Reaching Millions! PR & Publicity Course

How to get PR and publicity for you, your business or product launch! 

Are you looking to raise the profile of your business or yourself, build credibility, drive sales and secure new customers? Whether you are just starting out or have been on the entrepreneurship block for a while, one truth always stands: media attention is an invaluable asset— especially if you want to scale, speak on stage, land book deals, and be seen by millions.

Sunny Bird has created the Reaching Millions PR & Publicity Course to show you exactly how to attract positive attention from the press. This one-day event will show you exactly what it takes to land TV, radio, podcast, print, and online media that can change everything for your business.

Where: Sunny Bird PR, The Garden Studio, Pine Grange, Bath Road, Bournemouth, Dorset. BH1 2PF

When: Friday 27th July, 10am - 4pm

Who: If you’re an entrepreneur, or SME business owner, PR Student, Marketer or someone that needs to brush up on their PR Skills this course is for you.

How much: £99+VAT

Tickets: Contact the SBPR team to pay direct on 01202 293095 or email hello@sunnybirdpr.com. Tickets are also available from Eventbrite.

Drawing on her 20 years of PR experience, Sunny Bird will reveal real-life client case studies and the secrets of how PR has sky rocketed their businesses, including:

· How a creative PR campaign increased a client’s sales by 2,656% over a one-month period

· How a PR campaign resulted in a listing for a client’s product in Fortnum and Mason

· How PR was used to secure a celebrity Instagram review of a client’s product that increased website traffic by 3,535%

· How commissioning a clinical study and releasing the results to the press boosted a client’s sales by 850%

· How the coverage secured for a product launch led to the BBC commissioning a documentary starring the client

· How a PR campaign led to an 800% increase in traffic to a client’s website and record-breaking Christmas sales

· How PR led to selling out a client’s service for the whole year in the space of just one month, increasing overall sales by 567%

In addition to speaking as founder and director of Sunny Bird PR, Sunny will also draw on her own personal experience of launching a fitness retreat brand.  By using PR as the only form of publicity, the business became an overnight success and was recognised worldwide by clients, celebrities and the media. Due to the success of the retreat company, Sunny landed her first publishing deal with leading publisher Collins & Brown. Sunny then went on to launch retreats across the UK as well as in Spain, Portugal and Austria. The media attention she received was a crucial factor in the growth of the business.

Sunny herself has featured in The Daily Mail, The Observer, The Independent, The Sun, You Magazine, Daily Mirror, The Express, Look Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Woman & Home magazine, Marie Claire, Bella magazine, Prima magazine, Start Up 100, Bournemouth Daily Echo, and BBC Radio to name a few.

So, are you ready to take your business to the next level? If so step right up! Here is a peek of what you’ll learn on the Reaching Millions PR & Publicity Course:

• The importance of developing three key messages for your brand
• How to position yourself as the expert and own your credibility
• Getting your brand reviewed, tried, tested and experienced by the press
• How using a case study can help you to secure media coverage
• What to do when you have no ‘new news’ - utilising awareness days, seasonal activity and company campaigns
• Best social media practices for connecting to mainstream media and journalists
• What to include in a press release
• Tips for how to craft the perfect pitch
• How to build a result-delivering media list
• Different ways to approach journalists, bloggers and influencers
• How many times should you chase up a journalist? Tips on how to get through
• How to secure five one-to-one journalist meetings in a day
• What to do when a journalist says they want to interview you
• How to make the most of your media coverage once you receive it

All this for only £99 +VAT

What else you will receive on the day

* Sunny Bird PR goody bag with all course information to take back to your business

* Breakfast and lunch provided

* Press release template, guidelines and examples

* List of UK National & Celebration Days

* Examples of PR ideas to help launch your brand

* Distribution of your press release to up to 100 targeted media contacts in your sector

* Your top ten media contacts - so if you are looking for the Beauty Editor of Vogue or the Business Editor of The Times, we will search and find the exact contact for you.

* 10 pitches that got the “Yes” – real pitches that led to features on This Morning, ITV’s Lorraine, Cosmopolitan, Tatler magazine, The Telegraph, The Observer magazine, The Times & Entrepreneur Today.

Who is the course for? If you’re an entrepreneur, or SME business owner, PR Student, Marketer or someone that needs to brush up on their PR Skills this course is for you.

Please book through our Eventbrite page by following this link.

Or to find out more information email the team on hello@sunnybirdpr.com.

Address for the event: Sunny Bird PR, The Garden Studio, Pine Grange, Bath Road, Bournemouth, BH1 2PF

Date: Friday 27th July - 10am - 4pm

Journalist of the Month

Jenny Francis is the Fitness Editor at The Sun and covers everything from celebrity fitness features, book serialisations, trends, products, and services. We first met Jenny when she was a Senior Feature Writer on Fabulous Daily and we sent her off to beautiful Bali to review Bliss Sanctuary for Women. Jenny took five minutes out of her busy schedule to answer the infamous Sunny Bird PR questions…

1. What are the 5 words that best describe you? Passionate, driven, compassionate, indecisive, excitable

2. What magazine do you love reading and why? Balance. I love that this magazine covers all aspects of health and fitness without being too preachy or unachievable. It's aspirational, motivational, and every feature is laid out in manageable chunks - perfect for the commute.

3. What is your favourite book? Near on impossible to answer - but I'd say a close call between To Kill a Mocking Bird, The Confession (John Grisham) and ALL the Harry Potter books.

4. Which song makes you dance? Stevie Wonder, Superstition

5. What has been your best career moment? This is very tricky as immediately a list of features come to my mind that I worked hard on. But when I actually think about it, being a mentor for The Sun's Column Idol competition was a highlight for me. This competition happens every year and a number of staff mentor the shortlist of young talent to create their own column for The Sun. It was amazing to be a part of something that showed young people are still interested and excited by print journalism and when my student came in third it was an incredibly proud moment to see how far he'd come.

6. What advice would you give your 20 year old self? Slow down. I think we're all guilty of rushing through our 20’s at the speed of light desperate to keep achieving the next big thing on our life 'to do list'. Slowing down a little and taking the time to enjoy each step rather than moving on to the next would be my biggest bit of advice. Before you know it, you're passing out at your 30th birthday wondering how the hell you got there.

7. Where are you happiest? In the sun, with a plate of delicious food in front of me and good company.

8. Who would be your number one dinner guest be and why? J.K Rowling. Because I think she is incredible, and I could easily fill an entire evening drinking and eating while discussing her wonderful imagination (and what happens next in Potter...).

9. If you could have any superpower, what power would it be and why? To be able to click my fingers and be anywhere in the world. I love to travel more than anything, but the getting there isn't so great. On a stressful day how freakin' great would it be to just be able to click your fingers and spend your lunch break on a winery in Italy...

10. If you had to ask us one question what would it be? What makes a good journalist in your eyes?

From a PR’s perspective a good journalist is someone who's approachable, friendly and thorough. Good relationships with journalists are key for us and the clients we represent. We know that journalists are always super busy so we always appreciate those that take the time to talk to us and listen to our ideas and pitches. And Jenny, you are always a pleasure to work with, so thank you!

PR Campaigns - The Good, The Bad & The Viral

As another month whizzes by at Sunny Bird HQ, and we hope the good weather is here to stay, we look back at some of the best and worst PR campaigns we came across.

This month’s round up of thought-provoking campaigns include a tear-jerking Father’s Day stunt, a harrowing street art installation, and a clever anti-social media campaign.

‘Go Ask Dad’

Father’s Day is still a very important date for brands despite it not gaining a fraction of the traction compared to the Mighty Mother’s Day. For a ‘male’ brand it’s an important peg for PR Campaigns that needs to be carefully thought out and executed to return the best results.

Having looked at a few Father’s Day campaigns, it was this one from Gillette that won us over in the office. The big-name razor brand created a truly heart-warming campaign that tackled the issue of sons not asking their dads for advice in this digital age.

Research by Gillette found that 84% of guys say their go-to source for information is their phone and only 13% go to their dads. To prove that dads still know best, Gillette set up a simple yet effective stunt, they invited father and son duos to a studio to film their reactions to a new AI app. The sons were in one room trialling this new app and were told to ask it for advice whilst the dads were in another room. As each son asked the ‘app’ for advice it was actually the father replying through the phone speaking as the app. The sons’ reactions were priceless with many saying how great the advice was. Afterwards, fathers and sons were reunited with some emotional scenes which certainly brought a tear to a few eyes in the office.

This Father’s Day campaign did really well getting featured in industry news as well as top sites such as Huff Post and Mashable.

Suicide Sculptures

Last month saw a poignant PR campaign make national headlines as CALM, the charity that works to prevent male suicide, installed 84 sculptures of men on top of the ITV Tower. #Project84 positioned the figures, complete with hoods over their faces, standing on the edge of the building on London’s Southbank to raise awareness of the number of men who take their lives every week.

Simon Gunning, chief executive at CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably), explained: "A non-traditional media route with physicality… gets an impact that you just can't get from any other kind of campaign.

"Seeing it on a screen would be a very fleeting experience and I think it would be impossible for people to understand the humanity in each of those statues. It’s that physical impact that’s jarred people."

The sculptures were created by American artist Mark Jenkins, who is renowned for his street art installations, with the support of bereaved friends and families who had lost loved ones to suicide.

The hard-hitting project was supported by ITV show This Morning across three days of programming dedicated to male suicide. It achieved widespread coverage in almost every national newspaper along with 150 million social media impressions and 32,000 uses of the hashtag #Project84.

The PR campaign also helped the charity gather more than 156,000 signatures for a petition to push for ministerial responsibility for suicide prevention.

Tesco’s Father’s Day Tannoy Takeover

Tesco were aware that in amongst the hype of the Olympics, the Euro’s and the generally busy Summer, Father’s Day can often get a little lost and be viewed as a low-key event. Statistics highlighted that just 16% said they do something special on the day with a much lower spend for Father’s Day compared with Mother’s Day.

This clever yet warming campaign by Tesco encouraged customers to record a personalised message to show their dads how much they care. The recording was then played in the store over the Tannoy whilst they were shopping.

This campaign was dubbed as a Facebook ‘thumb stopper’ and spread virally to TV channels, Social Media platforms and YouTube, racking up 602,946 views. The video generated 45million overall impressions and more than 17,000 shares. We particularly liked this campaign as although it was low budget, it was an emotive and personal campaign which saw dads in tears. It is not a surprise that this was put forward for the Shorty Awards for Branded Content.

Thanks to the rapid and brilliant response, Tesco then gave customers the option to go to the website and book their own slot to record their message to be played. Furthermore, Tesco sought to provide ‘additional value’ in the form of three tips; the first being a calendar reminder to plan something special for the day, the second, a link to the Tesco Real Food website to view Father’s Day themed recipes and the final tip, a link to Tesco Direct where customers could view and purchase pre-selected gifts for the special day.

Zova Creates a Great Feature… But is Completely Off Brand

We are in two minds about this next campaign. When we came across it, we were instantly drawn to its headline: “Dessert queen with 500,000 fans reveals how you can bake the perfect cake every time – and the secret to getting FIVE times as many servings out of your creations.”

We love a ‘top tip’-style feature as these often leave the reader feeling like they have gained something valuable from their afternoon browse, whether it be useful gym tips, quirky facts to drop in at the pub quiz or baking best practice. This feature is no different, suggesting that cakes should be cooled upside down, cut length-ways rather than in triangles and slathered in jam for a glossy, moisture-locking finish. The crux, however, comes at the end:

Katherine is the latest celebrity guest on Zova's Celebrity Classes, which is a weekly HIIT class provided through an app with the help of expert trainer, Vix Burdon.

While this is a lovely feature – good enough for the MailOnline to share with its two million readers – we just don’t see the benefit for the brand. Of course, people can be into both baking and exercise, but chances are slim that someone browsing for cake inspiration is in the mindset of downloading a fitness app.

Perhaps if Dessert Queen Katherine had made a point about the importance of balancing indulgence and exercise, or one of the tips had been of a health-conscious nature, we could have seen the relevance. But this was sadly absent, and we doubt Zova saw any new downloads as a result.

Wetherspoons Bucks the Trend

Pub chain Wetherspoons hit the headlines this month when it announced it is quitting social media. The ground-breaking news was covered by major news titles in the UK from The Sun to the FT, in news and in comment pages, not to mention Forbes and the Wall Street Journal in the US. Specifically, the chain said (via Twitter and other places) that it is closing all its accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

There were a number of reasons this was such a timely story. The rights and wrongs of social media are being hotly debated. Companies, individuals, governments, charities, politicians and everyone else are continuing to work out how we use social media in the most effective way, so to completely go against the flow and quit it completely is an interesting news angle. In fact, the success of Wetherspoons on social media is questionable. It was not exactly making waves as an influencer and it was struggling to maintain consistency across its more than 900 accounts.

Many are questioning whether others will follow suit, but we highly doubt it. Around 500 million tweets are sent every day, with millions of other individual users and businesses gaining a huge amount through well thought-through and carefully executed social media strategies.

Social media is a constantly-evolving feat, and it seems that Wetherspoons had developed a social media policy that simply wasn’t working for them. But whatever the full reasons behind the decision to change tack, it was a smart move to gain a ton of positive media coverage announcing it.

Win £1,000 Worth of PR!

Win £1,000 Worth of PR Every Month!

Every month we'll be giving away £1,000 worth of PR to one lucky company or person. All you need to do is OPT IN to these lovely newsletters (yes, this is our way around GDPR!) and it could be you. Whether you're an existing client or you've never worked with us before, you'll all be in with an equal chance. So OPT IN now and not only will you still receive our amazing monthly newsletters but you'll also be in for a chance of winning £1,000 worth of PR!

How We got 4 Million Listeners for our Client

Find out how we set up 13 radio interviews including national stations, Sky News Radio and talkRadio, for our client Ramsay Health Care by reading our blog post here.

 

 

 

How We Achieved Editorial in Coveted Wedding Media..

Alongside an impressive collection of wedding coverage, the Sunny Bird PR team also secured over 62 pieces of hotel coverage for The Green House Hotel in just 6 months. The coverage achieved reached over 2.5 million readers and included reviews and roundups and has an advertising value of over £95,000! To find out how we did it check out our blog post here.

New Business Wins

The Sunny Bird PR team has started working with some fabulous local clients including TV Chef Sarah Ali Choudhury, founder of the Venus Awards Tara Howard and the Most Rad Iced Coffee on the market, Jimmy's Iced Coffee. As we welcomed Jimmy's to the nest, we asked the team, how do you drink yours?

New Team Members

We've had a busy first quarter at Sunny Bird PR welcoming some lovely new clients and also some fabulous new team members. To find out more about Anya, Lu and Alex read their bios on our Who We Are page.

GDPR & ENewsletters

With GDPR just a matter of days away, the SBPR team has been busy attending seminars, workshops and finding out all about GDPR for us and our clients. We thought we would share our findings in this handy blog post for any of you that are still in the process of getting your heads round it.

Journalist of the Month

Delphine Chui is a Digital Editor at Hearst and creates content across all of Hearst’s brands with a particular focus on interiors. When she’s not busy writing copy and being a digital content creator for the likes of Red Magazine, Country Living and Harper’s Bazaar, she can be found finding some zen in the great outdoors. Read Delphine's answers to the infamous Sunny Bird PR questions here.

 

 

Royal Wedding PR Campaigns

Working in and with the media it was pretty hard for us to not get swept up in the Royal Wedding fever. We weren’t that excited about dresses, hats and celeb guests though, we were more excited about which brands had used the Royal Wedding as an effective PR springboard to catapult their brand or product into the sparkly ginger light. Here we have included a few of our favourite national campaigns as well as some local events that we felt hit the magic markle spot.

Royal Wedding PR Campaigns

Working in and with the media it was pretty hard for us to not get swept up in the Royal Wedding fever. We weren’t that excited about dresses, hats and celeb guests though, we were more excited about which brands had used the Royal Wedding as an effective PR springboard to catapult their brand or product into the sparkly ginger light. Here we have included a few of our favourite national campaigns as well as some local events that we felt hit the magic markle spot.

Ginger & Sparkle

Tyrell’s created a special edition flavour of crisps especially for the occasion calling them Ginger & Sparkle which we just loved, a really nice, light-hearted and funny stunt. And we say stunt as we can’t believe anyone could take the flavour seriously; they were parsnip crisps with a hint of ginger, sweet honey and edible glitter. We’re not sure if anyone enjoyed them but what we are sure of is how much Tyrell’s enjoyed their coverage landing on pretty much every page form The Sun, The Grocer, The Independent, Good Housekeeping, New Magazine, Huffington Post and The Cardiff Times.

M&S Rebrands Itself (and a roast chicken sandwich)

The bedrock of the British high-street gave itself a royal re-brand in honour of the weekend’s nuptials by changing its name to Markle & Sparkle. In celebration of the most anticipated wedding of the year, the chain’s Windsor branch unveiled the new name on Friday, May 18th which remained in place for the weekend. The store featured glittering new signage as well as windows adorned in Union Jacks in preparation for the newly appointed Duke and Duchess of Sussex to pass by the store following the wedding at St George’s Chapel on Saturday. Inside, customers experienced a dedicated Markle & Sparkle selfie booth where pictures were sent to M&S social media pages before being put in a virtual wedding album that will be sent to Kensington Palace.

In the run up to the wedding weekend, Marks and Spencer’s temporarily renamed its roast chicken salad sandwich ‘The Proposal’ in a nod to Prince Harry’s decision to propose to the princess during a roast chicken dinner. The store also offered anyone presenting an official wedding invitation a free Meal Deal. M&S’s wedding fever demonstrated a clever PR campaign which not only gained coverage in the national media, but ensured the retailer remains aligned with Britain’s establishment for generations to come. The royal re-name was featured in the Daily Mail, AOL, The Independent, Metro, The Sun, Good Housekeeping, Harper’s Bazaar, The Mirror, The Evening Standard, The Telegraph, Sky News and ITV to name a few.  

Royal Lego Wedding

Legoland Windsor certainly made the most of the opportunity brought about with the Royal Wedding with a fun and fitting, yet time consuming build ahead of the weekend! The shrinking of the Royals was the work of 11 Model Makers at Legoland who spent over 750 hours and used more than 39,000 Lego bricks to build a replica of Windsor Castle and mini Lego versions of members of the royal family, including the Queen. Prince Harry was of course topped with an orange brick for his famous hair and the model makers attention to detail even saw a miniature Sir Elton John complete with tiny rose-tinted glasses and Ginger Spice dressed in her famous Union Jack dress within the line-up of guests. 

Not surprisingly, the campaign achieved global coverage within TV, print and online and was dubbed one of PR Week’s top campaigns.

Coverage included National papers; The Metro, The Mail Online, The Independent, The Express, online news sites such as BBC News and ITV News, online media and global coverage including USA Today.

Royal Afternoon Tea

For those of us that didn’t make the trek up to Windsor, there were plenty of local hot spots showing the ceremony and getting into the party spirit. The Green House Hotel in Bournemouth is famous for its exquisite afternoon teas and Beth the pastry chef pulled out all the stops on the 19th May creating a special Royal Afternoon Tea. The hotel showed the whole ceremony in the bar area so lucky guests could sip on their Dorset sparkling wine and nibble on Beth’s Battenberg cake in luxury away from the crowds. The Royal Afternoon Tea not only created great content for their social media channels but also secured them coverage in the Bournemouth Echo.

Feeling Regal at the Regent Centre

Where better to watch the big wedding than on the big screen? The Regent Centre in Christchurch not only showed coverage all day but also decorated the 1930s cinema in style and encouraged guests to dress up with a competition for best dressed. It looked like they had a ball and created some great content for social media.

A Salon Fit for a Duchess

HNB, an exclusive hair and beauty salon in Canford Cliffs, transformed their salon into a royal wedding party with live streaming projected on the walls, a buffet banquet, balloons, decorations and everyone dressed in their finest wedding outfits. A party destination for some and a very exciting trip to the hairdressers for others, the superb hospitality from Stephanie made sure that her salon was a cut above the rest on May 19th. Stephanie told us why HNB got involved: 'For me it’s a British thing! Since 1919 when the first street party was ever held, we have always celebrated Royal events from Coronations to weddings and if we don’t teach our young people how to do it, we will lose these British traditions, there were 90% less celebrations for this event and so we wanted to remain British and proud, yes it takes effort but everyone loved it we had a fabulous day!'

Why Engagement Rates Really Do Matter

Long gone are the days where your follower count legitimised your social media presence, now it is all about interacting with your audience and boosting engagement rates.

As accepted wisdom once suggested, the more likes or followers an account has, the greater its influence.  However, in the world of social media, where a shiny profile can hide a multitude of sins, followers and likes are an easy game to fake thanks to the rise of bots and buying.

With measurements of social media success ever evolving and leaving last year’s benchmarks as obsolete relics, we thought it worthwhile to un-flesh the latest buzzwords- ‘engagement rate’.

What exactly is engagement rate, how is it measured and, most importantly, why does it matter?

What is Engagement Rate?

Obviously, the metrics vary from platform to platform, but generally speaking engagement rate is used to measure the level of interaction an account receives on its shared content. Simply put, it is the percentage of your audience which react or respond to the content you broadcast. The greater number of likes, shares or comments indicates a greater level of engagement.

How is it Measured?

Your engagement is measured by your likes and comments combined per post divided by your total following and times by 100.

Average engagement rates are notoriously unreliable as it is hugely industry specific. As a general rule anything over 1% is considered good engagement on Facebook whereas Instagram generally averages at around a 3% engagement rate, perhaps explaining the monumental rise of brands on the platform.

Twitter on the other hand only has an average rate of 0.7% given the volume of tweets and the speed of the timeline.

It’s a good idea to keep a spreadsheet of your different post types and the corresponding rates to accurately gauge what your audience is responding to, and what they’re not.

Why is it Important?

Followers and Likes are often referred to as ‘vanity metrics’ as although important, they don’t complete a full picture of how your audience is responding to your content.

For example, most people like a page because they see their friends do so or because they like a certain post at a certain time, but it is quickly forgotten. Therefore, even with high number of followers, it is still possible to see little interaction.

For example, the infamous Twitter fail from Rita Ora back in 2014. The pop princess tweeted she would release her new single on Monday if she got 100,000 retweets. Despite having 4 million Twitter followers, only 1,000 people retweeted her and the tweet was swiftly deleted.

Even with millions of fans supposedly at her finger tips, without an engaged audience, Rita Ora was effectively only speaking to 1000 people which is an engagement rate of 0.025%!

Evidently, a high engagement rate is a good indication that your followers are listening to what you have to say, developing trust in you as well as your brand and ultimately increasing brand awareness.

How to Improve Your Engagement Rate

Think of social media as a committed, long-term relationship with your followers. Ideally businesses and brands want to ensure they deliver the best customer experience through these platforms. In that sense, improving engagement is by no means rocket science but it does take dedication.

1.       Start a conversation

The cardinal rule is to give your audience something to ‘engage’ with. Talk about your industry, share some behind the scenes content or share something of value with your followers which isn’t just a product or service. When people realise there is a human, or humans, behind a brand they will be much more likely to follow it.

2.       Promote Brand Enthusiasts

A simple yet effective way to boost conversation is to promote your fans. Posting user generated content helps boost engagement by rewarding those who follow and engage with you and consequently encouraging others to do the same. The guys at Jimmy’s Iced Coffee are great at doing this and making customers feel part of something bigger.

3.   Jump on Trending Topics

If something is viral, you want to be part of it! If it’s trending or in the news in any way think how to harness a topic and divert traffic to your channel. Clothing giant Gap did a good job of this when the retailer promoted its sustainable wares for #EarthDay.

4.      Be Responsive

Make sure you respond to questions and queries as quickly as possible to keep your followers on side. It’s important to appear alert an attentive, otherwise people will think you don’t value them as a follower. Like this painful feed from telecommunications company Airtel.

5.      Join the Conversation

If starting a conversation seems like a big step right now, or if you’re stretched for time and resources, an effective way to boost engagement and simultaneously creativity is to join a Twitter chat or Q&A. You’ll be surprised how quickly you will see results, whether directly or indirectly from picking up tips and ideas along the way!

Women Only Like Pink and Glitter, Right??

When something is a hot topic, it really is hot, and any move by a brand will be pounced upon eagerly by the media. And this was the fate of hipster beer company BrewDog who attempted to add some humour and fun to this year’s International Women’s Day.

As an office full of women, we’ve all been fully behind the #metoo and #timesup movements that have been making waves across the media this year, we’re so non-gender stereotypical that we swapped our bathroom towels in the office (pink now in the boys', turquoise in the girls') and we champion women through many of the campaigns we support and organise. So, needless to say, we’d be the first to criticise a brand that we felt was sexist. But, after much debate we don’t feel like this about BrewDog.

So, what did they do? BrewDog addressed the gender pay gap by releasing a ‘new’ Pink IPA on International Women’s Day and sold it for a fifth cheaper in bars, tweeting:

Now sarcasm is always a bit dangerous for those that don’t get it, us Brits are infamously good at it but it doesn’t mean everyone is. There were certainly a whole hoard of angry tweets following this one from BrewDog which gained so much momentum that pretty much all the nationals wrote about it too. Judging this campaign solely on how many people it reached, BrewDog’s risky move was a PR success, but if you’re not an advocate of ‘there’s no such thing as bad PR’ then the success was less tangible.

Our first thought when discussing this in the office was, who are BrewDog’s audience? They are predominantly 30+ with a healthy disposable income affording them lumberjack shirts, nose rings and enough smashed avocado to cover a whole sourdough. Now we’re not claiming to know this audience inside out but we’re pretty sure that they would take BrewDog’s pink offering in the tone intended. As for everyone else? What do BrewDog care if they’re successfully communicating with their intended audience already?

And that’s what PR is all about, communicating your brand to your audience and we think in this instance that BrewDog did it well despite the backlash. And as well as that, they also achieved a huge amount of coverage; raising the brand’s profile and introducing them to new audiences. Another win for this campaign in our eyes was the 20% of profits that BrewDog donated that month to UK charities helping to fight the gender pay gap, oh, and anyone identifying as female could get 20% off on their Pink IPA too. No one can argue with a cheap beer campaign.

There are things that would have made this campaign sit more comfortably with the mainstream media such as clearer messaging about the charity donation, not making the bottle or name pink and not being sarcastic. There is an argument here for a more simplistic and therefore a more effective campaign – there were quite a few comments about jokes not being funny if you need to explain them! But then on the flip side, if BrewDog did want to only speak to their audience, and they were confident in their tone of voice, then none of the above is relevant and they have achieved their goal.

Journalist of the Month

Delphine Chui is a Digital Editor at Hearst and creates content across all of Hearst’s brands with a particular focus on interiors. When she’s not busy writing copy and being a digital content creator for the likes of Red Magazine, Country Living and Harper’s Bazaar, she can be found finding some zen in the great outdoors. Here, Delphine answers the Sunny Bird PR questions:

1.What are the 5 words that best describe you? Sensitive, curious, playful, pensive and excitable.

2.What magazine do you love reading and why? I have constant wanderlust so I love reading lush travel magazines like BA High Life and National Geographic that give me a glimpse of another world or another perspective.

3.What is your favourite book? Garth Stein’s The Art Of Racing In The Rain is a book written from the narrative of a family dog – and it’s utterly brilliant, but full disclosure, it will pull at your heartstrings.

4.Which song makes you dance? I was a Noughties teen so I’d say something like Outkast’s Hey Ya – or of course, anything Britney.

5.What has been your best career moment? I’ve been lucky enough to travel the world with work, cover events from the BAFTAs to the Tour De France and interview some enviable A-listers and incredible people (like the first ever Saudi Arabian female film director). But if I have to choose, it would probably be taking on the task of living without any plastic for a week for a video experiment for Marie Claire because it completely changed my life and opened my eyes to a new zero-waste lifestyle that I strive towards every day. 

6. What advice would you give your 20-year-old self? I’d say not to be afraid to try. I’ve learnt that striving for perfectionism in your work can sometimes be another form of procrastination so just do it! Go for it, and get whatever words you want out there, out there.

7. Where are you happiest? In Crystal Palace park walking my two rescue dogs – it’s just the most beautiful and diverse green space in London. In general, I’m happiest outside in nature, away from my phone or laptop (which seems counter-intuitive for a digital journalist) and since getting my National Trust membership, I’m trying to go to as many sites around the UK as possible.  

8. Who would be your number one dinner guest be and why? Jane Goodall. I studied anthropology at university and I’m obsessed with animals and as she’s the leading primatologist, I’d pick her brains about all things apes and monkeys because I find them and their social structures fascinating.

9. If you could have any superpower, what power would it be and why? I’m terrible at languages so would love if I could speak every single language under the sun or how about stopping time? If there was a way to slow down perfect moments, that would also be nice in our world where we’re always rushing around and things can seem way too transient.

10. If you had to ask us one question what would it be? What’s your ultimate survival guide to hosting a successful press trip? I always feel like travel PRs take on the “holiday mum” role and I can’t imagine how tricky it can be to keep up with a group of journalists – especially after they’ve had a drink (or five...)

Good question! When it comes to surviving those all-important press trips, organisation is key. Here are the team’s top tips for hosting a seamless press trip from start to finish:

•  Know Your Stuff- A good PR must always be prepared for any tricky questions that may come their way. That means knowing the hotel, restaurants, local area and of course the local customs inside and out.
• Time Management- This is crucial if you want to ensure your group arrive at each destination rested and ready. After all, no one wants a group of hungry journalists on their hands after a missed dinner reservation!
• Research Your Guests- Knowing your guests interests, allergies and writing topic is pivotal to keeping them happy and making sure you get the best out of their writing.
• Have Fun- It goes without saying that if you’re hosting anybody, you must be upbeat and entertaining. A positive attitude can be infectious.
•  Have a Contingency Plan- Perhaps most important of all, always have a plan B! Countless things can go wrong in the duration of a trip, so plan for the worst and have a bank of interesting anecdotes up your sleeve.