Mention the word “Christmas” in a 72Point brainstorm session and listen for the audible whoosh of air as every single creative in the room visibly slumps into their chair and lets out a heavy sigh.
We’re in the middle of November, and while we’re not Christmas scrooges (far from it, some of us have already completed our Christmas shopping while others are signing off their emails with Mrs Santa), we have already had more than 20 briefs from PR’s wanting to capitalise on the biggest event in the calendar.
So why such a negative reaction from the team you may ask? Everyone loves Christmas, so it must have great talk value?
Well yes, everyone loves Christmas, but that doesn’t make it news.
The 25th December might be a big deal for PR’s and businesses who will benefit from the event, but for the press it really is just another day in the year.
And if the media aren’t bothered by Christmas, they’re not going to dedicate pages and pages to survey-led stories about opening presents, gobbling turkey and overspending – not unless the stories are REALLY good.
So what are our tips to achieving the most for your brand, in the lead up to Christmas Day?
Don’t send the story out in the lead up to Christmas Day
Okay so this might be an impossibility, but what we’re trying to say is that the competition for coverage at this time in the year is HUGE. So if you do need coverage in December, make sure you’re doing something that will beat all the competition.
Consider Christmas Day
Do you have to send your story out before the big day? If you want coverage in December, but don’t necessarily have a brand which needs coverage to generate sales, you might want to consider lining up a story to go out ON Christmas Day. This is a fantastic ‘open goal’ opportunity for coverage, as news desks are receptive to any light list-based material. Alternatively ‘quick win’ stories are perfect for issue on Christmas Day, so if you’re an internet business capable of monitoring sales quickly contact us. We can very quickly pull together a sales-based story to show how many people are buying holidays / gym memberships / divorces on 25th December.
Don’t send out the same old story
We all know news is on a loop and Christmas is an example of just that. Every year we see the same survey stories make – ‘XX per cent of Brits received unwanted presents’, ‘the average Christmas looks like XXX’, ‘British households look set to spend £XXX on Christmas’ – but they don’t make BIG. If you want more than a ‘nib’ or a ‘stick’, do something different.
If budget allows, make a video
So we know we can’t compete with the John Lewis Christmas advert, which has already had almost 12 million views online, but if you’ve got a little more money to spend, a video is a great way to secure coverage online and has great longevity for the brand. Stories which are cross-platform definitely have the best chance of making, and news sites are crying out for videos to support any content they publish. However make sure the idea has been well thought through – last year TGI Friday had the brilliant idea of sending drones around their restaurants with mistletoe and a ‘kisscam’ but the stunt backfired spectacularly when the drone hit a diner in the face, and the brand received more coverage for the epic fail than the original idea.
DON’T talk about Christmas
The best way to get a survey story into the press in December is to make sure you don’t mention the C-word. So if you’re thinking of a survey led story, think about the USP’s of the brand, and most importantly, why is it so cool the other 364 days of the year? This should be the focus for any story you put out.
Try not to over-brand
Actually this is the advice which we give at all times of the year, but it’s all the more important at Christmas. A great example of a story which cleverly weaves in the key messages about the brand, without being too Christmassy or ‘pluggy’ is our Competitive Mums story we ran for the launch of Nativity 3: Dude, Where’s my Donkey? which subtly makes reference to Christmas nativities without over mentioning.
Think outside the box
Sorry, it’s a cliché, we hate it, but there it is. When generating ideas for Christmas try to step away from the event itself, try to think of something which is funny; if you can imagine talking to your friends about the subject matter for hours and hours, chances are you’re onto something.
Go Negative
A no-no for every PR, and a big fat thumbs up for 72Point, and more importantly for the papers. Want to run a story about how families interact at Christmas? We guarantee you’ll have more luck trying to land a story which looks at the arguments families have on Christmas Day, or the things that went wrong with the dinner, than a story about how well everyone got on and what we love about Christmas.
Consider all avenues
A survey is a fantastic way to achieve national press coverage, but a video or infographic could be the clincher when it comes to online coverage, you might even decide that at this time of year you pay for some native advertising to guarantee you that all important ‘show’.
And lastly, phone us if you’d like a helping hand
You might get some advice you don’t want to hear, you might need to re-think your ideas, but you WILL have a better chance of achieving all you want for Christmas.