Race Against Sport

Holyrood PR Blog

My colleague Lisa and I ventured across to the Daily Record HQ in Glasgow on Tuesday morning to learn all about how media works around major sporting events in Scotland. The main focus was on 2014’s Ryder Cup, the Commonwealth Games, how the media buzz is already in full swing and how we can still get our clients coverage during this sport-dominated time.

Stuart MacKenzue, PR and Media Manager from EventScotland, Lorraine Herbison, Head of News and Sport and Radio Clyde and Hilary Duncanson, Chief reporter at the Press Association all spoke about how their roles can help and enhance the media storm that surrounds the build-up to 2014.

Stuart MacKenzie began the breakfast event talking about the sheer amount of events going around in addition to the sports that will encourage visitors to explore the whole of Scotland. His talk gave a fantastic insight to how clients of all kinds can benefit from this boost in tourism which is set to benefit the entire economy.

Lorrain Herbison highlighted the influence that the Commonwealth Games and how at Clyde Radio they are covering the countdown to 2014. Lorraine explained how various stories from non-sporting clients can still reach a wide audience during the whirl-wind of media attention the sports will be getting over the next year.

For example, to get the message out there about the games, Clyde Radio have incorporated it into their news and sport bulletins, having a presenter volunteer for the games and explain the process on-air, formulating an effective ticket strategy, using social media everyday and luckily the mascot for the games was called “Clyde” making the perfect tie in with the station.

This showed us that there are still various ways to get stories out there apart from the traditional press release as using social media and interviews can help our content stand out from the crowd and boost coverage.

Finally, Hilary Duncanson discussed the demand for live content including video, photo galleries and sound; which is set to explode during the games.  The face of media is changing and despite it being our main export, print media is not the sole focus for audiences anymore. Hilary discussed the importance of engaging an audience through fast, current content which is essential in sporting events.

Being able to replay an athlete’s winning race or jump within minutes of it happening live is what audiences want. This highlights how keeping a constant eye on what is going on around the world can help our clients by us acting fast and keeping the press informed with what they are doing. You don’t want to be sending out old news that has been sent and shared a hundred times before you.

This event taught me a lot when it comes to coverage, content and the various channels we have to get our content out. When busy news days or huge live sporting events are on, it does not mean that we give up as it’s a bit tricky to get coverage and our clients are completely non-sport related. It just means we need to get a more creative and use every media platform and opportunity we can to get our clients out there.