In today’s world, truly attention-grabbing headlines can be hard to come by. That’s an honest assessment from a seasoned (read: jaded) publicist. The hard part isn’t snagging the actual headline. In fact, securing media coverage in today’s world is more or less a commodity transaction. Any PR firm worth their salt can and should get you media coverage. But with paywalls and ads and endless fluff and filler….who’s really seeing it? Is your headline reaching anyone? Is your story even getting told? And if your story IS getting told, is the media portraying your brand/concept/initiative in the way that was intended? Chances are, probably not. When I started out in PR 15 years ago, the media landscape was a different world. Scary as it sounds, the distribution of news through the Internet was in its infancy. The goal was always hard copy coverage with beautifully-designed full layouts and spreads. Our M.O. was to generate our clients as much splashy centerpiece coverage as humanly possible. So we did. I was the queen of making clipbooks. If you elder publicists recall, a clipbook was a book of hard copy coverage you snipped and glued into masterful books you kept for your clients so when they came in for meetings you’d sit as a team and go through all the coverage together. It was amazing to flip through a book with a delighted client and know exactly the State of Brand Affairs and certainly your next move. That was because 15 years ago….10 years ago….maybe…PR was something that could mostly be contained. In today’s world, the idea of truly containing PR or controlling a brand’s identity through third-party manipulation is as antiquated as clipbooks themselves. It simply cannot be done. And you know what? That spells nothing but opportunity for savvy PR firms and smart brands. Sure, there will always be PR firms who sell commodity PR and build their portfolio by fueling their clients with fear about what might happen to their brands if they loosen their vise grip on control. We see this a lot in the AZ PR scene. But if you pay attention to the kinds of companies that are paving the way for business growth and future innovation, those companies are connecting with their core audiences and consumers in a completely different way. To us, this trend foreshadowed a coming PR apocalypse. The manufactured “brand identities” of the last decade were crumbling. Carefully-manufactured “brand standards” are not only no longer relevant, they’re also just plain old inauthentic. We saw the writing on the wall and knew right then and there for PR firms to evolve into the future of how brands communicate, we were first going to have to break out of our own carefully-constructed shell identity that we created over the years. So we did. And boy, when we do things….we go for the gusto. We swung for the fences all right. We pulled a stunt so out there, so innovative, so risky, and so different that the biggest PR stunt devil in the industry was what the cool kids call '“shook”. We went fully rogue. We lost the ego. We stepped into who we always were. We realized what PR is supposed to be. And you know what? It was epic. And it got people talking. If you’re reading this, good for you. You’re on the front end of how communications is changing. The next-generation hipster is coming into view.
Big thinkers…dreamers…round pegs stuck in square holes….we all have a story to tell. We can help you make it epic.
TBCPR is your storyteller, your way to form connections with audiences that can relate.
#TheBestPRCampaignofAllTime is one that’s epic.
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Connect with us: Melissa@TheBrandConsortium.com // 602.384.4747