New Client: Book of Everyone

The team at Sunny Bird PR are delighted to welcome The Book of Everyone back to the flock for the fourth time.

The Book of Everyone first came to SBPR back in 2015 with the objective of launching its latest bespoke book; a personalised gift for Mother’s Day called ‘The Book of Mum’.

Our client (three middle-aged men) wanted to show their mums and wives, and all mums out there, how much they appreciated them by putting themselves in their shoes for the entire month. We needed some exciting brand activity in the run up to Mother’s Day – the concept of ‘The 3 Pregnant Dads’ was born.

Our clients (against their will) wore “Empathy bellies” that weighed 33lbs/15kg for the duration of the month. This included; when attending client meetings, using public transport and even when heading to the pub! Everything was filmed and documented for the bespoke landing page that they created, www.3pregnantdads.com, that linked to their main website, www.thebookofeveryone.com.

We secured 383 pieces of national and international coverage across 38 countries within a 3 week period. ‘The 3 Pregnant Dads’ were featured across all national titles and TV, including Lorraine Kelly, This Morning, Good Morning Britain, The Daily Mail, The Telegraph, Huffington Post and Times Magazine US amongst many others.

Our 3 Pregnant Dad’s campaign led to a huge 2,765%, increase in sales, 2,000 shares on one Daily Mail article alone as well as a 1,850% increase in Facebook social media engagement.

This year, The Book of Everyone have come to the SBPR team for support with two very different campaigns; its search for the UK’s humblest person, and its latest product, personalised maps.

A two-fold campaign, this will see SBPR working across two separate teams to deliver results with one team working on promoting the unveiling of the UK’s humblest statue to the UK’s humblest person, securing journalist, influencer and local dignitary attendance to the event in North London as well as regional coverage. The second team meanwhile, will be working on a celebrity and influencer campaign for the personalised maps, finding out key dates for when famous people met and creating their own bespoke and personalised map to send out to them.

To find out more about The Humblest Hero and find out who won follow this link.

To find out more about the personalise maps, follow this link.

Sunny Bird, founder of Sunny Bird PR, commented: “It’s a real pleasure to be working with The Book of Everyone team again, the Three Pregnant Dads campaign was such a phenomenal campaign, it’s going to be hard to beat our previous results, but I know the team can do it!”

Case Studies

In this blog post you will learn all about case studies. What they are, how they can help your business and how to find them.

What is a case study?

Case studies are people. People who have tried out, can vouch for or speak about your brand, product or service in a positive and interesting way. Journalists love them because they add the sparkle of human interest to even the most mundane story, helping the reader engage with the piece. Case studies can elevate even the most seemingly boring business. Putting a person with a compelling story behind a product makes the brand more relatable to the consumer and to a journalist. It’s important to have a case study ready to go when contacting journalists, it will look unprofessional and probably annoy the journalist if you say you have one and then don’t get back to them with it pronto!

Where do I find a case study?

Case studies can be people who:

a.       Already use or buy your product or service.

b.       Could be interested in using your product or service.

If they are already a customer you should be able to contact them via your existing customer database, but if you don’t already have something established you could reach them via your website. Do you have people who are already leaving testimonials on your website or through social media? Could you add a button onsite or a link to your blog asking for people who would be happy to talk about your product or brand?

Alternatively use your own social media feed to reach out and ask. It’s a good idea to create a bank of case studies, you never know when the right opportunity may come up in the media to pitch your case studies out.

Will I need to get them photographed?

There’s no doubt that a good photo can help a case study get placed, but in general editors will want a clear head-shot in the initial stages and will then arrange for further photography if they need it, so there’s no need to pay out on an expensive shoot. However, it is important to send relevant photography to the journalist. For example, If yours is a service or product in the health, diet, fitness or wellness industry where a ‘before’ and ‘after’ shot will be helpful, then you should absolutely ensure you have close ups and full body shots of your case study before pitching to an editor.

Dos and don’ts:

ALWAYS ensure you have the case study’s full permission in writing before proceeding.  They might have agreed to have their story featured but want to remain anonymous, so you could request a name change.  They may want parts of their personal details, such as the names of their children left out or they may or may not agree to a photograph being used. You should ensure you detail exactly what is expected of them and get them to agree in a signed, dated agreement.

ALWAYS ensure all parties involved in a feature give consent.

ALWAYS be extra careful when children are involved, to get the signed consent of all parents and or guardians involved in the child’s care.

ALWAYS ensure the case study is happy to be photographed. Journalists almost always require the case study to be identified, so ensure the case study is happy with that.

NEVER place a case study with more than one rival title. Editors hate to see identical or similar copy popping up in the competition as it devalues their content. You should avoid offering a case study to rival titles at the same time and state if a rival title has previously featured it.

NEVER ignore a journalist’s calls if a case study you have put forward lets you down or changes their mind. Let the journalist know as soon as possible and offer to help find someone else in order to maintain a good relationship.

At Sunny Bird PR we use case studies with pretty much all our clients. Whether that be for a domestic abuse charity, The Hampton Trust or for Just Shutters, a plantation window shutter company. Case studies have helped to propel our clients into the press with real life stories.

You can find our how Sunny Bird PR has used case studies to successfully get clients onto TV and radio as well as other media titles here!

If you would like to find out more how case studies could work for you and how to do your own PR, you can book onto our PR and Publicity Course on the 29th November at our Bournemouth offices - Sunny Bird PR, The Garden Studio, Pine Grange, Bath Road, Bournemouth, BH1 2PF

Follow this link to book your place!

Clientversary: Bliss Sanctuary for Women

The Sunny Bird PR team are celebrating another year ‘clientversary’ with Bliss Sanctuary for Women this month!

The luxury women’s only retreat in Bali first approached the team back in 2015 with the objective of raising the brand’s profile in UK press and the launch of its second sanctuary in Seminyak, following the launch of the first in Canggu.

Fast forward to 2019, and the SBPR were tasked with promoting the new sanctuary in relevant national press titles, securing celebrity trips to promote the sanctuary, as well as creating content and advertising on Bliss’ social media.

As the largest most luxurious sanctuary of the three, we knew we could use this to our advantage in attracting press coverage and celebrity trips. To start with we compiled a press release announcing the new sanctuary and pitched it to relevant travel, women and lifestyle titles as well as the national papers for inclusion in round ups, travel news and general features which focused on Bliss’ unique offerings.

Press coverage achieved included Bliss being featured in ‘Top Destinations of Women of the World’ in the Metro as well as ‘The World's 24 Hottest New Hotels Opening in 2019’ in The Telegraph. We also pitched Bliss in line with key awareness days such as International Women’s Day which resulted in coverage in The Independent for the ‘10 of The Best Female Only Trips for Solo Travellers’.

Our next approach was to secure well-known celebrities and national journalists for press trips in order to achieve national press coverage and increase social media followers.

The SBPR team used Bliss Sanctuary’s USPs, such as unlimited food, spa treatments and yoga, and the brand’s ethos of following ‘bliss on your terms’ to attract both media and celebrity attention.

We approached luxury titles, national newspapers, women’s titles, spa and yoga titles, tailoring each pitch to resonate with the publication and its readers, whether it was the luxury angle, solo travel, women’s only travel or the focus on wellbeing. We invited journalists to come and stay at Bliss and review the new sanctuary themselves in exchange for press coverage.

The team also researched and targeted celebrities to invite to Bliss in exchange for media interviews, photoshoots and exposure on their social media channels. We researched potential celebrities and the press angles, focussing on those that needed to take time out for themselves, spend time with the girls and focus on their mind, body and soul.

We only targeted celebrities with over 1 million followers on Instagram and negotiated the terms and conditions of their trips to maximise social media and press coverage.

As a result of this strategy we secured TOWIE stars Lydia Bright, Debbie Bright and Georgia Bright to take a mother-daughter trip to Bliss, as well as Love Island stars Zara McDermott, Ellie Brown, Samira Mighty, Jourdan Riane and Elma Pazaar for a ‘Love Island Reunion’ girls trip. We also secured two trips for Malin Andersson after she’d experienced a traumatic year, as well as well-known TV personality Vicky Pattison and her mum Caroll. The celebrity trips alone resulted in 40 pieces of national coverage in titles such as Daily Mail, The Sun, Metro, Closer, Soul & Spirit and Heat magazine.

Over the past year we have secured a total of 11 celebrity trips, with more big names booked to visit in January, as well as press trips for the Metro, Fabulous, Stella and Glamour magazine.

Alongside our PR campaign we have written regular Bliss News articles for the website on topics that women can relate to, created engaging content on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest as well as advertising campaigns to secure more bookings to the sanctuaries. We also positioned the Founder of Bliss, Zoe Watson, as an expert on hot topics such as wellness bathing, yoga and essential oils.

In total, over the past 12 months SBPR has achieved 56 pieces of coverage for Bliss Sanctuary for Women in top publications such as The Telegraph, Daily Mail, Metro, The Independent, Marie Claire, OK Magazine, Closer, Yoga Magazine to name a few. The total coverage reached over 55.1 million people and would have cost £1.7million if the same space was bought in advertising! Over the past year we have increased Bliss’ Instagram following by over 30,000 followers and positioned the brand as the number 1 women’s only Bali retreat for celebrities across the world.

We are looking forward to what the next year brings for Bliss and SBPR!

Reaching Your Consumer and Creating A Media List

Knowing you consumer will be key to you and your brand reaching millions. In today’s ‘digital age’ people consume new messages about brands and products in a variety of ways. The newspaper and magazine market may well be shrinking but top titles still boast readerships in the hundreds of thousands. Cleverly targeting TV or radio, online news and lifestyle websites, blogs and social media sites will get your message to your audience in the right way.

When trying to reach your target market, start by thinking about your consumer, target audience or end user.

·         Who are they?

·         How old are they?

·         Are they professional/white collar/blue collar/student/retired/homemaker?

·         How do they spend their time?

·         Where do they shop?

·         Which social media channels are they most active on?

·         How do they consume their media? Via blogs/TV/radio?

·         What media do they consume?

You should know the answer to all of the above and answering the last three questions is particularly crucial in gaining coverage that counts. All of this information will contribute to reaching your target audience and achieving the relevant coverage. Knowing which type of media they consume will also determine who you approach with your brand, story etc.

Once you know who your consumer is, you can target the media accordingly. The average ‘early adaptor’ must read, hear or see a message seven times, before they act on it. It’s therefore important to target multiple mediums to give your consumer different ‘touchpoints’ to absorb your message.

I’m sure you’re thinking where do I start? Well, below is a list of just a few of the different types of media on the market.

Trade press – these are industry-related titles meaning whichever industry you’re in, there will be accompanying trade titles. Such as Transport News, The Grocer, The Hotelier etc.

Regional press – newspapers and magazines specific to your area, such as Manchester Evening News, Yorkshire Post, Dorset Echo etc.

National Newspapers

Broadsheets – The Telegraph, Observer, Guardian, Financial Times etc.

Tabloids – Daily Mail, Daily Express, The Sun, The Daily Mirror, Daily Star etc.

Supplements – You Magazine, Style, Stella, Notebook, Observer Food Monthly etc. (These are magazines inside the weekend editions of national papers.)

Women’s glossies – monthly magazines focusing on a mix of news, fashion and lifestyle such as Woman & Home, Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, In Style, Marie Claire, Red etc.

There is also online, social media, radio and TV.

For a free list of media, you can try sites such as www.mediauk.com and www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk. These contain a variety of useful information including readership stats, key staff members, personal email formatting and so on.

To do your own PR you need to be in the know, so sitting around reading magazines, watching TV, or scrolling through social media is a valuable way to spend your time. Try making notes while scouring the media such as - who are the journalists that keep reappearing, find what titles apply to your brand best and look for themes; is there an awareness day or an awards ceremony this month that applies to your business? Remember to always keep an eye on online media as well, coverage online could take the consumer to your website instantly. Once you get into the habit of doing this, you’ll never be shocked when news props up that you could’ve got in front of!

Media List

Once you are sure who your consumer is and what media you should be approaching it is time to create a media list. This should include specific and up-to-date contact information for key journalists, bloggers, social media influencers and editors across print, online, blogs, radio and TV.

 Organisation is key when creating your bespoke list. Here’s some tips on what to include in your list –

·         Include the type of medium – magazine, newspaper, radio etc

·         Frequency – daily/weekly/monthly/bi-annual

·         Readership or audience numbers

·         Specific contact details for each journalist or editor and their regular slots or segments

·         Job title (editor/features writer/sportswriter etc.)

·         Extras - You could also include a column or tab for any other notes as you go forward, such as how and when they prefer to be contacted, recent topics they’ve covered etc.

Finding the details of the journalist can be tricky, below are just some ways you can do this –

·         Look at the journalist’s name/names in the relevant publications

·         Look at the credits of TV shows for researchers/producers

·         Googling contact sites for specific TV channels such as ITV will give you access to valuable information.

·         Response Source – with journalists continually moving around it can be hard to keep up. Response source has a ‘Media Bulletin’ segment where you can not the movement of journalists.

·         Contacting influencers is great as you can usually message them directly, try their website of their social media page.

·         To find a specific phone number, try calling the media outlets switchboard first, when you get through ask for the relevant journalist and gather their details from there.

Talking to journalists can be daunting to begin with, however in time it’ll get easier and you’ll find your flow. A few things to remember is that journalists are time poor, it’s unlikely they’ll monitor their voicemails, so don’t waste your time leaving a message. Keep an eye out for freelance journalists, they will most likely have their own websites and a personal email to contact them with.

Final tips and tricks

·         There’s no time like the present! Start compiling your media list now.

·         Don’t contact several members of the same outlet ‘just in case’ as they may think you are spamming them, and bin your email.

·         You’ll find it’s easier to find contacts for regional rather than national press. There are less staff, everyone knows everyone and they’re more likely to pick up the phone and are quicker to respond.

If you’re looking for global newspapers you may find this article helpful - https://www.websiteplanet.com/blog/complete-index-of-newspapers-across-the-globe/

If you would like to find out more about how to find your consumer and create your media lists as well as how to do your own PR you can book onto our PR and Publicity Course on the 29th November at our Bournemouth offices - Sunny Bird PR, The Garden Studio, Pine Grange, Bath Road, Bournemouth, BH1 2PF

Follow this link to book your place!

New Client: Alice Morrison

The team at Sunny Bird PR is delighted to welcome Alice Morrison back to the flock.

Scottish Adventurer and presenter of BBC2’s Morocco to Timbuktu series, Alice, is now preparing for her toughest challenge yet: a 2000 KM trek across the Sahara, the biggest hot desert in the world.

No stranger to SBPR or epic adventures, the team worked with Alice on her adventure earlier this year as she became the first woman to walk the length of the River Draa in Morocco discovering a lost city, the tombs of the giants and learning first-hand the dire effects of climate change and water shortage on a once arable and lush land.

Alice’s latest adventure will see her beginning in Oued Chbika, Morocco’s Northern most point on the Atlantic, and ending at the southernmost tip.

The journey is expected to take three months, setting out on November 26th, she will be travelling with the same team from the Draa Expedition including three local guides and five camels.

The aim of this expedition is to explore this virtually unknown part of the Sahara as Alice explains: “I will be tracking the deathstalker scorpion, hunting for meteorites, investigating the unique sand statues of the south, and searching for the lost great bird monuments which lie hidden in the dunes”.

Sunny, founder of Sunny Bird PR, commented: “It’s always a pleasure working with Alice, she’s such an inspirational woman and the adventures and challenges she sets herself are heroic to say the least. We’ve worked with Alice on all her adventures over the years from the Dodging Elephants book, to the River Draa expedition and now this, her toughest challenge yet, a 2000 KM trek across the Sahara.”

New Client: 1812

 The team at Sunny Bird PR are delighted to announce that they’re working with Bournemouth’s premier cocktail bar, lounge and restaurant, 1812, as it reopens its doors on Friday 8th November 2019 following an extensive, and complete refurbishment.

Well known and loved in Bournemouth for its award-winning cocktails, funky live music, and fine dining, the new-look 1812 will be a welcome return for locals and visitors alike. The six-month long refurbishment has seen an extension added to the bar area opening up the space for more booths, dancing and cocktail drinking as well a new wrap around balcony perfect for al-fresco dining and drinking.

The formal dining area and evening menu have both been transformed to offer a more relaxed dining experience with new small plate dishes to tickle the taste buds. And for cocktail lovers, the drinks menu sees some new signature cocktails alongside old favourites.

Sunny, founder of Sunny Bird PR, commented: “We were thrilled to be chosen by 1812 to work on their exclusive relaunch event. As a team, we all love the venue and have been so excited about it reopening so to work alongside the 1812 team has been a pleasure and we cannot wait to try the new cocktails!”

Journalist of the Month

Photo: Sarah Brick

Catriona Innes is currently Features Director at Cosmopolitan where, in the name of investigative journalism, she has joined an undercover police force, worked as a Playboy Bunny croupier and – for one night only – performed a stand-up set with just two hours’ practice. When she’s not trying on other careers for size, she edits, writes and commissions the award-winning features section of the magazine. Originally from Edinburgh she now lives in London with her husband and cat.

Catriona took some time out of her publishing duties and undercover exploits to answer the notorious SBPR questions…

1.What are the 5 words that best describe you?

Eeeek, I really don’t know. I’d like to think I’m positive (though my friends also know I do like a good bitch every now and then), hard-working, fun (even if I don’t bring the fun I tend to gravitate towards those who do), sleepy (if I don’t get my nine hours that would change to grumpy) and, I guess, happy. I’m very happy right now.

2.What magazine do you love reading and why?

I always get all the weekend supplements – I absolutely love the Guardian Weekend, their long-form features have inspired me throughout my career. I’m also loving ELLE since Farrah Storr took over, the memoir piece at the front is always so moving. And Red for motivation and good advice. American GQ costs a fortune to get here, but is worth it for the long-reads.

 3.What is your favourite book?

I always recommend The Lost Art Of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice, it’s one of the few books I’ve read again and again. After Long Silence by Helen Fremont is a brilliant memoir about a woman who discovers that her family is Jewish and that her parents were in concentration camps. They hid it from her to protect her. I’ve bought it about five times as I keep lending out copies to people that I don’t get back.

 4.Which song makes you dance?

Raise Your Glass by P!nk.

 5.What has been your best career moment?

Getting my job at Cosmopolitan. As soon as I read the first rebrand issue I knew I had to work here – it was at a time when lots of magazines had taken out long-read, investigative features and Cosmopolitan was bucking the trend. I wrote in straight away saying I loved what they were doing and applied for the job of Senior Editor as soon as it came up. Since then I’ve commissioned so many features I’m proud of, as well as writing a huge variation of reports on more serious issues like sexual assault in the porn industry and going undercover with a police force who catch predators on the London underground to lighter things, like when I performed a stand-up comedy set or went to work in the Playboy club.

 6.What advice would you give your 20-year-old self?

Career-wise: keep going and trust yourself. I had a lot of wobbles in the early stage of my career where I thought I just wasn’t good enough and would stop emailing editors with my pitches. But now I see that I should have gone for it more and not taken silence as a “no” (I now realise editors are SO busy so that’s probably why they didn’t reply.) Life-wise: carry on having adventures, they matter so much more than the clothes you’re wearing or anything that could bring you ‘status.’

7. Where are you happiest?

Golden hour, first night of a festival, surrounded by friends, can of Strongbow in hand.

 8.Who would be your number one dinner guest and why?

P!nk. But not sure it would be that fun for her. I met her once and couldn’t speak I was crying so much.

 9. If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?

Teleportation. I’d love to be able to, in an instant, visit my family and friends in Scotland.

10.  If you had to ask us one question what would it be?

What do journalists do that make your job harder?

It’s our job to make journalist’s jobs as easy as possible, so it’s interesting to think of it the other way around. Here’s what the team thought:

Lizzie: Not answering the phone or replying to emails.

Alex: It’s only happened once but naming the client’s product wrong in press did not go down well. The other frustrating thing is not being able to get feedback why a feature doesn’t make the cut.

Josh: Judging the story before they’ve heard it because I’m a ‘PR’ or ‘Press Officer’.

Laura: Not crediting the brand or company when we have provided the journalist with brilliant quotes and images for their story.

Sunny: Saying they are going to feature a story and then no doing it, as it’s very difficult to explain why stories get spiked to clients.

Catriona’s first novel The Matchmaker is available from November 28th and can be ordered here.

New Client: South Coast Aesthetic Clinic

The team at Sunny Bird PR are delighted to announce they are working with the South Coast Aesthetic Clinic in Dorset. South Coast Aesthetic Clinic delivers Harley Street quality, offering the finest beauty products and anti-ageing treatments.

The SBPR team are supporting the clinic with their open-clinic events, the first being the ‘Drop a Dress Size’ open clinic on Thursday 7th November 2019 for an exclusive day of treatments and offerings to help clients drop a dress size before Christmas!

The South Coast Aesthetic team will be demonstrating their advanced weight loss treatments at the open clinic which can result in losing two dress sizes in just 8 weeks! The team will be demonstrating the 3D-Lipo and HIFU treatments which are simple, non-invasive, painless and affordable.

The SBPR team will be supporting with the guest lists, organising the event, publicising the event and managing the event.

Sunny Bird, Founder of SBPR, commented: ‘The whole team are very excited to be working with Jolanta and her team at the South Coast Aesthetic clinic. The clinic is fantastic and the treatments they’re offering are very exciting - just in time for Christmas too!’