From Journalist to PR - Part 4 - Seeking Win-Win Stories

In the last article I wrote about the importance of establishing the right story to tell - and the power of putting together a number of elements which help to galvanise and reinforce that story.

This is highly relevant to public relations work because often the single story which a client, business, organisation, etc wishes to tell the world about may not have the strength to make head-lines in the greater scheme of things. 

That is when an element of lateral thinking can be required in a journalistic attempt to tell a much bigger, better, story. 

Let’s take a simple easy-to-follow and totally fictional example… 

The client, Blogg’s Ices, has developed a new lollipop and they want the PR team to tell the world about it… It’s one of those old-fashioned “mivvi” style ice creams on a stick - the middle is made of thick creamy vanilla and there’s an outer coating which is blueberry flavoured. 

Maybe a few elements of trade press will be interested in a story entitled “Bloggs Launches new Lolly”. But, naturally, they want the wider world to know about their brilliant new product.

As a journalist I’d ask the Bloggs team for the whole story. What made him think of the idea? Where do the blueberries come from? Is there something unusual or unique about the sourcing of any of the ingredients? How about the cream in the middle? Is that purchased in bulk or is there something interesting to be said about how it’s produced or where it comes from?

If the answer is something like: “No, we buy all ingredients in bulk from an industrial supplier…” then you are pretty much stumped (and a small or niche ice-cream manufacturer would be mad to do that anyway, because they’d be taking on the big-boys in a buy-ingredients-cheap-and-flog-em-fast game they could never hope to win).  

However, if Bloggs tells you that they buy from a single farmer on the flanks of Exmoor who grows all the blueberries inside the national park area - and that the cream comes from an award-winning local dairy - then you begin to have a chance of creating a story for a wider audience. 

You might discover that the fruit farmer has a special area of sacrificial crops which he grows simply to feed wild birds in an attempt to keep them off his blueberries, and that he has certificates or whatever commending him for such actions from the RSPB. 

Then you learn that the award-winning local dairy is actually spending large amounts of money getting its farmers to graze cows in flower and herb rich meadows which are brilliant for insects etc (as indeed is the case with RAW Food & Drink PR’s client, Trewithen Dairy in Cornwall). 

So now you’re no longer discussing a product which is just a new lolly that the kids can enjoy on the beach. You are talking about an environmentally-friendly Rolls Royce on a stick. 

This isn’t only a delicious lollipop made from the finest quality ingredients, it’s an eco-warrior.

People who buy this ice-cream are not only experiencing the very best quality West Country fruit and cream - they are helping birds, bees and the whole of the local environment. 

You commission a good press photographer to capture images of Joe Bloggs up there among the blueberries with an RSPB warden - or perhaps he’ll be pictured enjoying one of his new ice-creams in a flower-filled meadow surrounded by happy cows.  

Now you can start writing the win-win story - one that’s certainly capable of making the local and regional press, maybe even the nationals… This is a lolly that is going to make its creator lolly, if you’ll forgive the pun - because overnight it becomes a well-known ambassador for the Bloggs brand. 

Some people might be cynical. But one thing I am finding exciting about working with RAW Food & Drink PR is that good stories are genuine stories. The tales which succeed, stand on their authenticity.

And actually this is where I am fortunate. RAW has in-house policies which ensure we only deal with clients who are genuine. You will never see us representing a manufacturer of junk food or drink.

Let me give you another example of a win-win situation. Years ago I was on a press trip to a certain holiday island in the sun. On the way over I read the local airline’s in-flight magazine which had a small article about the wonderful tomatoes grown on the island. I learned that, during the harvest season, they were turned into fabulous local product called “tomato jam”. 

I’d been invited to experience a number of island walks - and I was pretty amazed to find that, after much hype, there was absolutely nothing in the way of official or way-marked routes. It was all very scenic and pleasant, but tourists either had to join an organised walk with a guide, or make their own way around with a basic map and plenty of guesswork.

Then, halfway through the week, I asked where I could buy some of the celebrated tomato jam. The two local guides looking after our press group had no idea.

The next day we went on a particularly lovely walk down through a deep rocky valley. All along the valley floor beneath the warm sun-baked cliffs were small farms growing the most amazing fist-sized tomatoes.  We even passed a little shed where a hand-written sign advertised the celebrated but elusive tomato jam, but the place was empty and semi-derelict.

The valley issued out onto a rocky coast where, to our amazement, we found a series of ancient salt-pans carved in the soft limestone strata. One or two old ladies were still harvesting sea-salt (which I found amazing, seeing the salt-pans had been dug out by the Romans) and one was even selling little bags of the stuff from a bench beside the track. 

Eventually our walk ended in a quaint fishing harbour where we had lunch on a terrace right next to the boats. Fabulous! Fresh local fish, beautifully cooked and served. I asked the restaurant owner if he had any of the famous tomato jam and he duly brought us out a bowl of the stuff. I promise, a teaspoon of the deep red paste served alongside the fish was absolutely delicious. Salty and sweet and filled with tomato umami…   

At the end of the press trip we had lunch with the island’s minister of tourism. I happened to be seated next to her and she asked for my honest opinion following our week of exploration. 

Which was perhaps a mistake on her part… Because I’ll admit, I can go on a bit. But I told her that although I had fallen in love with the island, I was a bit disappointed by the lack of easy-to-follow walking routes. She looked puzzled, admitting that she had never embarked on a country hike in her life. So I explained that it was difficult for a foreign visitor to follow the myriad paths which covered the landscape. Tiny rocky paths which led down between the farms - some of which were public rights of way and many which weren’t. All of which made the terrain impossible for visiting hikers without a guide. 

Then I told her about the simple colour blob way-mark system adopted by places like national parks in the UK which walkers could use to follow a route for miles. 

And because I was on a roll, I also told her about the lack of tomato-jam buying opportunities. If the island airline could feature the stuff in a glossy in-flight  magazine, surely it should be available for tourists to buy? 

The tourism minister was now taking notes and she asked if I had any recommendations - adding, of course, that she had very little in the way of budgets. I suggested they hire a local sign-maker who could create some sort of tomato-shaped stamp which - with a bit of red outdoor paint applied - could be used to lay out a way-marked route on rocks, stiles or gateposts. Indeed, they could start with the route down the tomato valley we’d followed the previous day.

The tomato farmers who made the jam - along with the sea-salt harvesters whose raw material was also used in the product - could then be persuaded to set-up some kind of shack or shed along the way. They could use the place, collectively, to sell their wares - and the restaurateurs in the area would be encouraged to promote special menus featuring the the jam and the sea-salt. All with the easily-recognised red tomato mark.

An inexpensive colour brochure could be produced for distribution around the hotels and visitor centres - and repeated on the island’s visitor website. In short, the lovely, scenic and delicious Tomato Route would be included in all the promotional material and tourist literature sent out by the tourist board. The airline could even promote it in their flight magazine and visiting journalists would always be offered a hike along the route full of photo opportunities etc. 

It was a win-win story in so many ways - easy to achieve, cheap and effective. And I understand the island did instigate the idea (only to see it fall asunder some time later when the particular minister moved on and funding was withdrawn).

I describe it here as an example of joined-up thinking. 

We created a taste of it at RAW the other day when we invented the idea of the “perfect Devon gin and tonic”. We married Salcombe Gin’s first class product with Luscombe’s excellent tonic - then we obtained quotes from people like Food Drink Devon’s chair Barbara King stating how important it was for local companies to pull together, especially after the coronavirus lockdown… 

Creative and collective joined-up thinking can equal a story worthy of head-lines - it can be as simple as that.        

The valley of tomatoes