More Media Wins: How We’re Earning Timely Coverage for CPG Clients
Recently featured in Fortune: The Pod Tent, one of Steelcase’s new office furnishings.
Courtesy of Steelcase
We entered 2021 curious about how the rapidly evolving breaking news cycle we experienced over the past year would influence our “pitching” success. With hope on the COVID-19 horizon, how would the media landscape evolve?
Shrinking newsrooms, over-stretched reporters and overflowing media inboxes will likely be here to stay. But we continue to observe how tried-and-true media relations best practices can still earn meaningful coverage for CPG brands in target publications.
On the heels of our first post in the Media Wins series, here’s a look at a few of our latest placements that resulted from rolling up our sleeves to get our clients and their products covered by relevant journalists.
Fortune Shares a Look at the Stylish Post-Pandemic Office
A year into the pandemic, employers are making big decisions about their “new normal.” Some are adopting permanent hybrid arrangements or ramping up office returns through fall 2021. This crossroads presents one of the most important decision-making periods for modern business leaders. Enter Steelcase, a global office design leader with a new collection of expert and research-driven concepts, like Work Tents, to help make the workplace return more playful, functional and productive.
National media visibility for Steelcase’s home and office solutions was a primary charge. Top-tier business publications, like Fortune, were a target because they’re read by decision making business leaders around the world. Fact-based recommendations on ways to efficiently prepare the office for hybrid staffing plans could inspire product orders. A lifestyle writer at Fortune capitalized on the opportunity to illustrate ways companies can adapt office spaces with Work Tents and other Steelcase products.
The takeaway for marketers? Timeliness is key when activating media relations. Product availability coupled with an active conversation on the topic made this the right moment to pitch. Building a strong story with data, expert tips and an abundance of multimedia assets increases the potential for success and enhances coverage quality.
The win? Fortune’s use of lifestyle images in addition to product-specific graphics helped tell a more complete story about Steelcase’s solutions and helps readers visualize how the products could work in their layout.
The New York Times Introduces the Newest Style of Wine
COVID’s arrival prompted “of age” adults to recreate happy hours, weekend brunches and holiday celebrations in their homes. Heading into 2021, Italian sparkling wine producers readied for a major announcement: the first-ever bottlings of newly approved Prosecco Rosé D.O.C. were sailing to American shores, combining two popular styles of wine.
Brands like Gancia raced to confirm their wines made it safely to the U.S. and prepared marketing communications and sales distribution plans to get Prosecco Rosé D.O.C. into consumers’ hands. Knowing that dozens of wineries would be making a similar pitch at the same time, we quickly developed a release to convey Gancia’s expertise and wine availability to the biggest names in wine journalism. Florence Fabricant of The New York Times was inspired to taste and share about incoming samples and introduced readers to the brand as one to buy for summer sipping.
The takeaway for marketers? When approaching a competitive announcement, enter the moment armed with information as soon as it becomes available and be responsive. We had to reply to several fact checking questions in real time. In cases like this, start big and then fan out to trade media.
The win? The New York Times is one of the most read publications in the world with over 43 million online visitors. The article, featuring a prominent image of Gancia’s bottle, also made the print edition.
Vegetarian Times Teases 10 New Veggie-Friendly Snack Ideas
Over a third of U.S. households have at least one vegan, vegetarian or flexitarian member, which has increased consumer interest in products that support these lifestyle preferences. Lekkco Belgian Dark Chocolate Spread is found in the same aisle as hazelnut spread, but it has the benefits of being dairy and nut-free – and it is available in a variety of tasty flavors.
Traditional media outlets are a natural target for this fun CPG brand, but a growing crop of lifestyle-specific sites exist to inspire visitors with an array of meal and snack ideas. Approach turned to a regular freelance contributor of Vegetarian Times who happened to be working on a round-up of her favorite snack ideas and agreed to give Lekkco a taste. When she confirmed it was just as yummy as we had promised, she included it in her story.
The takeaway for marketers? Alongside outreach to more mainstream food and beverage outlets, it’s important to keep niche topic and lifestyle media on the radar, whose stories can deliver high quality proof of concept for products that deliver a range of benefits.
The win? In addition to linking directly to the brand’s website and sharing every key message, the post reached over 240,000 potential snackers who face limited options in the marketplace.
No doubt the media landscape will continue to evolve—what’s “sticking” today won’t necessarily work a few months from now. Yet, one constant remains: media relations is about maintaining urgency and relevancy, which comes from a thoughtfully developed media strategy.
So, if you’re a brand seeking a partner to help share your story with media, know that we’re here to help. Approach us anytime.