and, when applied incorrectly, the not-so-good.

Here is what you need to know about the use of AI in PR and journalism now, taken from our latest white paper ‘Reputation management: How PR and comms can maintain trust in an AI-assisted future’ – download it here.

Want more on this topic? Sign up to our webinar with Danebury Research’s Paul Stallard ‘The AI conundrum – paving the way for the future of comms’ to join us on Wednesday 7 June, 11-11.30 BST.

1) A pro: AI is supporting the work of journalists (and helping the bottom line)

‘Over the last few years, we have seen the use of AI increasing because it’s valuable to support the journalists in different areas; in news gathering, in news production, but of course most importantly with the audience and the way in which you can enhance that and raise revenue.’
Charlie Becket, founding director of Polis and leader of the LSE Journalism and AI project

2) A con: AI could hinder the work of journalists to inform when applied incorrectly

‘We have to think about where we can use those tools, and when we shouldn’t. One of the things I want us to do is to demonstrate where our articles are coming from. People are using AI and putting together information without that source to show where that information came from.’
Jo Adetunji, editor at The Conversation

3) PRs need to be ready to fight AI-assisted PR disasters

‘We cannot escape conversations around ChatGPT at the moment – any activist or online troll could use that technology to spread all sorts of content on social media to trash the reputation of a corporation. If you are a bit more sophisticated, you could use deep fakes to impersonate senior figures in business to create a PR disaster. For a listed company, bad actors could move their share price.

‘And I am not making this up. The Eurasia Group has forecast this as a possibility in 2023. PRs must be aware of the reputational challenges posed by actors harnessing tech for malicious ends.’
Thomas Barton, founder and CEO of Polis

4) AI may not revolutionise comms, but it could streamline the way we work

‘Although ChatGPT is expected to continue to revolutionise the way we do PR and marketing, I still believe it won’t lead to smaller teams and massive layoffs.

‘Instead, the tool will further streamline PR processes to help PR professionals become more productive. So, the tool will only get better at proofreading your press release, refining your PR pitch, and helping you come up with ideas for a PR brainstorming session or social media posts. The tool will also get better at ensuring consistency across your PR (and marketing) material.’
Chris Norton, founder of B2B PR agency Prohibition

5) Entry-level jobs in the creative industries could disappear

‘Probably in lots of different sectors it is the ‘bottom rung’ that will be impacted — people who have just started their job.

‘I’m sure it’s the same in PR as in journalism — when you start out, you’re doing the unglamorous jobs. That work could be done better by AI, potentially. The bottom rung could be in a difficult position.’
William Turvill, associate editor for Press Gazette and media correspondent for the New Statesman

6) An increase in AI assistance means a need for more personalisation and authenticity (AKA humans)

‘With the rise of AI-generated content, storytelling will become even more relevant. Increased AI-powered content production will create more content, which will be more general as AI is not incentivised to be bold. This means personalised, unique voices will become more powerful, as it will help companies stand out from the crowd.’
Jan Bohnerth, CEO of Life Size

7) In the absence of regulation, PRs must hold themselves to account

‘Everything’s happening so fast — there needs to be big thoughts about regulation. At a firm level, there’s a lot you can do with making sure you don’t rip people off.’
Helena Pozniak, independent journalist writing for the Telegraph, The Guardian, the Institution of Engineering and Technology as well as various universities and specialist sites

8) Don’t be alarmed, but be realistic about the impact AI will have on you and your work going forward

‘I saw someone tweet that AI is going to kill us all in five years. I’d be so wary of any bold claims like that, because there is so much money behind this stuff, in doom-mongering or overexaggerating.
‘Future prediction is always a murky area — that’s something I would be hugely vary of.’
Amelia Tait, freelance features writer for outlets including The Guardian, New York Times, Wired, the New Statesman, and VICE.

Download the full Vuelio and Danebury Research white paper here.

Check out what you also need to know about the impacts of fake news, shared in our previous webinar with Polis’ Thomas Barton ‘Why we need to take online misinformation and disinformation seriously’.

How is the media covering the energy sector?

Trends in UK journalism: How is the media covering the energy sector?

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The cost-of-living crisis has impacted many areas of our life, from more expensive food shops to higher interest rates. One of the most dramatic rises in price came in energy bills, where for some businesses and homeowners it nearly doubled.

The media have therefore focused heavily on advising their audiences on how to cope with this as well as expert opinion on when things might improve. But what else have journalists been looking to cover in the energy sector recently? With help from the Journalist Enquiry Service, we are able to shed light on what they have been requesting and identify opportunities for PRs to get coverage.

Sign up to start receiving requests from the UK media direct to your inbox with the Journalist Enquiry Service.

For the purpose of this article, we decided to focus on the two most relevant categories to the energy sector on the Journalist Enquiry Service – Manufacturing, Engineering & Energy and Environment & Nature. In both categories, requests over the last three months have been dominated by staff journalists with 62% in the energy category and 53% in environment. Freelance journalists are the next biggest senders in both categories, with 29% in energy and 25% in environment.

Journalists are generally asking for the same thing across both categories, with ‘information for an article’ and ‘spokesperson or expert’ the top two requests for each one. The slight difference comes in the third most selected enquiry type option – 11% of journalists in the energy category requests were looking for case studies whereas in environment, 13% of requests were for review products.

The main difference between the categories is in the types of journalist that are sending requests in the respective categories. Consumer media journalists are much more prevalent in the environment category with 32% of requests coming from them, followed by trade/business/professional media on 25% and national newspaper/current affairs on 24%. Whereas in the energy category, trade/business/professional media dominates with 52% of requests, with national newspaper/current affairs on 18% and consumer media on just 15%. Radio and television also does well here on 8%.

If you have experts or information from the energy sector that you think you would fit well within a trade publication, there should be lots of opportunities. ReNews, Engineering & Technology, Industrial News, Net Zero Professional, Connected Energy Solutions and Energy Digital have all sent at least one request in the last three months.

We can delve further in and look at what keywords have been cropping up the most. ‘Business’ has featured in the most requests, with 27% of all energy enquiries containing this word. It must be noted that this doesn’t always mean that journalists are looking to write about energy businesses. The same goes for ‘companies’ which also performed well and appeared in 16% of requests.

However, we have seen requests such as ‘Businesses/economists/energy consultants sought for article on business action on energy supplies’ and ‘Looking for expert comment from a water company on whether a bath or shower is more energy efficient.’

‘Energy’ is unsurprisingly another keyword that performs strongly here, appearing in 19% of all requests. This is often followed by the word ‘bills’ which is in 7% of all the energy enquiries.

Journalists from the Express.co.uk, The Sun, ITV News and 5 News have all looked to cover this keyword; sometimes wanting an expert opinion on how to save money on your energy, a few around changes to the energy price cap and its effect on bills and broadcast outlets wanting businesses or people to talk to about the impact rising energy bills has had for them.

Another related phrase in ‘cost-of-living’ continues to crop up, appearing in 4% of the energy requests. The keyword ‘budget’ is also in 4% and ‘efficiency’ is in 6%, as again journalists focus on getting information and experts to talk about what people can do during this ongoing crisis.

Oil, gas and electricity all perform well as keywords, too – both in the energy and environment categories. ‘Gas’ appears in 4% of energy requests and 3% of environment. ‘Electricity’ is in 2% of all energy enquiries and 1% of those in the environment category, while ‘oil’ is in 3% of energy and 2% of environment.
Requests around these keywords have tended to be from trade publications, including one from a journalist at Net Zero Investor who was looking for ‘climate-conscious asset owners and asset managers’ to talk about engaging with oil and gas firms.

The keywords that performed strongly within the energy requests tend to do well again in the environment category with 15% of requests including ‘business’, 10% having ‘energy’ and 4% mentioning the ‘cost-of-living’.

‘Environment’ as a keyword does well within its own category, appearing in 12% of all requests. These come from consumer-based titles such as My Weekly, The Mayfair Musings and woman & home. This includes an enquiry around saving money while saving the environment and living a more sustainable and affordable life.
‘Sustainability/sustainable’ is another keyword which performs well in the environment category, appearing in 10% of all requests. A variety of outlets are looking for sustainability experts, from Retail Week to Country & Town House, to PA Media and The Times. While not always solely focused on the energy and environment side, this provides another opportunity to get clients coverage on an increasingly popular topic to write about.

The other forms of renewable energy sources such as ‘solar’ and ‘wind’ are also keywords with the former in about 2% of environment requests and the latter in 1%. Enquiries here come from trade titles such as New Energy World and consumer outlets like Ideal Home.

While the cost-of-living crisis might seem to dominate the conversation in the media around the energy sector, there are still lots of different avenues to explore. New information and experts are primarily what journalists are looking for, with plenty of opportunities to get clients featured in trade publications, plus some national newspapers and broadcast news, too.

For advice on pitching to the UK media, download our white paper ‘How to pitch to journalists‘, and get requests from writers, broadcasters, influencers and more directly to your inbox with the Journalist Enquiry Service. Want to start your outreach now? Check out the Vuelio Media Database. 

PRs on PR: How to pitch to the media

PRs on PR: How to pitch to the media

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Despite the sheer number of places to pitch to now – online, radio, and broadcast alongside traditional print outlets – pitching to the media as a PR has only gotten tougher as time has gone on.

‘Long gone are the days when an outreach email or pitch sent to a list of hundreds of journalists and news desks would result in instant links or coverage’ says JBH’s digital PR manager Lauren Wilden.

‘We now need to be much more strategic’.

Where better to get advice on successful strategies than the experts: your fellow PRs. Here are the steps to hit through all stages of the pitching journey – preparing, creating, and the post-pitch follow-up – from PRs and comms people regularly racking up coverage for their brands and clients in the UK media.

Want to know how Vuelio can help with your media outreach? Check out extra detail on the Vuelio Media Database and the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service.

Preparing your pitch

Do your research before you even think about getting in touch with a journalist

‘The first and most important thing you need to do is research. Spend time getting to know the publications you want to be seen in and the kinds of things that your target journalists write about.

‘It may sound old school, but buy print copies of the media, where possible, to get an overview of the publication as the context of where you want your story to appear is also important.’
Ceri-Jane Hackling, managing director at Cerub PR

‘All media pitches should be tailored to a specific audience, for example, based on geographic location, audience interests, and industry or sector specialisms. This means identifying a clear, concise and newsworthy angle that will appeal to each audience, and steering clear of industry jargon in non-specialist media.’
Lucy Wharton, Account Manager: PR at V Formation

‘Chat to PR colleagues to gain an insight into the journalist’s preferred way of working, personality and any gems of info that will show you’ve clearly done your homework. (without going too Big Brother!).’
Sheila Manzano, senior associate director at Frog & Wolf PR

‘Staying up-to-date with the latest demographics, audience research, features, news, and staff at a publication puts you ahead of the game, establishing you as a mindful, and reliable source for future opportunities.’
Connor Aiden Fogarty, Social & Influencer Marketing Assistant at DMC PR

‘Journalists are increasingly stretched and therefore don’t have as much time to be able to attend events or even have a quick chat on the phone which makes things tricky for PRs. Knowing the journalist’s background and key topics they write about is so important. Also, finding out how the journalist prefers to receive the pitch (this is usually email) is essential – tools like ResponseSource help with this.’
Jessica McDonnell, senior account manager at Source PR

‘B2B media pitching is fly fishing: the more times you cast/pitch, the more catches/placements you are going to get! But, it’s equally important to understand what isn’t catching – because you might need to change the ‘fly’.

‘The more diverse the audience, the larger the fly box – think vertical and geographical market expansion.

‘But there is one rule that holds true for media pitching: Understand your quarry/audience. Nearly half of journalists receive more than 50 pitches per week, so one of their biggest annoyances is getting spammed with irrelevant pitches. Read what they write and what they engage with on their social channels – and you shall find the perfect fly!’
Judith Ingleton-Beer, CEO at IBA International

Plan your strategy

‘Having a clear pitch strategy for your key contacts will help to naturally develop stronger, hyper-relevant stories and build stronger relationships with journalists. After that, it’s all about making sure you make life as easy as possible for journalists – understanding the best time and way to approach them and getting to the point quickly.’
Martyn Gettings, head of PR at Tank

Start small

‘Try contributing newsjacking comments to smaller sites and niche publishers first. This builds up your legitimacy and means that you have extra ammunition in your pitching arsenal.’
Mike Shields, Head of Digital PR at eComOne

Before you start typing – is what you have relevant and timely?

‘When pitching to journalists, it’s essential that as PRs, we offer them something of high relevance to the current news cycle. Linking the content to trending topics, awareness days, new research, or current affairs will show journalists that your content is timely, relevant and will be interesting to their current readers, heightening chances of success. Before pitching, ask yourself, ‘How newsworthy is this content, and how relevant is it to the current media landscape?’
Leah de Gruchy, senior digital PR executive at Kaizen

Creating a successful pitch

Sending a press release? Tailor your headlines/subject lines to fit

‘Crafting a strong subject line is key to sending a good digital PR pitch. It is the first part of your pitch that journalists are exposed to and could be the deciding factor as to whether they even open your pitch email. Avoid click-bait titles when pitching to journalists, we know they are already very busy people and do not have time to play guessing games.’
Amber Buonsenso, senior digital PR strategist at The Evergreen Agency

‘Adjust the headline to suit the types of style that they would typically write, so that they can envision how the piece would look. For example, Daily Mail often uses CAPITALS in their headlines, so we do exactly that, and for the Reach PLC titles, we try and make the titles slightly more inquisitive to encourage more clickthroughs, as we know their target is page “views, for example, did you know that THIS hack will help you fall asleep’, as oppose to counting sheep bed will help you fall asleep quicker”.’
Emma Hull, PR manager at Balance

‘Every publication has a specific framework for headline writing, so small quirks like knowing if a news outlet writes numbers numerically or alphabetically shows understanding, a passive form of personalisation. I also think writing headlines frames our releases in a journalistic style, helping to picture our pitches as newsworthy stories.’
Charlie Warner digital PR specialist at Seeker Digital

‘Be clear for when they’re scanning their inbox to see if anything jumps out. For me this might look like “Industry comment – Personal finance expert discusses latest Bank of England interest rates” or even “Interview opportunity – Education expert available to discuss GCSE Results Day”.’
Samantha Walker, head of PR at 10 Yetis Public Relations

Test what works best

‘I find a/b testing a different set of subject lines can work with bigger campaigns, and also tweaking the subject line to suit the journalists’ style or the publication they write for. This can be time consuming but a well targeted campaign is always better than a ‘spray and pray approach’ – where you send the same pitch to hundreds of journalists.’
Lauren Richardson, senior account executive at Marketing Signals

Think. About. Layout

‘This is a very laborious and boring sentence to read as it trails on and on without any particular direction and multiple points so it’s difficult to understand what the main argument of the piece is as there is no proper grammatical construction or interesting aspects of what I am saying standing out from the rest of the points in this long excruciating opinion I am writing and as a result I expect you will have fallen asleep by now and so will have any journalist you are pitching.

‘Instead. Pull out your main point. Put it at the start. Use short sentences. And make it easy to digest.’
Chris Cowan, associate director at Mixology PR

‘The feedback we get from journalists is that they want a story that they can essentially cut, copy, paste and publish if they wish – so good pitching starts with great copy.

‘Use straightforward and easy-to-understand language in short sentences in the pitch itself and make sure that the really interesting angles are all included.

‘If you have created a story that is already ready to publish, you are making the journalist’s life easier and your chances of getting your story published are vastly increased.’
Dan Thompson, account director at MOTIVE PR

Cut out unnecessary words (especially the adjectives)

‘Remember that you’re sending a pitch and not a blog stuffed with flowery language. This is especially important in your subject line, where you want the story of the pitch to be clear within 8-12 words. Front loading your subject line with stats can be a really great way to boost the impact of your pitch as well, so always try and include these where possible.

‘Feedback I’ve had is that journalists typically don’t want to read pitches longer than about 400 words as they don’t have time.’
James Lavery, digital PR manager at Bring Digital

Sell your story

‘When pitching to journalists, selling them on a story is key – what gets editors to sit up and pay attention and readers to take the time to click is a story they can engage with.

‘Ask yourself, is there a compelling narrative here? Colouring around the black and white of the article is vital and that’s where we find journalists engage with us the most.’
Connor Kirton, senior PR account executive at Make More Noise

‘“So what” is a good question to ask yourself. Why should this be of interest to the journalist and their audience?’
Rachel Murray, account Director at Fourth Day PR

‘The truth is, journalists don’t care about your press release, they care about their readers. And they have no interest in helping to promote your business to their readers unless you bring value to them. So, focus on the impact your story has on the reader, and see if it triggers one of these reactions:

1. This is me
2. I wish it was me
3. I’m glad it’s not me’
Petra Smith, Founder of marketing and PR agency Squirrels&Bears

‘A journalist will not want to read waffle. A pitch should be like a wine tasting, the journalist should have a small glass, and want to come back to you for the whole bottle’.
Peter Remon, senior account manager at BlueSky Education

Numbers go nicely with words – include some data

‘Use bullet points to bring out the most important facts of the topic you are pitching, and make sure it’s backed up with the latest research – no journalist would want to spend the time researching whether what you are saying is true.’
Dinara Omarova, director at Peach Perfect PR Limited

Sending your pitch

Get in there early and make it speedy

‘If you’re pitching to nationals, then emailing early on in the day really is key in my experience. Most editorial planning meetings happen before 10am, so if you’re pitching after this then the chance of your content getting used (unless its hyper topical) is much lower.

‘Regionals and lifestyle titles can work a little differently, but either way, morning pitching is still typically best as they’re more likely to be planning content then, and then writing it up later on.

‘If you’ve managed to get your pitch email opened, then naturally you want to keep that journalist’s attention and you need show them why it’s a good story super quickly. Long email pitches that fail to explain the story quickly and clearly (and why it’s relevant to that title now), should be avoided! Bullet points with key facts or figures can help with this.’
Cheryl Crossley, head of digital PR at WMG

It may surprise you, but news desks do forward your pitch to the right editor

‘Publications have editors who specialise in specific industries or regions. For this reason, it’s always a good idea to identify the right person to pitch to. While a mass-sent press release with BCC’d email addresses may still generate attention if it’s compelling enough, it lacks the latter’s allure.

‘If I need to figure out who the right person is to contact for my story at a publication, I use a generic email address that’s monitored.

‘With such email addresses. publications always hint that they are monitored to centralise incoming messages to help dispatch them to the right people to avoid missing out on great stories. So, I check to see if a general email like info @, tips @ is being monitored.’
Malineo Makamane, digital PR specialist at Sweet Digital

Remember to add the extras

‘Having good imagery drastically increases your chances of selling in a news story. Better still, if you do have a great image to accompany your press release, then include it in the body of the email! Show journalists that you have visual content readily available.’
Matt Neicho, senior communications executive (STEM) at Definition Agency

‘Include a link to a Dropbox or WeTransfer folder which contains your release, a selection of images to choose from, as well as a contact sheet with your details in case they need anything further.’
Lauren Dall, director at boutique PR consultancy Dall Communications

How to follow-up on your pitch

Engage, don’t badger

‘Don’t send multiple emails about the same story. Once you’ve sent a press release, give it at least 24 hours. Then, a follow up asking a journalist to confirm receipt and explaining you are available if they need anything else is perfectly acceptable. Anything more and you will be deemed a pest.’
Nick Owens, founder of Magnify PR

‘I like to follow up in a timely manner and with a short note that provides a summary of what I’m offering and asking the journalist for any relevant feedback.

‘I also focus on building relationships by actively engaging with their work, sharing articles, and offering valuable insights. It’s important to understand that each journalist is unique, so PRs should continuously adapt their approach based on feedback and the ever-evolving media landscape.’
Katya Beadsworth, account manager at Fleishman UK

‘Three is the magic number – I have learned that to follow up more than three times is plenty enough when you are attempting to secure a story. If your client is particularly keen on the opportunity, it is always one you can revisit in a month or two.’
Sarah Lloyd, founder of IndigoSoulPR

Share your successes

‘When media coverage is secured – if appropriate, share it on social media channels tagging the journalist and publication. After all, we all like a bit of further amplification.

‘A simple thank you doesn’t go amiss either.’
Niki Hutchinson (she/her), founder & managing director at LarkHill PR

Not a winning pitch this time? Keep the channels open

‘If your pitch doesn’t land – don’t give up. Ask the journalists about the kind of stories they would be interested in, go back to the drawing board, and try again with a different angle.’
Barnaby Patchett, managing director at One Nine Nine Agency

‘I think the most important aspect of pitching to journalists is by far being both respectful and pleasant with them. Even if you have a reply saying that your pitch isn’t relevant, keep the channels open by asking for specifics on what they do cover so you can send them relevant topics in the future.

‘This relationship can easily become twofold as well, not only giving you a potential stream of coverage and backlinks for press releases, but also providing the opportunities for journalists and other marketeers to come to you first for comments for their upcoming pieces and projects. It’s a transactional relationship with continual benefits for all parties involved, so build that rapport as well as some links!’
Josh Wilkinson, senior reactive PR executive at The Audit Lab

‘You shouldn’t expect positive results after pitching a journalist once – get into a routine of following up, as this will give you more chance of success.

‘Furthermore, PR professionals should invest time in building relationships with journalists. Adding them to suitable press lists and following and engaging with them on social media are good ways of keeping you on their radar.’
Lee Lodge, International PR Director at Life Size

Be human

‘Journalists are human, they’re people like you and me simply trying to do a good job, one they enjoy and where they feel they’re progressing. Help them. But, also ask how they’re doing. Be kind and be genuine. It’s all about building real relationships and relationships are two-way, they also take work. Don’t just ask for a favour and expect all the time.’
Anna Morrish, director of Quibble

‘Once you are friendly with journalists then a good way to maintain relationships isn’t just to keep pitching stories at them, like it’s a one-way transaction. Ask for their thoughts and opinions on potential stories, make them involved in the process and you’ll find those relationships only grow stronger.’
Simon Boddy, PR consultant at AMBITIOUS PR

Build your network and nurture your relationships

‘Work hard to build your contacts – actively network and invite journalists to lunch and/or coffee. Building media contacts and relationships is invaluable.’
Danielle Hines, account director and head of the Liberty Communications media taskforce

‘COVID has definitely changed the way we communicate and pitch to journalists. Building and nurturing relationships has always been an important part of pitching, but I think it has become increasingly more important as a result of the pandemic.’
Olivia Bence, senior PR manager at Campfire

Be a reliable port of call for journalists

‘Focus on building relationships and make a name for yourself in providing good quality and accurate information, quickly and within deadline.’
Steve Lambert, account director at Freshwater

Remember – all the hard work is worth it

‘Putting the effort and time into your pitches is all made worth it when you get that piece of coverage through that wows your clients or makes your campaign.’
Nick Brown, PR director at Pearl Comms

For all stages of the pitching journey, Vuelio and its sister services can help. Find relevant journalists, broadcasters and influencers via the Vuelio Media Database, receive requests from them directly to you inbox with the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service and track how your coverage is being shared and received with Vuelio Media Monitoring, Vuelio Insights and Pulsar, a social listening platform. 

Vuelio webinar on misinformation

The fight against fake news is not lost: How PRs can combat misinformation and disinformation

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‘I don’t think we’re in a post-truth world yet, but we need to act now to avoid that worst-case scenario,’ believes Polis Analysis CEO and Founder Thomas Barton.

In our webinar ‘Why we need to take online misinformation and disinformation seriously’, Thomas shared the problems we face as a society with fake news, predictions for how it could impact politics, business and health, and the vital role of PR practitioners in the fight for truth.

Watch the full webinar here.

What can PRs do to fight misinformation, disinformation and fake news?

1) Report misinformation whenever you see it

This isn’t about surveillance mindset – this is simply about protecting the health of our public debate and discussion. Just as you would point out incorrect information around the table at the pub, you should feel a responsibility to call out something that could undermine trust online.

This is about proactively taking action to have content taken down when you come across information that’s untrue.

It’s important to remember this isn’t about undermining free speech – it’s about preserving the quality of our free speech. That means any discussion we’re having should be rooted in the facts.

2) If a client mistakenly shares misinformation, speak up quickly

As we know, content spreads fast. False information being shared on social media for a couple of hours is all it takes to have a pernicious effect on misinforming individuals. The best thing a PR professional can do in this situation is to flag that false information has been published, take it down, and then ensure the company or client understands to be more rigorous with its fact-checking before publishing anything.

We all have a responsibility to ensure that we fully understand what we’re publishing and that it’s based on facts when we put content online.

For more on how to handle a PR problem spreading across social media and in the press, check out advice from our previous webinar ‘Should you speak up or shut down in a PR crisis?’.

3) Challenge trusted institutions and authorities when necessary

We all have a responsibility to raise concerns even about a trusted organisation.

This is where legislative solutions are useful. If you’ve got an institution of a certain size, with a certain platform, something like the Online Safety Bill could provide an opportunity to ensure they abide by the same duty of balance as traditional broadcasters.

That combination of a top-down legislative and bottom-up educational approach in media literacy is crucial.

4) Recognise the risks emerging technologies bring

Technology, by definition, is disruptive; it’s always going to be a double-edged sword. Advances in AI are welcome and can bring all sorts of efficiencies to various industries, including PR and journalism. But there are risks involved.

Malicious actors could run misinformation campaigns by using software like ChatGPT to pump out deliberately false information across social channels. Spreading misinformation was an issuebefore AI, but the problem we face now is the increase in proliferation across the online space.

5) Back calls for extra accountability from social media giants

There has been a shift in accountability from social media companies recently, and that’s because they have done little-to-nothing for a long time in this space. Pushes from regulators and political institutions mean these social giants are now taking more ‘voluntary’ action.

The European Union passed the Digital Services Act (DSA), which compels social media companies to provide more transparency on how their algorithms work – the EU has shown that it’s willing to take steps. But despite this, the big social media companies aren’t taking it seriously enough.

This Wild West approach where we have no regulation and anything goes is simply not sustainable – legislation is necessary for these companies to take their responsibilities seriously.

6) Train new PR recruits to question content

There are workshops out there – from The Guardian and The Times, for example – on how to identify content that’s false and misleading, instilling more general critical thinking skills. Other resources can show you the difference between a headline that’s fake or true; how you can look at the originality of sources; how to do a reverse image search if you’ve got a doctored image; and determining the intent of the source. This is all housekeeping and hygiene practices we can instill in those early in their career.

Our focus is on education right now, because if those in school can develop their critical thinking skills, they’ll be better equipped to deal with these challenges at work. But we need to think about bringing these resources into current workforce environments, too.

7) Remember we aren’t in a post-truth world yet

There are people that have already succumbed to their echo chambers and only read content that re-enforces their own existing biases, but the fight is not lost.

There’s still an opportunity to fight false information with the facts – the problem is that we haven’t taken any action yet.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak always talks about the importance of teaching Maths– really, we should be talking about the importance of digital literacy.

The US government is preparing for a polarised society in 15 to 20 years, so we still have some time to deal with this problem. But we must act fast to fight back and take the necessary action now.

For more on Thomas Barton’s work with Polis Analysis, read our previous interview ‘The fight against misinformation, disinformation and fake news is just beginning’.

Find out how big brands including Coca-Cola, FIFA, and British Airways have dealt with PR crises in our webinar ‘Speak up or shut down: The value of proactive PR in a crisis’ and track your own company and clients’ reputations in the press with Vuelio Media Monitoring.

How have the UK media been covering industrial action in the travel sector

Trends in UK journalism: How is the media covering industrial action in transport?

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In the last few months, the news headlines have been dominated by the ongoing strikes across different sectors. Nurses, train drivers and Post Office workers have been among those calling for wage increases to match the rises in inflation.

One of the sectors calling for industrial action that has probably impacted the most people is the transport industry. Regular train strike days have affected commuters, airport and passport office strikes have altered holidaymakers plans, while bus and taxi drivers have also taken action.

We decided to take a look at what newspapers and broadcasters have been requesting and researching on this topic via the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service, alongside other subjects trending in the media.

Sign up to start receiving requests from the UK media direct to your inbox with the Journalist Enquiry Service.

There are 25 categories in total on the Journalist Enquiry Service but we’re honing in on four that are most relevant to the transport industry: Transport & Logistics, Motoring, Travel and Public Sector, and Third Sector & Legal.

If we look at all four categories over the last six months, 61% of the journalists sending requests are staff while 21% are freelance journalists. There is then quite an even spread for the media types they are coming from. Trade/business/professional media just comes out on top with 30% of the total requests, with consumer media just behind on 29% and national newspaper/current affairs on 23%. Journalists sending requests in these categories have mainly been looking for information for an article (36%), with enquiries for a spokesperson or expert next on 28%, review products on 12% and personal case studies on 10%.

This gives us an overall picture, but we can delve further into each category and see what media types and publications are sending requests. Firstly, we will look at the Transport & Logistics category. 47% of requests in this category came from trade/business/professional media titles. These included the likes of Logistics Manager, Industrial News and BizClik.

There was also a request from Future Rail magazine looking for the ‘rail industry trends for 2023’. The majority of the journalists sending requests in this category were also looking for information for an article (48%) with 30% asking for a spokesperson or expert. This provides ample opportunity for PRs to get experts and information featured within the trade media.

National press journalists are the next biggest users of this category with 23% sending an enquiry. Newspapers like The Daily Telegraph and The Times used the service. The nature of the requests varied quite widely with an I paper journalist looking for information on how to handle travel disruption, a Daily Star reporter looking to speak to a female pilot in the airline industry and a MailOnline writer asking for case studies around the ULEZ expansion.

This gives lots of opportunities to get clients featured in national press across a variety of different angles. There is also a fair amount of broadcast media journalists sending requests in this category with 12% coming from the radio & television media type. This has included the likes of ITV News, 5 News and GB News. Mainly, they have been focused on covering the strikes, either looking for locations to film at or case studies of commuters/people affected by the industrial action.

The Motoring category differs from Transport & Logistics, with national press journalists being the biggest users (42%) here over the last six months. This has included titles such as The Sun Online, The Independent and Metro. Requests have not focused specifically on the industrial action, but instead looking for an expert on petrol stations (for The Mirror Online) and case studies of slashing car insurance by buying a dash cam (for The Sun).

Consumer media is the second biggest media type within the motoring category, on 26%, with titles like Parkers sending requests, followed by trade media on 13%, with outlets such as Automotive World and Car Mechanics.

One of the keywords that comes up within the motoring category over the last six months is ‘EV’ or electric vehicle. This has occurred in over 4% of requests within this category. EV Magazine, Saga Exceptional, Verdict and ITV News have been among those looking for information and expert comment within this area. Any clients with expertise in this field could therefore be featured in consumer, trade or broadcast news.

The Public Sector, Third Sector & Legal category is not specifically aimed at the transport industry but a lot of requests around topical issues such as the strikes mean that journalists will select this category to get different viewpoints.

It’s mainly been used by trade titles over the last six months, with 53% of all requests coming from this media type. This has often been focused on the sustainability angle with ‘sustainable’ as a keyword appearing in 4% of all enquiries across all four categories we’ve focused on. Open Access Government, for example, was looking at sustainable development in the UK transport sector and achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

National press journalists are second in this category with 21% of all requests coming from them. The Daily Express, PA Media and Reuters all sent enquiries in the last six months. The vast majority were looking for a spokesperson or expert, which was the most popular enquiry type on 48%, followed by information for an article on 36%.

The Travel category is usually more consumer-facing and therefore it’s little surprise to see consumer media as the biggest user on 45%. Titles like GoodtoKnow and Pick Me Up! have sent enquiries around industrial action and strikes, but generally these enquiries are geared more towards holidays and tourism.

Overall, the keyword we saw most frequently across all four categories was ‘import’ which appeared in over 4% of the total requests.

‘Environment’ cropped up in 3% with ‘customers’ back on 2.5% and ‘strike’ at just over 1%. ‘Road’, ‘train’ and ‘rail’ all finished at around 1% with ‘airport’ and ‘aviation’ in about 0.5% of all the enquiries.

Depending on what you or your client has to offer, there are opportunities to get featured across all of the various media types. Experts on the transport sector and sustainability and information and case studies around the strikes and imports and exports are just some of the areas that you can look to target.

For more on how the UK media are reporting industrial strikes action in the travel sector, read our Vuelio Insights report ‘On the right track – which train companies are derailing negative press?‘. 

Want to start receiving requests from UK journalists with detailed information on what they want from PRs? Check out how to make the most of the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service. 

The impact of journalism on AI so far

The impact of AI-generated content on journalism so far

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The UK media industry is generating plenty of think pieces on the potential impacts of artificial intelligence and news on the changes it is already making. Going beyond the headlines, how concerned are journalists in reality about AI when it comes to their own work? Will the adoption of technologies like ChatGPT and Bard ultimately be a positive or negative innovation for journalism?

Our Journalist Voices by Vuelio panel considering the implications of AI included Press Gazette associate editor and New Statesman media correspondent William Turvill, Helena Pozniak, an independent journalist writing for the Telegraph, The Guardian, the Institute of Engineering and Technology and more, and freelance writer Amelia Tait, who contributes to outlets including The Guardian, The New York Times, Wired, the New Statesman, and VICE.

Already affected in their work by AI, the panellists discussed the possible problem areas ahead alongside the opportunities, as well as what PRs need to know about AI assistance in the creative industries.

It’s still early days for AI

As pointed out by William, even ChatGPT and Bard would admit that their technology is not 100% reliable and fool-proof just yet, and each of the panellists had examples of AI going wrong.

‘I was pitching an article, and I used ChatGPT for fact finding,’ shared Helena, who regularly writes about the impact of technology on society – ‘clean energy, to freedom of information, smart motorways to the environment’. The accuracy of information and reliability of sources is of utmost importance in her work – how did the AI app perform?

‘I’m so glad I double-checked the information it offered, because it had completely fabricated a massive landslide that killed thousands that never happened. So, I’m very wary and just playing around with it at the moment.’

William, who reports on the inner workings of the media itself, pointed out problems with bias already creeping into AI:

‘I’ve messed around with it. I asked it to provide a summary of the day’s news for me, and it wasn’t too good. When asked which UK news sources I could trust, it was very pro The Guardian and the BBC, but told me I couldn’t trust the Mail, the Mirror or The Sun. But I feel there is potential there’.

For Amelia, its use as an alternative to Thesaurus.com when searching for the right word came with feelings of uncertainty –

‘I asked ChatGPT to rework a sentence for me; I ultimately didn’t use what it suggested. It opened my mind a little more, but I felt a little bit dirty. I didn’t know what the ethics were on it’.

Helena offered that AI can already provide assistance on some elements of research for journalists – ‘It can summarise a research paper brilliantly and can do a lot of background research.’

What isn’t so great – the writing itself:

‘It’s just so bland. The copy AI apps come out with is so dire’.

Understanding the difference between content and journalism

‘I would distinguish between what is journalism and what is content,’ said Amelia.

‘I’ve worked for websites where you’re churning out content, and for that kind of thing, companies that aren’t investing much in talent could start using AI. And that comes with dangers on misinformation.’

That many journalists – and PRs – start their careers with duties that could be automated in future was a concern William spoke about:

‘It could be challenging for media companies that produce ‘clickbait’, or repurpose information from other sources. Those jobs are definitely at risk.’

‘Many journos don’t want to be doing that anyway, but there’s a danger of cutting off the entry level jobs into journalism; those jobs you have to do to find your bearings as a journalist. I would be concerned as someone entering the industry now.’

‘I’m sure it’s the same in PR – when you start out, you’re doing the unglamorous jobs. When doing work experience, I was walking a dog every day. AI couldn’t do that, but it could do the background research for a law firm. The ‘bottom rung’ could be in a difficult position’.

For Helena, the negatives would also reach audiences: ‘There might be a diminishing desire for longreads. You can see it on websites already with short-form summaries at the top. When time-pressed, are people really going to read something you’ve slaved over for days?’

Quality journalism requires human journalists (and journalists need human sources)

While coverage of AI can come with fearmongering, it is already embedded in parts of the journalist job successfully – as pointed out by Amelia, journalists regularly use AI transcription services for interviews, cutting hours out of the work of a writer:

‘We need to perceive these things as tools that we’ll use, that can help us rather than replace us.

I could waste ten minutes thinking of a particular word, and that’s not a skill or talent, that’s just time consuming. Using AI as a tool, that’s really encouraging and exciting’.

William underlined the importance of the human aspect of journalism. Ultimately, journalism has a human audience interested in human stories, and who better to share that than fellow humans (with assistance from AI on the admin side):

‘This has really solidified for me which journalism is going to be important in future as AI takes on some of the more basic writing and research – the journalism that journalists are going to want to do is original journalism. We will be looking for more personalisation, more research, more insightful interviews from PRs and a lot of thought going into pitches.

Something I’ve really been thinking about is stories I should be writing, I’ve set myself a test – could an AI do this research, if not now in five years. Is this useful? We’ll be looking for original stuff and any help with that is always appreciated.’

For more on how the media industry is covering AI, read our Vuelio Insights Report ‘Media attitudes to AI journalism’.

Want to connect with human journalists with stories of interest to their human readers? Check out how you can help them with sourcing experts, spokespeople, case studies and data via the Journalist Enquiry Service and find journalists covering your specialist topics on the Vuelio Media Database.

Why we need to take online misinformation and disinformation seriously

Vuelio webinar: Why PRs need to take online misinformation and disinformation seriously

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Disruptive technologies from ChatGPT to AI image generators are revolutionising the way we share information. While there are many benefits to this new technology, unethical use of AI is also on the rise and fuelling the spread of misinformation in online spaces.

A recent US global trends report found that our inability to agree on what the facts are poses the biggest threat to social trust over the next 20 years. From false content around vaccines to global politics, social media users in the UK are frequently faced with the threat of disinformation.

How can PRs act now on the misinformation crisis?

Our webinar ‘Why we need to take online misinformation and disinformation seriously’ with Polis founder and CEO Thomas Barton on 27 April 2023 from 11.00 – 11.30 BST will explore how the PR industry can mitigate the threat and impact of false information through an effective comms strategy. Thomas will also talk about his work educating on the threat of misinformation and disinformation in UK Government and in schools.

Sign up here to learn:

• How legislation such as the Online Safety Bill and the Digital Services Act provide an opportunity to protect your brand and spokespeople online
• The importance of understanding the use and effects of AI generator tools
• Which audiences are most vulnerable to the impact of misinformation

Can’t join us live? Register and we’ll send you the recording.

Find more information about Thomas Barton’s work with Polis and the extent of the misinformation problem in our previous interview covering the opportunities of the Online Safety Bill and the importance of education.

For pointers on the impact of misinformation in medical communications, download our Vuelio white paper ‘Medical Misinformation: How PRs can stop the spread’.

The future of the media

What PR and comms needs to know about the future of the media

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The media industry is constantly changing – to prepare for the future, PR and comms will need to change alongside it.

How is the UK media looking to the future? Here are key takeaways from The Society of Editors’ Media Freedom Conference – panels covered the importance of investing in mental health, rebuilding trust with audiences and holding power to account.

1) Mental health coverage matters

Journalists are under increasing pressure, with smaller editorial teams with responsibilities across a variety of formats. This, combined with the topics and issues that they have to cover, can put a real strain on their mental health.

Headlines Network founder and co-director Hannan Storm advised the creation of a culture in newsrooms where journalists feel safe to talk mental health.

Suggestions included regular ‘town halls’, where colleagues can share resources, or Google hangouts. Leaders were advised to openly share any problems they have faced themselves to show empathy and vulnerability with their staff. Also, wellbeing workshops or sleep clinics can be a big help at relieving stress and fatigue from the job.

2) Rebuilding trust with audiences

The rise of misinformation has caused audiences to lose trust in news providers and outlets – the future of news depends on rebuilding this. Sky News deputy head of newsgathering Sarah Whitehead shared the broadcasters’ introduction of more Q and As in an effort to open the door to the audience. Welcoming audience involvement via social media allows to public to tell their truth and call out disinformation.

Freelance journalist Abbianca Makoni shared that there is more trust in local reporters, as people see them out in their communities regularly covering local stories. Young people are keen to see more collaboration between the national and local press as a result.

It was also advised for newsrooms to be as transparent as possible about their procedures and processes, admitting when a mistake has been made.

As shared by Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) chief executive Charlotte Dewar, journalists value being held to account. There is a willingness to learn and change, and hopefully regain trust and respect as a result.

3) The future is multi-channel

Publishers now offer print products, a website, a podcast, newsletters, a YouTube channel and much more besides.

Polis founder director Professor Charlie Beckett believes the future of news will be found in data, which will be passed to journalists to distil down to what will interest and engage their audience most.

This increase in the number of places that publishers are sharing their content means there is a huge amount for audiences to consume. Professor Beckett said that abundance could therefore be the biggest problem for the media and possibly result in news avoidance. Ultimately, though, it will be a good thing for people to have a healthy news diet that they are in control of.

VICE World News senior news reporter Sophie Smith-Galer feels it is important that the media adopts a future proof ethos. VICE has done this by focusing on more agenda setting stories and building expertise in silos/fields that aren’t being covered by the bigger news outlets. The audience are therefore more likely to seek this out as it is content they will not find anywhere else.

How PRs can help with this? Give journalists something they can use to retain and build their audiences, rebuild trust and make the most of all the channels at their disposal.

For more on how PRs can help journalists in the fight against misinformation, read our previous interview with Polis’s founder Thomas Barton: ‘The fight against misinformation, disinformation and fake news is just beginning‘. 

What has the UK media been requesting from PRs

How are national press and broadcast news using the Journalist Enquiry Service?

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The headlines across national newspapers and news broadcasts have been dominated in recent months by the cost-of-living crisis, numerous strikes in different sectors, the Russia/Ukraine war and the fallout from Prince Harry’s book ‘Spare’. However, plenty of other stories have made their way into the UK news cycle, and many start with a request sent by a writer via the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service.

What exactly have national press and broadcast journos been looking for recently? Below we take a deep dive into the main categories that our users have been interested in and the keywords that we are seeing most frequently. Read on to see how you can get your expert coverage or the best place to get that case study out.

Sign up to start receiving requests from the UK media direct to your inbox with the Journalist Enquiry Service.

Firstly, we will have a look into national newspapers as journalists from these titles use the service more frequently than broadcast – 26% of all requests in 2022 came from national press. Outlets like The Daily Express, PA Media and The Daily Telegraph also regularly feature in our top ten outlets sending requests from month to month.

We looked at all the requests sent from the start of November until today and the category with the most enquiries was Women’s Interest & Beauty, representing 11% of all national press requests. This proves particularly popular with the tabloid papers as The Sun, The Daily Express and The Daily Mail all feature in the top five outlets sending requests for this category.

National press enquiry types

In terms of what they are looking for within this category, it tends to be for products to review or feature on their website. This varies from lipsticks and eyeliners to new beauty treatments and jewellery and fashion accessories. There are also requests around men’s beauty and grooming including requests for face creams and beard shavers. This presents a great opportunity to get client products featured in national newspapers or on their websites.

Often picked alongside the Women’s Interest & Beauty category is the Health category, which was the second most popular and made up 10% of the total requests from national newspapers. The Daily Express was again among the top senders with journalists from The i paper and Metro also sending numerous requests for health stories.

The trend here is more for spokespeople and experts and for case studies. A lot of requests are for doctors and GPs to give medical advice on certain conditions and there are frequent requests as well looking for case studies for people with certain conditions or illnesses. Both provide avenues to get clients and experts national press coverage.

The Health category also features several strongly performing keywords with ‘fitness’ appearing in 4% of all national press requests, ‘diet’ in 2% and ‘wellbeing’ in just over 1%. Again, this is often linked to enquiries for experts such as nutritionists, psychologists, mental health experts and sleep experts. This also links to the strong performance of both the Food & Drink and Leisure & Hobbies categories as they both received around 6% of the total national press requests.

Men’s Interest finished as the third most popular category. As we touched upon earlier, men’s grooming and beauty were part of these requests along with many around men’s health and also fashion too. This also links into the strong performance of ‘fitness’ as a keyword with requests for personal trainers and male gym instructors.

Fourth on the list for national press categories is Personal Finance which links into another key phrase that we have mentioned often in our monthly reports, which is the ‘cost of living’. This appeared in just over 3.5% of all national press requests with associated words like ‘energy’ on 3%, ‘bills’ on 2% and ‘mortgage’ on 1%.

This category attracted different national press outlets with both The Daily Telegraph and The Times featuring in the top ten. The type of enquiry did vary but a lot were looking for finance experts to give advice on ways to make savings during the cost-of-living crisis. There we are also enquiries for energy experts to provide analysis of the rising gas and electricity bills. Plus, mortgage experts to provide suggestions for what first-time buyers should do and those looking to renew their mortgage during increasing interest rates.

There has also been requests from the national press looking for case studies to find out how families are coping during the tough economic times and also to provide information on what businesses can do. This gives lots of scope to push out information and experts around personal finance.

The bigger news stories over the last few months have created a bit of traction on the Journalist Enquiry Service. ‘Strikes’ appeared as a keyword in 1% of all national press requests as papers like The Independent and Daily Mirror looked to cover the issue by getting case studies. ‘Royal’ was in around 3% with The Daily Express and The Guardian among others looking for royal experts to cover news around Prince Harry and Meghan and the Royal family in general. However, there have only been a handful of requests around the Russia/Ukraine war.

The focus for broadcast journalists using the service has been quite different with the most requests going to the Business & Finance category. 7% of the total requests from broadcast were for this category with 5 News and ITV News sending the majority.

These have tended to be for case studies and most often looking to speak with businesses that have been affected by the cost-of-living crisis. Just over 8% of the total requests in broadcast included the key phrase ‘cost of living’ and over 7% were for ‘energy’. This shows a much greater need from broadcast outlets to cover this issue and a great chance to get your clients featured on television, speaking about how their business has been impacted – especially in regard to rising energy bills.

Broadcast media enquiry types

They have also dedicated more coverage to the strikes as well and ‘strikes’ as a keyword appears in 9% of the total requests from broadcast. This also links into the strong performance of the Public Sector, Third Sector & Legal category which was the fifth most popular for broadcast journalists. All three of the big broadcasters (BBC, Sky and ITV) appear in the top five outlets here.

These enquiries were again focused mainly on getting personal case studies and seeing how businesses and people were being affected. The majority of requests were for the rail strikes but broadcast contacts were also covering the nurses strike, the teachers, Royal Mail, ambulances and buses. With more strike action likely in the coming months then this should present more opportunities for television coverage.

The more consumer related categories of Food & Drink and Women’s Interest & Beauty both received 6% of the total broadcast requests, placing them second and third overall. The Food & Drink category was used quite frequently for Steph’s Packed Lunch, whereas the Women’s Interest & Beauty category had several enquiries from This Morning.

Again, several requests were for case studies, providing opportunities for people to feature on the show. However, we saw more enquiries looking for products. This varied from health and fitness gadgets to make up and fashion items to new chocolate and sweet brands. A good chance to get products featured on two well established daytime shows.

The Health category had around 6% of all the broadcast requests and finished as the fourth most selected. ITV and 5 News were again sending regular requests in this category along with GB News and BBC Radio 4.

Personal case studies were the main focus of requests looking to cover issues around social care and also around illnesses such as Strep-A. There were also several requests for experts as well, looking for medical experts to give advice and information.

Overall, while the media coverage may seem to focus on certain issues, there is room and opportunities for products, experts and case studies to get coverage on both national press and broadcast media for a variety of topics and matters. The news cycle is difficult to predict but the cost-of-living crisis looks set to rumble on, along with strike action. We are also starting to see more requests around ‘TikTok’ which as a keyword appeared in 1% of all national press requests and just over 1% of broadcast requests. Therefore, any experts or info around the media app could be vital to journalists in the coming months.

For more on how the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service can help with getting your stories into the UK media, read our previous how-tos: 

No PR budget? No problem – using the Journalist Enquiry Service to gain coverage as a small business

How to tackle vague requests from journalists

6 reasons to stop searching #JournoRequest and try the Journalist Enquiry Service

 

How to take advantage of awareness days for your PR

Which awareness days should you take advantage of for your PR?

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This is a guest post from Niamh Boylan, junior PR account manager at Hatch.

There is an industry term that has been known to divide opinion amongst PR and social professionals: awareness days. While some view them as a less creative approach to generating media coverage, it cannot be denied that awareness days are an incredibly useful newsjacking tool for PRs and a great way to leverage seasonality.

Not only do they serve a great purpose in drawing attention to important calendar events and charitable causes but awareness days offer an opportunity to give your PR campaigns, stunts or social content a relevant news hook. By jumping onto a topic or event that’s already got some newsworthy attention, it is an effective way of gaining brand exposure, positioning your client as a thought-leader in its specific sector, and driving all-important engagement for your campaign.

Whether it is food, drink, sport or leisure, there is an awareness day for absolutely everything.

What 2023 awareness days and events should you make note of

We can break down our newsjacking into three key areas: recurring annual holidays, 2023-specific events and hero awareness days. All three of these are easy to plan for, so long as you have the right strategy.

Annual Holidays

First and foremost, we have our recurring holiday dates that everyone should have marked in their calendars. These are usually centred around seasonal celebrations; think Pancake Day, Easter, Mother’s Day, Halloween and Christmas – you know the drill. All of these holidays offer a wealth of opportunities for PRs to create campaigns. While the media is heavily saturated around these occasions, they are simple to prepare for as we know what they are all about and we know when the journalist requests start to come through.

To get ahead of the game, the best thing to do is to start planning your campaigns well in advance and try to think outside of the box to ensure cut through in the highly saturated media landscape. For example, if you have a foodie client, avoid just reworking last year’s lamb roast recipe in the lead up to Easter. Why not work with an acclaimed sommelier to curate the best wine pairings to go with your Easter roast dinner? Or work with an expert tablescaper to share top tips on the best table layout for first-time hosts? There are endless angles that you can explore to really position your brand as a thought-leader on the subject matter.

Some key 2023 annual holidays for the diary:
• Easter Sunday – 9 April
• Father’s Day – 18 June
• Halloween – 31 October
• Bonfire Night – 5 November
• Thanksgiving – 23 November
• Christmas – 25 December

2023-specific holidays

Next up, we have our 2023-specific holidays. As PR professionals, it is our job to predict what key events are going to be most-talked about in the press, identifying what is relevant to our clients and how we can take advantage of these occasions for campaigns.

These events are typically highly-anticipated national events, usually around sporting occasions, big anniversaries or anything to do with the state and the royals. For example, this year marks HRH King Charles III’s Coronation, which we know already will be a huge focus for the press. To get ahead of the curve, think about whether or not your clients’ offerings have something to say about this occasion. Perhaps you represent a sparkling wine brand that can offer some predictions on what the royal family may be drinking to toast the occasion? Or maybe you have a party decor company that can launch a new range of street party decks in honour of the big day? There are many ways in which you can take one big event and royally impress the media…

Some key 2023-specific holidays for the diary:
• HRH King Charles III’s Coronation, London UK – 6 May
• Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final, Liverpool UK – 13 May
• FIFA Women’s World Cup, Australia & New Zealand – 20 July-20 August
• Netball World Cup, South Africa, July 28–6 August
• Rugby World Cup, France – 8 September–28 October
• Ryder Cup 2023, Italy – 29 September–1 October
• ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, India – October-November

Awareness Days

Finally, we have our classic Awareness Days. These are a little trickier to plan for but we can easily prep content in advance once we have identified the right awareness day for the job. One thing to keep in mind is that there are now endless awareness days, some of them so niche that the media may not have heard of them, never mind the end-consumer. This can make things trickier to land coverage, but on the flipside, the more niche the awareness day, the more opportunity there is for your client to really ‘own’ the space that they are an expert in.

Cornish Pasty Week, you say? Time for the Cornish Pasty Co. to launch their latest perfect bake. Zero Waste week? Perfect opportunity for your makeup brand to shout about their zero-plastic packaging credentials. Awareness days are one of the best ways to really take a niche corner of an industry and give your press releases an added layer of authority and relevance for the press.

Some awareness days to expect in 2023:
• Earth Day – 22 April
• Pride Month – June
• National BBQ Week – 29 May-4 June
• World Environment Day – 5 June
• Clean Beaches Week – 1-7 July
• Great British Pea Week – 3-9 July
• Breast Cancer Awareness Month – October
• Black History Month – October
• Yorkshire Pudding Day – 13 October
• Cheese Toastie Day – 27 October
• World Television Day – 21 November
• Pigs in Blankets Day – 5 December

Top tip for using awareness days: Be authentic

The key to successful newsjacking with awareness days is ensuring that you are always being authentic. Avoid jumping on the bandwagon of an awareness day because it loosely links to your brand. It must be relevant, it must make sense that you are using this particular day as a hook, and above all else, you must be adding something to the conversation. If your brand does not feel authentic, consumers will see right through it and you could be doing more damage than good. Always remember, your authenticity is your USP.

Good luck with your newsjacking and I’ll reshare this blog on National Awareness Days Day. Or perhaps not…

For more information on making the most of awareness days throughout the year, check out this previous guest post from Bottle PR’s Jamie Wilson on nailing your PR story to an awareness day. 

Want to track how your story is being reported in the press, or looking for an easy way to receive requests from journalists directly? Try Vuelio Media Monitoring and the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service. 

Access Intelligence

FT names Access Intelligence one of Europe’s fastest growing companies

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Vuelio parent company Access Intelligence has been recognised as one of Europe’s fastest growing companies in the FT 1000, a yearly ranking by the Financial Times and German data platform Statista. The FT 1000, now in its 7th edition, ranks the 1,000 companies in Europe that have achieved the highest percentage growth in revenues.

Access Intelligence is an AIM-listed tech innovator, delivering high quality SaaS products that address the fundamental business needs of clients in the marketing and communications industries.

‘Understanding audiences has become essential for organisations across industries and geographies: we’re seeing that need grow every day, as more and more of our clients put media insights, reputation and audience intelligence at the center of their strategy,’ said Joanna Arnold, CEO of Access Intelligence.

The group powers the world’s most relevant brands across regions and industries: with over 6,000 clients worldwide, Access Intelligence helps clients like Apple, Coca-Cola, Pfizer, the UK House of Commons, HSBC, Twitter, and the Australian Government understand their audiences and monitor the media landscape.

The evolving Access Intelligence portfolio includes Isentia, the market-leading media monitoring, intelligence and insights solution provider; Pulsar, the audience intelligence and social listening platform; Vuelio, which provides monitoring, insight, engagement and evaluation tools for politics, editorial and social media in one place; and ResponseSource, the network that connects journalists and influencers to the PR and communications industry.

PR Club

Should you speak up or shut down in a PR crisis?

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A reputational crisis is on the horizon for your brand or client – what do you do next? Should you set up a press conference to get ahead of any criticism heading your way, or wait for things to blow over? Should you address the matter at hand, or draw attention elsewhere?

In the Vuelio webinar ‘Speak Up or Shut Down: The Value of Proactive PR in a Crisis’, we explored three examples of short, medium and long-term crisis to uncover PR approaches that are proven to work.

Watch the full webinar here. 

Read on for insight on why timing is pivotal in a crisis, the necessity of being proactive over reactive and data on what worked for brands including FIFA, Coca-Cola, Hyundai/Kia, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Samsung Biologics.

Approaches to short-term crisis: 2022 FIFA World Cup

A recent much-reported crisis was the Qatar-based FIFA World Cup of 2022, which was surrounded by political controversy and human rights concerns. As a result, brands and public figures who chose to participate in the event were met with widespread disapproval from the public and even boycotting of products and services.

To measure this, Vuelio Insights compared how each partner for the event handled the evolving crisis and their overall performance in the media throughout November and December of 2022.

FIFA World Cup 2022 brand coverage

This Share of Voice chart for the FIFA partners shows how proactive each was with their write-ups in the UK media.

Throughout the event, Adidas, Hyundai/Kia and Visa were the most proactive, utilising a diverse range of messaging tactics. While they addressed human rights in public statements, they drove more awareness towards positive ESG actions that were unrelated to the event.

Hyundai/Kia’s ‘Goal of the Century’ campaign focused on sustainability, becoming one of their strongest sources of coverage throughout the event. Why this worked so well – this was also the time of COP27 and tied in to positive ESG efforts.

Not quite as successful was Coca-Cola, which released its ‘Believing is Magic’ campaign very early on, only vaguely referencing social solidarity and human rights. This did not make any significant reference to the crisis itself and therefore resulted in much stronger negative sentiment in related reporting.

Timing is key with proactive outreach – Coca-Cola’s messaging was released so early that related media interest died down by the time the company started to receive event-related criticism.

Qatar Airways, Wanda Group and QatarEnergy were almost silent throughout the entire period and it shows in their volume of coverage. Not only is their Share of Voice lowest, the reporting that did focus on them mostly consisted of passive criticisms on who they are and what their ethics may be.

Wanda Group’s approach was interesting. The brand had previously released a successful ‘Women First’ campaign for the 2018 World Cup. For 2022, in contrast, it released nothing, and positive sentiment for the brand dropped by 56%. Coverage this time around was ‘who are Wanda Group and do they even care about human rights’, without any public statements to mitigate negativity.

Staying silent will not always reduce media awareness of problematic issues and can mean less control for a brand when crisis arises.

A diversity of brand positive messages, addressing the crisis and perhaps other ESG concerns, can be a powerful tool for diluting negative press.

Approaches to medium-term crisis: 2022’s UK airline strikes

The airline industry took a hit last year due to strikes, cancellations, oil prices and the war in Ukraine.
From January to June 2022, the Vuelio team explored how UK airlines responded to the extended criticism across print, online and broadcast media. Here are the common threads among those who performed well in the press:

Airline crisis coverage in 2022

This chart demonstrates the peaks in coverage for travel brands throughout this period – BA and Ryanair, who were the least proactive and most reactive, had the least control over negative peaks in coverage.
Similar to Coca-Cola during the World Cup, TUI demonstrated mid-range control over negative coverage by pushing proactive statements from its executive Fritz Joussen, but were otherwise less vocal when it came to press releases and social messaging.

While most brands here faced significant peaks and falls in crisis coverage, Virgin Atlantic maintained a ‘low and controlled’ approach throughout – despite being equally effected by all of the same issues.

Virgin Atlantic successfully navigated this crisis with regular, proactive campaigns and diverse messaging tactics and it shows in the resulting consistently low and controlled coverage.

Lessons from this: time your press releases and ensure their messages are diverse, and do not rely on reactivity – the media are much less likely to pick up on positive efforts after negative news has surfaced.

Approaches to long-term crisis: Pharma and net zero targets

Net Zero targets within the pharmaceutical industry are a long-term crisis in the making. At COP27 in November 2022, pharma companies were tasked with putting visible and actionable climate strategies in place or risk their operational licences.

The Vuelio Insights team measured all international climate-related pharma coverage between 1 Nov 2022 – 9 Jan 2023 (approx. 13,700 articles) – here are the commonalities in in coverage among the most prominent companies.

Pharma net zero coverage

These Share of Voice charts show that the UK produced the strongest volume of coverage throughout this period.

Due to such a large event, most brands were generating international media interest as journalists sought out their climate strategies leading up to and following COP27. The reality of pharma-related carbon footprints was a huge discussion in the media, which created urgency throughout the industry to begin communicating green initiatives.

The top stories and sentiment were largely positive among the majority of the most prominent brands – most of their top stories are positive or neutral.

Pharma net zero coverage

While 13,700 articles surfaced throughout our study period, one specific headline emerged again and again as a top headline – ‘Seven CEOs announce effort to curb emissions in healthcare’. This emphasises the benefits of partnering up with other brands who may be suffering under the same crisis. This approach served the seven pharma brands involved in diluting negative coverage about pharma’s carbon footprint.

Showing just how impactful accreditations can be for brands also was Samsung Biologics – its top story during this period was its Terra Carta seal of approval for sustainability. This displayed a tangible and reliable effort backed up by external recognition – negating any possible accusations of ‘greenwashing’ or ‘wokewashing’.

Doing research on how you can enhance your reliability as a trusted brand – be it via awards or accreditations – is really worthwhile for boosting media awareness in a crisis.

Want to know more about Vuelio Insights and media monitoring? Find out more here and here. 

Interview with The CAN Group's Claire Powell on entertainment PR

‘Brief, brief, brief!’ – The CAN Group’s Claire Powell on providing premier PR for the entertainment industry

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‘I never set out with the desire to be in the industry,’ says media, PR and events expert Claire Powell, founder of The CAN Group.

Claire Powell

‘I started working with an events company, undertaking their marketing, when I was approached to work on a new group that were just starting off called Take That.’

At the forefront of the creative industries for almost three decades, Claire’s start with an 18-month tour with Gary, Mark, Robbie, Jason and Howard led to a series of magazine roadshow tours that gave bands like Boyzone, West Life, Ant & Dec and Peter Andre their big breaks.

‘I’ve had so many amazing moments over the years, and worked with many incredible people and businesses, but what continues to drive me is helping people achieve their dreams. My team and I sit with our clients regularly to discuss their ambitions and wishes, and we create plans to make this happen’.

Read on for Claire’s experiences in entertainment PR, the impact of social media on the industry and her thoughts on 2023’s awards season controversies.

How has the entertainment PR industry changed throughout your career?

To use the word ‘massively’ would be an understatement. Long gone are the days when you would create a plan with the media, because there are so many different platforms and outlets now – covering all is a huge task. Previously, you could make major announcements in special agreements with publications, but with mobile phones and social media, pictures can go all over the world in a matter of minutes which makes it difficult to control and secure an exclusive deal.

How has the growth of social media changed ‘traditional’ PR?

There will always be a need for some of the conventional functions that PR has always offered. Even with more digital approaches, traditional methods will be at the crux of the campaigns and keeping good working relationships with journalists is a must. These are the tools of our trade.

However, there has been change particularly with social media and the rise of influencers, and the general decline in readership of magazines and newspapers. So much news is readily available now at our fingertips, which is really sad for journalists and publishers as we see more and more conventional sources of information fold.

You also work in the beauty space – what are the big differences between the entertainment and beauty spheres, and what are the crossovers?

Entertainment is about creating big story lines and it is very picture-based, while beauty is about the products, the people behind the brand and finding a unique point of difference from your competitors. Both require forward-planning, creative strategy, and thinking outside the box to maximise opportunities and get the best coverage for your client – no matter the industry they are in.

It is never a ‘one size fits all’ approach. We work with our clients to create bespoke campaigns that are right for them, and their end goals.

Crisis comms is becoming even more important – what advice would you give to fellow PRs with clients in reputational trouble?

Brief, brief, brief! Be sure to research what they are walking into and only go to a journalist that understands the client you are talking about. It is about protection. Keep to the truth, the facts and guide your client though this critical stage. So many PR and management companies don’t do this in a carefully controlled way which can lead to more damaging situations later down the line.

What is your take on the controversy surrounding this year’s Oscars nominations – does the PR process for performers during Awards season need to change?

I’ve read about the celebrity guerrilla campaign to endorse Andrea Riseborough’s Best Actress nomination. The film didn’t perform well at the box office, but in the final weeks of voting for the 2023 Oscar nominees, it received endorsement from Charlize Theron, Jennifer Aniston and Kate Winslet praising the performance.

It is a difficult one to comment about as nobody knows what happens behind the scenes – maybe these celebrities watched the film and really liked it! But with any award seasons, the nominees will campaign and appear on popular talk shows to discuss their excitement for the upcoming events. Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised if this activity is taking place prior to the nomination announcement.

However, I strongly believe awards should be given upon merit and would like to believe a good performance will prosper, and the award will be given to the rightful winner on the night.

What are the big trends the PR industry should be prepared for over the next few years?

I think the cost-of-living crisis will continue to be an important consideration for everyone.

Customers will be making more considered purchase decisions, and brand or spokesperson communications should be aware of this. You often see a lot of brands and celebrities making tone deaf comments with long-standing consequences to their reputation, often beyond the point of repair.

While agencies need to ensure that their PR strategies reflect their client’s business need, all PR plans need to be flexible and responsive to the client’s market. The past has shown all of us that things can change overnight, so you need to be willing to adapt too.

For more on responsive PR, check out our previous piece ‘Reactive PR: Turning something out of nothing‘. Want to connect with entertainment media? Find out more about the Vuelio Media Database here. 

Newsjacking

Tips for spotting the best newsjacking opportunities

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This is a guest post from Alice James, a strategic and creative freelance digital PR, specialising in reactive approaches.

What is newsjacking? Newsjacking is often described as a brand marketing tactic where a brand responds to news or social media trends. Think Ryanair’s witty responses to the wider news agenda.

Tweet from Ryanair

In the PR world, however, newsjacking is a complimentary link building tactic used by digital PRs to gain coverage for a brand and their website. In a nutshell, a Digital PR professional will monitor the media and news to find opportunities for brands to be centerstage with expert insight and exclusive commentary.

It is fast paced, and extremely reactive, but a solid way to earn valuable media coverage. When newsjacking is used as part of a wider PR strategy, it can accelerate expertise, authority, and trustworthiness of a brand – all key markers that Google considers when evaluating your content and website.

So, if you’re looking for a budget friendly way to earn coverage (which could lead to better rankings!), this article will teach you how to spot the best newsjacking opportunities.

How to Spot the Best Newsjacking Opportunities

Utilise Twitter

PR and Media professionals have a strong community on this social media platform. But if you’re keen to capitalise on newsjacking opportunities, you can search through the popular ‘journorequest’ hashtag. Here, you’ll find journalists from all sorts of publications or freelancing who are looking for products to review, expert insights for their articles, or for case studies to include in write ups.

If you’ve got a good list of associated keywords for your services or products, you can use this as part of your search to refine the opportunities available to you. For example: ‘#JournoRequest marketing’

More often than not, a journalist will include their email either in the request, on their profile, or ask you to DM them with a response if you fit the bill.

As Twitter is a public forum, it goes without saying that you need to act fast on these requests. Many other PRs or even brands and businesses themselves will be looking for the same opportunities.

For more on connecting with journalists, read our previous piece ‘6 reasons to stop using #JournoRequest and start using the Journalist Enquiry Service‘. 

Connect with people on forums

Forums are a great place to connect with prospective customers, and to understand the nuances of their ‘pain points’.

Popular forums such as Reddit and Quora are a great place to find trending niche topics, and can give you a unique opportunity to draft some exclusive commentary before pitching to journalists in the field.

While this treasure trove might not have direct opportunities to earn some coverage, it will give you a view on what your prospective audience wants to talk about.

Immerse yourself in the news cycle

In this day and age, with push notifications and the urgency of social media, it is hard to avoid the news. I recommend taking the time to curate your read list and get to know exactly what the press reports on in your industry (and beyond!).

Staying on the pulse of relevant news will give you real-time insight into what your target audience is digesting.

Get ahead of the news

Being immersed is a good place to start, but if you’re able to get ahead of the news, it can be in your favour for a truly reactive approach to PR. I recommend following popular reporting bodies, such as YouGov or ONS, to access exclusive data before it gets reported on by the media.

The ONS event calendar also details upcoming releases which can be searched by keyword. This means you can prepare some reactive content ahead of time and update it when the data is released, before pitching to journalists at exactly the right time.

Follow journalists in your industry

If you are an active Twitter user, consider following journalists in your business or industry. Not only will this create an additional touch point for any instance where you do want to speak to them, but it will also give you insight into the kinds of topics they specifically report on, and the content which does well with your target press.

Being selective in your reactive outreach may seem counterintuitive if your goal is to gain volume coverage. But without pitching to the right people, your carefully put together insight won’t get the pick up it deserves!

Check out more advice on reaching out to the media: ‘How to start your media outreach to gain coverage… without annoying journalists’. 

In summary:

• When it comes to successful newsjacking, it pays to be quick and have your finger on the pulse of your industry.
• Connecting with the press is key. Whether it is with journalists themselves, or simply following your ‘dream publications’ – follow and network with them to understand the kind of content which does well with your audience.
• Although newsjacking is a reactive approach, there’s a lot of preparation you can do ahead of time to improve success rates by preparing comments and insight and adjusting details when the news breaks.

For alternatives to #JournoResources, see how the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service can connect you with journalists writing about your niches directly. 

Want to find journalists in your sector and start building relationships? Try the Vuelio Media Database. 

The fight against misinformation is just beginning

The fight against misinformation, disinformation and fake news is just beginning: Interview with Polis founder Thomas Barton

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‘It is the long-term threats that we need to be most concerned about – every day, we are feeling the corrosive impacts of misinformation, but its effect on society and democracy will only fully show in the longer term,’ believes Polis founder Thomas Barton.

Having founded Polis to empower people with awareness and fact-based knowledge of global politics, Thomas believes there is real opportunity in the fight against misinformation this year. As part of the Online Safety Bill, protections against the damages of untruths presented as fact will be put in place in law, but will the legislation be enough?

Why are efforts to fight misinformation so important this year in particular?

Research from Eurasia Group’s Top Risks forecast for 2023 found that disinformation is going to become even more pervasive due to disruptive technological developments, like ChatGPT. We have got to take action now to mitigate that threat.

From a public health perspective, while we are coming out of Covid, we have got to be ready for future pandemics. As part of building resilience, we need to be tackling disinformation and misinformation around vaccines – data shows that false information being spread online on vaccines has had a negative impact on uptake among young people. At the start of the pandemic hesitancy stood at 14% for younger age groups, falling drastically to 5% for over 30s.

If we want to be better prepared, we need to use 2023 to actually learn the lessons of the past and protect ourselves for the future.

Alongside threats to health, a US global trends report found that the biggest threat to social trust over the next 20 years will be an inability to agree on what the facts are – we will become more polarized as a society. How can we have a conversation if we can’t agree on what constitutes the truth?

There is real opportunity now because of the Online Safety Bill. This is the first time the UK Government has tried to introduce regulation in the online space.

What initiatives have Polis been working on?

Polis has taken a two-step approach to the campaign we are running on misinformation and disinformation.

The first is to raise awareness. Even though this issue poses huge threats to our democracy – Russia has used disinformation in Ukraine with deep fake technology, for example – it is not high on the political agenda. Rightly, people are focused on the war in Ukraine and the cost-of-living crisis here in the UK, but misinformation poses systemic challenges to our society.

We are also promoting solutions for tackling misinformation. Alongside talking at universities to engage young people in the conversation, I’ve been meeting with members of Parliament and the House of Lords with amendments to improve the Bill. We will be delivering briefings, policy papers and our own research to political stakeholders.

We have had encouraging results – Polis was one of the only contributors to the Online Safety Bill pre-legislation scrutiny committee that spoke about this issue and we made an impact. 66 of the committee’s recommendation made it into the Bill.

But the Government did not adopt all of our recommendations – there is far more work to be done.

Will the Online Safety Bill do enough?

The short answer is no. This is clearly a landmark legislation and there is opportunity to be more ambitious.

We believe that online platforms should be bound by similar conditions to ‘traditional’ broadcasters – the licensing terms of the Broadcasting Act around impartiality and ensuring factual information is put forward. If we can do it for the BBC, we should be able to copy and paste that model and apply it to the online space.

The Online Safety Bill is at an advanced stage in Parliament, so we have got one window of opportunity for someone in the Lords to table those amendments and make sure they get debated in the House of Commons, at which point we are hoping that MPs we have briefed agree that they need to be passed. Right now, the Bill is pretty lackluster when it comes to fighting disinformation.

What do PR and comms people need to be aware of?

Obviously, the job of a PR is to protect the reputation of their organisation, or the organisations that they work with – corporations are not going to be immune from the onslaught of misinformation.

We cannot escape conversations around ChatGPT at the moment – any activist or online troll could use that technology to spread all sorts of content on social media to trash the reputation of a corporation. If you are a bit more sophisticated, you could use deep fakes to impersonate senior figures in business to create a PR disaster. For a listed company, bad actors could move their share price.

And I am not making this up. The Eurasia Group has forecast this as a possibility in 2023. PRs must be aware of the reputational challenges posed by actors harnessing tech for malicious ends. Misinformation touches everyone.

How much responsibility falls on social media platforms and publishers?

We have been relying on voluntary action from social media companies so far, and look where we are.

According to Full Fact, only 1/5 of social media users who encounter misinformation on their feeds actually do something about it. Our civic duty means that those of us who have the necessary digital literacy skills to identify mis and disinformation online should actively take action and report the content to protect others.

I remember Mark Zuckerberg saying Facebook wouldn’t be ‘arbiters of truth’ – this is not what we are asking. We are asking for information to be taken down when it is blatantly fake and is causing damage to society, and that you have a responsibility when you have unleashed the floodgates and have given billions the opportunity to freely publish.

And ‘publishers’ can be individuals. Anyone can be a publisher if they have a social media account. We have a civic duty, in my view, to make sure that before we share content online, that we have read the content first, that we understand it, that we have looked into the source, that we do not just publish something on our feeds before we even engage with the content.

Along with regulations and legislation that comes from the ‘top-down’, you also need individuals – from the bottom-up – to take responsibility.

What is coming up over the next year for Polis?

At the moment, we’re in the weeds on the Online Safety Bill, but we need to think about life beyond it.

The EU’s Digital Services Act is robust, but there is nothing it, or the Government, can do about misinformation being shared on WhatsApp.

However, if the person receiving false information there has the media literacy and critical thinking skills to question what is coming through – to look at the validity of the source and whether it has been produced with malicious intent to mislead, or is accidentally misleading – we can inoculate against misinformation and disinformation; people can protect themselves.

The situation with education on this is dire. A report on the digital literacy of school children found that only 2% can tell fake news from legitimate news online. The next generation is not equipped with the skills they need to protect themselves.

We will be campaigning for major changes to the curriculum in schools – young people are not getting their news by watching the BBC, they aren’t picking up a copy of The Times or The Guardian on the way to school. The sources of information young people use the most for news are Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Twitter. If that is where they are getting their news, they need the skill set to use them.

I don’t want to live in a society where we can’t agree on what basic facts are.

For more on the Online Safety Bill, the Digital Services Act and other UK and EU regulation changes to be aware of this year, click here. You can also download the Vuelio white paper ‘Medical misinformation: How PR can stop the spread‘ for a closer look at the situation within the health sector. 

Logistics Business interview

Automisation, digitisation and decarbonisation: Logistics Business’s Peter MacLeod on what is ahead for the logistics sector

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‘Our readers are looking at ways to improve the way they run their businesses, so are interested in the technologies and strategies used by their peers,’ says Logistics Business editor Peter MacLeod.

Covering subjects at the top of the agenda in logistics right now – the labour shortage, how to counteract high energy prices, and meeting environmental targets – Peter and his team are focused on keeping the sector informed of any potential trouble ahead and helping them to move forward:

‘Improving the bottom line is always top of the list for the logistics field, so anything that optimises their operations – whether that’s increasing automation levels or finding smarter ways to better utilise available space or reducing vehicle movements – is of interest to them’.

Read on for trends you need to be aware of when planning logistics-related campaigns and how you can work with Logistics Business.

How has the logistics sector changed since you’ve been covering it?

Peter MacLeodWhen I first started writing about logistics in the early noughties, the warehousing sector was dominated by the forklift truck and racking manufacturers. The majority of operations were performed manually – automated fulfilment systems were only really aimed at high-volume retailers. The advent of ecommerce changed everything, with the big warehouses that were previously configured to send pallets of goods to retail stores having to reshape their operations to satisfy the demands of individual consumers. This is where automation really took off, giving birth to a sub-sector called intralogistics – the technology of warehouse fulfilment. Believe me, there’s considerably more complexity required in a warehouse sending a single item to a single recipient than one sending a pallet of identical boxes to a supermarket.

How do you see the impact of supply chain issues evolving over the next few years in the UK and beyond?

Logistics businesses have been knocked by a series of situations beyond their immediate control – the ash cloud, the ship blocking the Suez Canal… as well as those issues affecting all sectors, such as the war in Ukraine and the shortage of chips (no, not those chips!). That has led them to invest in ways to increase their resilience to these factors, including deploying automated and robotic solutions with greater flexibility. Among the most popular strategies is to look at the supply chain from end-to-end rather than its individual functions, with a rush to digitisation offering unprecedented insight using previous trends as a model for coping with future disruption.

What are the other big trends for the logistics sector this year?

The aforementioned challenges are driving businesses to be increasingly sophisticated in supply chain planning. Another area where vast gains can still be made is the last mile – the incredibly vital link between the supplier’s depot and the consumer’s front door. There are huge challenges here, and a more collaborative approach in this area is certainly on the cards – surely we’ve all seen rival courier vehicles running up and down the same streets at the same time? Soon, we’ll be saying ‘What were we thinking?’. And, of course, there’s a huge drive towards decarbonisation driven both by upcoming legislation and consumer demands.

Are logistics companies doing enough to incorporate net zero goals into their planning, in your opinion?

Any business ignoring the impact they make on the environment will soon be driven out of business, so the simple answer has to be ‘yes’. However, logistics is a really difficult sector, as it is heavily reliant on transportation such as shipping and HGVs. Many in the sector have pledged to reach net zero ahead of legislative targets, but many others are unable to make significant progress due to infrastructural restrictions.

For example, a central European delivery company has just ordered a huge fleet of diesel lorries because the majority of its country’s electricity is generated by burning coal, and so it figured it would use more carbon to go electric.

What information from PRs is useful for the magazine and the website, and how would you prefer they get in touch?

It’s always a challenge for PRs to give every editor what they want when they want it in the way they want it! I am not alone in spending a good part of the day going through emails, some of which are nothing to do with logistics, and it’s sometimes hard to pick out what’s relevant and what isn’t – nearly everything is now described using terms such as ‘leading’, ‘game-changing’ or ‘unique’!

For the magazine, I’m looking first and foremost for something exclusive to us that will offer readers genuine insight, and which is not just a plug for a particular product or service. It’s a pleasant – but increasingly rare – surprise when my phone rings and a PR is pitching an idea to me, wanting to learn more about the audience, wordcount, deadline, imagery, etc. Of course, the magazine is restricted in size by its physical proportions, so we will always give priority to those companies who are willing to engage with us commercially – we offer an incredible amount of options to suit every marketing budget – but if an article is strong enough to stand up on its own, then let’s talk.

What do PRs need to know about the logistics industry that is unique to the sector – does it have big differences to other industries?

I think the same values apply to all industries – businesses want to know how they can be more profitable, how they can attract and retain staff, how they can reduce their environmental impact, and how they can gain an edge on their competitors. With logistics, the challenges are sometimes a bit more complex, as they seem more susceptible to disruption from geopolitical influences as well as changing consumer habits. I believe the logistics media plays a part in helping them keep abreast of these challenges and helping them stay competitive.

How far ahead do you plan content?

I come from the good old days of magazine publishing, when a monthly magazine would have pages and pages of news. Today, if it’s news, it goes up on the website. Being a quarterly publication, I effectively have up to three months to plan each edition; in reality, with all the other activities I’m involved with such as podcasts and webinars, the window is much narrower. Every issue we cover all aspects relevant to our sector, and therefore do not publish an editorial calendar. If there is a customer referenced in an article, then it can often take a while to get their approval, which shreds the nerves around deadline time.

You also co-host the Last Mile Prophets podcast with Marek Różycki – what extra subjects does the podcast give you the space to cover that Logistics Business Magazine perhaps doesn’t?

Logistics Business and Last Mile Prophets are two unconnected, separate entities. I am a freelancer, so treat them both as valued clients. Last Mile Prophets is a venture where Marek and I chat about the challenges faced by parcel carriers in fulfilling the last leg of the delivery chain. Readers of Logistics Business are not too interested in delivery lockers at the end of your street, whereas Last Mile Prophet listeners don’t much care for fork lift trucks! It’s great fun – Marek and I have good chemistry, and we are building a good following so far. We both feel there is more to come from this brand than a podcast or webinar, so we could be moving into very interesting places in the future.

Which logistics brands are doing a good job when it comes to sustainability and environmental considerations?

I am loath to name specific companies, as some are much better at shouting about their success in this area than others. But there are certain businesses where you totally believe that environmental issues are taken into account with every step they take, whereas with others it seems like tokenism or a last-minute addition – almost as though someone in marketing has barged into the boardroom and said, ‘Oh, and where’s the green angle here?’

Find out more about Peter MacLeod and Logistics Business on the Vuelio Media Database.

Want more from the logistics industry? Read our interview with Logistics UK’s Matt Harrington here.

Trends in food and drink for 2023

Food & drink forecast: 2023’s biggest trends

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This is a guest post from Hatch Group’s senior account manager Emily Boswell.

At the start of a new year brands, marketeers and other industry professionals all start to look towards what lies ahead. At Hatch, we have already seen a whole host of predictions for 2023 trends focused on AI, the economy and across different sectors and the food and drink industry is a sector with plenty of opportunity to adapt, change and grow in 2023.

Unfortunately, as we enter a predicted recession, the cost-of-living crisis looks set to have a huge impact and specifically upon the Food & Drink sector, with rising costs and less disposable income to treat ourselves. With this in mind, we can expect this to underpin many of the trends across all industries. Consumers will not only be looking to save money, but with the climate crisis ever at the forefront of the news, they will also be considering more and more the impact that their choices have on the planet.

As experts in the food and drink sector, Hatch is here to forecast some of the key trends we expect will shake up the food and drink industry this year.

Value for Money

With the cost-of-living crisis going nowhere fast, value for money is key in 2023. We anticipate that people will be eating out less, and instead opting for homecooked meals.

Therefore, we expect to see people prioritising more affordable meals and ingredients, as they look for ways to reduce the cost of their shopping basket.

It doesn’t stop there though, through our work within the consumer tech sector we’re seeing that consumers are increasingly looking at their cooking products too and considering how they can save money on their ever-increasing energy bills. For example, slow cookers and air fryers are flying off the shelves thanks to their low energy usage credentials.

The tinned fish revolution

Yes, really. With the cost of living making consumers rethink their usual habits, shoppers will be constantly looking for ways to spend less on their weekly shop. One of the most expensive items in consumers’ shopping trollies is protein, meaning shoppers will likely start to look for cheaper alternatives. The answer? Tinned fish.

This is a trend that is also being driven by TikTok. In 2022, we saw an increasing number of videos going viral on the platform, showing aesthetically-pleasing fish charcuterie boards, which many are recreating at home. In fact, sales of canned seafood shot up by 10% in the US last year – something we expect to see here in the UK this year.

Conscious choices

Consumers are moving more and more towards planet conscious and sustainable choices and we’ll see a greater focus placed on plant-based and environmentally-friendly options in the coming months

At Hatch we work with food and drink producers across a range of different products from frozen peas and cheese, to wine and rum and we’re seeing lots of consumers making changes with their diets, to opt for products that have lower carbon footprints that are better for the environment. For example, smashed peas on toast has become a popular alternative to the traditional smashed avocado, as consumers have become more aware of the impact avocados have on the environment.

With this shift we will continue to see more plant-based food alternatives on the shelf. However, these won’t be confined to just supermarket shelves – we’re seeing an increase in the number of plant-based fine dining restaurants, and an increase in Michelin stars being awarded to restaurants for their plant-based meal innovation.

New alternatives for non-dairy milks

Following on from these conscious choices comes a new wave of non-dairy milks.

Non-dairy milks such as almond milk and oat milk have been soaring in popularity in recent years. However, with consumers awareness around the massive environmental impact of almond milk, we’re likely to see more non-dairy alternatives becoming popular in 2023.

In fact, we’ve already seen new milks such as sesame milk and pistachio milk becoming popular. Pistachios require half the amount of water to grow than almonds, and sesame milk requires an astounding 95% less water – the perfect alternative for environmentally-conscious shoppers!

A nod to nostalgia

90s fashion isn’t the only thing set to make a return. With consumers facing challenging times currently, there’s going to be a greater demand this year for nostalgic foods that consumers can find comfort in. We constantly see posts on social media clamouring for the return of chocolate bars that are no more (R.I.P. Mars Delight) and original recipe Sunny-D and it looks as though brands are starting to pay attention.

Think back to the favourite foods from your childhood, such as hot dogs, old-school cereals, or pick and mix sweets – these are the types of foods we expect to see returning to supermarket shelves this year.

And over in the US, we’re even seeing the likes of McDonalds introducing Adult Happy Meals, to cater to this nostalgic consumer.

English wines

English wines have been soaring in popularity recently, with sales doubling in the last two years alone and English wines starting to be recognised at wine producer prestigious award ceremonies.

At first, it’s all been about English sparkling wines, however now that people are trusting that we Brits do in fact know how to make good wine, we’ll see more demand for English still wines too.

This year in particular is likely to see an increase in English red wines. 2022 saw England’s joint hottest summer in records going back to 1884, leading to an excellent harvest for Pinot Noir, and generally creating excitement from many winemakers across the country.

Plant-powered pasta

Pasta is universally loved, and a staple for many home-cooked dishes. However, as consumers look to make healthier choices with their diet, we’re likely to see shoppers exploring healthier pasta alternatives. Enter, plant-based pastas.

The perfect option to increase our vegetable intake, plant powered pasta is expected to be a big trend in 2023, and while everyone’s heard of courgetti, expect to see the likes of sweet potato pasta, spaghetti squash, chickpea fusilli and even yellow pea penne becoming popular this year.

Paper drinks bottles

As consumers look for more sustainable products, they’re holding brands to a higher standard than ever before.

The environmental impact of glass bottles is coming more into focus for consumers, and brands are having to respond. Thankfully, some drinks brands, such as Greenall’s Original London Dry Gin, Green Man Wildwood Vodka, Gyre & Gimble Coastal Gin and Avallen Calvados, have found the answer in paper bottles. Usually made from recycled paper, these bottles have a considerably lower carbon footprint compared to their glass equivalents.

Emily Boswell is a senior account manager at Hatch Group, with over six years’ experience working across a number of food, drink and FMCG brands. Experienced in both B2B and B2C press office, social media, and activations, Emily’s client portfolio has included brands such as Fentimans, Black Sheep Brewery, Puerto de Indias gin and Yes Peas!.

For more from the Food & Drink sector, read our previous posts on how the big six UK supermarkets are faring with their cost-of-living messaging in the media, as well as how to pitch to journalists writing about food and drink with related stories and information. 

6 tips on fighting medical misinformation

6 pointers for PR professionals tackling misinformation on the front lines

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Misinformation, disinformation and fake news is highly contagious and harmful, especially in the field of health. Effective PR and communications can help fight the spread and protect the public from its impacts.

Our latest white paper ‘Medical misinformation: How PR can stop the spread’ features guidance for comms professionals tasked with educating and informing, with advice from medical, healthcare and pharmaceutical practitioners working in-house, agency-side and within the media.

Take note of these six pointers from the paper, and download the full report here.

1. Be vigilant with AI tools

‘A key challenge this year will be the threat of generative AI and combatting misinformation, particularly online. However, it is an area for opportunity and growth – the harnessing of tech to provide data rich intelligence that can underpin PR activity.’

Matt Wilson, media and public affairs manager for the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)

2. Stay transparent

‘Transparency of production, transparency of bias, transparency of any kind that goes into news organisations’ production or production values should be better communicated with consumers.

‘When you go into a shop, you pick up a piece of food and it has the nutritional information on the back so that you can decide whether or not you want to eat it. If we had better signposting within news organisations to help us understand how the piece was created and why it was created, it would help us better pick quality content as consumers.’

Jodie Jackson, founder of the News Literacy Network (find out more about the network in this ResponseSource interview)

3. Allow open conversation to avoid mistrust

‘Although witnessing medical misinformation being spread can be frustrating, especially as a healthcare professional, it is important to remain understanding as to why some people may hold irrational beliefs. Mocking them for having these views, or suffocating any conversation around them, can lead to a further level of distrust between the general public and professionals within the pharmaceutical industry, which can further fan the flame of misinformation.

‘It is important to target misinformation with education and critical thinking – after all, social media regulation will not stop misinformation from being spread in the long-run, as people will find other ways to do this. Changing the way people take in information and educating them on how they can validate information before believing it directly must happen, too.’

Carolina Goncalves, superintendent pharmacist at UK pharmacist Pharmica

4. Pay close attention to inequalities and bias still within the health sector itself

‘As a health journalist, I’ve become increasingly interested over the last five or so years in issues around health inequalities, gender bias and medical misogyny.

‘In 2018 I started my blog Hysterical Women to bring together women’s stories and experiences in one place. It particularly explores some of the dismissive and disbelieving attitudes that women can encounter when seeking healthcare – the idea that we’re being “hysterical” or “hormonal”, or that our symptoms are “all in our heads”.

‘I hope to move that conversation forwards – beyond simply curating experiences to actually looking at the underlying reasons, highlighting some of the campaigns around the gender health gap and exploring what the solutions might be.’

Sarah Graham, writer and author of ‘Rebel Bodies: A guide to the gender health gap revolution’ (read more about Sarah and her work in this interview)

5. Go beyond the physical to gain and retain the attention of your audience

‘Re-evaluate your assumptions about what people will engage with. Mental health is a big concern, for example – so consumers may be more likely to engage with content about mental wellness, compared to physical wellness.’

Helen Fitzhugh, associate director, Healthcare at Kaizo PR

6. Be responsive to international events to fight fake news

‘One advantage we have on misinformation is that it rarely falls out of the blue – it tends to spike in response to unfolding events. Extreme weather events, global conflicts and public health crises are all areas where misinformation can thrive. We’d recommend keeping an eye on countries that have elections coming up, too.’

Shayoni Lynn, founder and CEO of Lynn

Download ‘Medical misinformation: How PR can stop the spread’ here.

 

Trends in financial journalism PRs need to know about

Trends in finance journalism PRs need to know about

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Everyone in the UK has been impacted in some way by the cost-of-living crisis that has rumbled on for nearly a year now. From energy bills to mortgage payments to the interest rate; it has all been increasing in price. This has put a massive strain on households and forced people to look more closely at their budget and savings.

It has also, understandably, gained a lot of attention from the media with national newspapers, broadcast media and consumer titles all keen to cover the impact on the general public and give advice on how to cope during these difficult times. We decided to find out what journalists have been researching within this area by looking at requests for the Personal Finance category on the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service over the last few months.

Personal Finance has really increased in popularity. Between October and November, we saw a 27% increase in the number of requests for this category and between December and January, an even bigger rise of 39%. Overall, over 3% of all requests have included the Personal Finance category in the last four months.

It also corresponds with ‘Cost of living’ being a regular top key phrase. Since September, at least 2% of all enquiries on the service each month have included these words within their request. If we look at requests just within the Personal Finance category, then 11% of all enquiries from journalists have included this phrase.

Many requests have looked to get case studies, with several of those coming from broadcast outlets such as 5 News and ITV News. One looking for a single person struggling to pay the bills due to the cost of living and another wanted to find out the impact of the crisis on students. If you have any clients with first-person accounts of how the cost-of-living crisis is affecting their daily lives, then there should be plenty of opportunities to get these featured.

National newspapers like The Sun, The I paper and The Daily Star have also sought to cover this topical issue. These enquiries have been more for general information covering budgeting for a wedding, free fitness activities and what customers can do to help pubs avoid closing early, to name but a few. Meanwhile, trade titles such as HR magazine have wanted more practical advice, like how to avoid payroll issues in the cost-of-living crisis.

Despite ‘cost of living’ being such a popular phrase in the media and on the enquiry service, the top keyword within the Personal Finance requests in the last four months has been ‘finance/financial’ appearing in 21% of all the enquiries.

Requests with these keywords have tended to look more for a spokesperson or expert and covered both consumer and trade titles such as Raconteur, Money Marketing, Closer, Global Finance and Money & Finance magazine. They have looked for finance/CFO expertise, personal finance experts, financial advice and for a money/finance expert. All of these give a great chance to get clients who are experts in their field featured in leading magazines and websites.

One of the words mentioned in those requests above, ‘money’, also performed well in the Personal Finance category between October and February, featuring in 19% of all requests. Again, numerous requests were looking for experts but there was also a focus on getting information about saving money. These varied from saving money on a renovation, saving money when doing laundry plus general requests around saving money over Christmas and in the January sales.

‘Saving/savings’ also performed well as a keyword too, appearing in 7% of all Personal Finance requests. National titles like the Daily Mirror and Daily Express submitted requests with these keywords as well as consumer titles such as Woman’s Own and Real Homes.

Within the cost-of-living crisis, one of the major concerns for people has been the rising energy bills and that has been reflected on the service with ‘energy’ as a keyword in 8% of all Personal Finance requests.

The Express.co.uk looked for an energy bill expert to report on gas boilers possibly being banned while The Daily Mirror wanted a case study of someone that invested in green energy years ago and is now seeing the benefit.

The other issue that has arisen over the last six months or so has been with mortgage rates increasing. ‘Mortgage’ as a keyword was in just over 3.5% of the enquiries between October and February as journalists look to get information on the latest rates as well as expert opinion from mortgage brokers and advisers. Requests came from titles including City A.M., The Daily Telegraph and Property Investor.

There has also been a lot of concern over pensions and the triple lock and with the cost-of-living crisis, some people have been forced to come out of retirement due to financial uncertainty. ‘Pension’ and ‘retirement’ both performed well as keywords at 7% and 2% respectively. Titles including Pensions Expert and The I paper were looking for experts and advice on pensions while Law360 and The Sunday Times asked for case studies of people coming out of retirement.

Keywords such as ‘banking’, ‘insurance’, ‘investment’, ‘inflation’ and ‘interest rate’ were all present in at least 2% or more of all Personal Finance requests. This shows there is plenty of opportunity to get clients featured in prominent outlets, whether they specialise in mortgages or pensions or insurance.

Overall, within the Personal Finance category, 46% of all the requests in this period were looking for a spokesperson or expert. Personal case study was the next most popular choice at 27%, followed by information for an article in third on 24%. The requests were dominated by National Newspaper/Current Affairs outlets with 46% from them and Consumer Media second on 29%. Trade/Business/Professional Media was third on 14% with Radio and Television fourth on 5%.

With energy companies due to hike their prices up in April, the cost-of-living crisis is unlikely to be going away anytime soon. That means journalists will be covering this issue closely, needing advice and experts to comment on what this will mean for consumers. The knock-on-effect is that people will have less money in their budget and will need to make savings, meaning these keywords will continue to appear in requests and provide more chances to get clients out in the media.

To receive relevant requests from the UK media straight to your inbox, find out more about the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service. 

For more, find out why it can be more effective than #JournoRequest and the right way to reply to journalist requests.