There s Enough for Everyone

There’s Enough for Everyone

Here’s an offbeat example of how to keep all those producers happy. One of our associates had two small children in the family and a third on the way. He and his wife wondered how they were going to make ends meet, send their kids to the best schools, and still lead an enjoyable life. A marketing journalist by trade, Jason put his beat to work and decided to auction off his to-be-born son’s name for corporate sponsorship. Jason asked us to help him publicize the endeavor.

Despite the craziness of the idea—not to mention the huge ethical questions—this was indeed a story. For a minimum bid of $500,000 dollars, any company could bid on eBay, the online auction service, for the right to name Jason’s to-be-born son after its name or product. Pringles Black? Why not?

Since the auction was being held on eBay, a smart Web culture journalist at a national paper was the best bet to cover the story. We called one of the best journalists we know writing about the Web—Janet Kornblum of USA Today. At the time, her column “eLife” was documenting what people were really doing online and in technology; thousands of people read it religiously. The morning the story appeared in Janet’s column, the phones started ringing. Jason spoke first to the AP, because no other print outlet would be able to spread the story as quickly. Within a few hours, it was on the AP wire for every newspaper, radio program, and TV show to see.

From there, we gave the morning news exclusive to Katie Couric at the Today show for the next morning, but that limited him to keeping quiet for a difficult fifteen hours. Since an exclusive had been struck with the show, we turned down CNN, CNBC, BBC, Fox News, and many others that day, but the producers understood why and were willing to wait, as long as we handed them something unique and different for their segments.

Although Jason was the only spokesperson for the family in all the news segments, each network was able to play a different angle of the story. For instance, CNN had his older daughter of four on the air to hear her thoughts (children make for good TV!), Fox was able to pay a visit to the household, and CNBC received the first nighttime news slot interview. What was left for BBC? Why, the international angle, of course: What this would mean to babies worldwide! The point is that it’s important to offer variety to different producers, letting them know you’re working to give them something unique and worthy for airtime.

In addition, a Westchester correspondent for the AP received all the story developments before the rest of the print media, and we gave him the opportunity to continue reporting the story on a national level, with a new angle each week. For the next month, it was open season on the baby-naming story. Ethical debates sparked in the media, political cartoonists made light of the baby-naming phenomenon, and every pundit on earth had a swing. The story continued for a year—even though no bid for the baby’s name was ever offered.

The bottom line is that once you’ve got the media on the hook, and someone bites, don’t sit back and enjoy the attention. Make it work for you—and now. Think big; choose the smartest path to maximum exposure; and supply every producer, journalist, fact checker, and editor along the way with as much information as possible.

When you’ve done it right, the momentum you’ve created will inevitably propel you in the media for months or even years. Journalists will be intimately familiar with your story, and when similar products, events, mishaps, ideas, or opinions—yours or your company’s—occur, and you let them know, you’ll get a call back right away. It sounds daunting, but it will become much easier the second or third time. Once you’ve got your foot in the national media’s door, you’re on your way to big-time buzz.