The objective was to build earned media traction for Avaaz, an organization campaigning on disinformation. They’d compiled a report outlining the threat from disinfo to the EU Elections.
The problem is, reports rarely get picked up by the news media.
Insight
News outlets want stories, and a campaigning organization releasing a report isn’t a story. We’d get more interest – both from the press and readers – if we can peg the report to a narrative they can follow.
We need story with a central character to make it relatable – right now it’s a problem like the weather. It’s too nebulous.
Strategy
3 months before we release the report, we find a charismatic, relatable, average guy whose business has suffered from Brexit – think Danny Dyer with a small import/export firm.
We give him legal support and help with funding and campaigning to bring a case against the Vote Leave campaign.
To make it look like it’s got traction already, we get some social proof before we give it to the press. With the right social media video campaign – this guy on a funny, self-deprecating and totally honest rant set against the backdrop of his empty, echoing warehouse – we can reasonably expect to rack up 1m+ followers in anti-Brexit groups. Then we offer it to journalists with the narrative that this everyday hero has a snowballing crowdfunded campaign.
Outreach
Realistically, the number of major papers or magazines that would potentially take this story can be counted in single digits. We can aim to earn media by trading this up the chain, or we can contact relevant journalists individually, writing from our hero’s campaign team.
One thing though, when we’re writing journalists, let’s write them directly, and let’s never never ever use the words ‘press release.’
