I saw two clever tie-ins to last week’s big story about Scotland Yard breaking up the terrorist plot to blow up as many as 10 U.S.-bound passenger jets.
Michelle Tennant of Wasabi Publicity Inc. and her team of 10 publicists immediately started pitching story ideas about their client, SATSair, which provides “air taxi’ services. (Update on March 15, 2011: SATSair has since gone out of business.) Their press release and pitch noted that the company was deluged with travel requests on the day we found out about the foiled terrorist plot.
The Associated Press picked up the story and distributed it to thousands of media outlets on Friday. On Monday, First Business, a nationally syndicated TV news feed, picked up the story and sent it to thousands of TV stations.
“Whew. It was a very good week, and our client was thrilled,” said Michelle, a graduate of The Publicity Hound Mentor Proram.
Wyndham Hotels posted a press release on PRNewswire saying that they’d come to the rescue of arriving guests who were forced to forfeit their toothpaste, contact lens solution and drinking water in their carry-on bags. It’s all part of the hotel’s longstanding guest service program called “We Remember What You Forgot,” which supplies travelers with the personal products they most frequently forget to pack. The hotel offered arriving guests a choice of 21 items, from deodorant to contact lens solution.
The item was picked up by the Wall Street Journal and USA Today, among others.
As I explain in my “Special Report #35: How to be the Local Angle to National Stories,” local media outlets love hearing about people in their circulation area who are the local angle.
In fact, if you’re pitching yourself as the local angle, use that phrase. Say, “I’m just letting you know that we’re the local angle to today’s story about…” The bigger the national or international story, the greater your chances for an interview.
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