Tarnished metal shines bright in the media

Scottish Business Resilience Centre Media Coverage

43 Press Cuttings and Counting: Metal Theft is Propelled into the Spotlight thanks to Coverage Haul
METAL THEFT

METAL THEFT t is a hugely damaging criminal act, that can put whole businesses and communities in the dark, hold up transport networks and cause millions of pounds in damages.
Yet it is still often viewed as little more than a shady crime perpetrated by petty criminals who cause little more than localised nuisance value. A so-called ‘victimless’ crime for insurers to mop up.
The Scottish Business Resilience Centre (SBRC) set out to change perceptions – and asked Holyrood PR to help explain the true extent of the black market in stolen metal and the damage that can be wrought on businesses and communities.
So with the task of publicising the SBRC’s Metal Theft Summit, a gathering of authorities, businesses and academics, ahead of sweeping changes to law, we set about creating a targeted mini-campaign – and delivered a successful sweep of positive coverage across a dizzying range of media.
In total we delivered at least 43 separate items of coverage spanning local media, national media, broadcasters, as well as specialist and niche interest websites and publications – so creating around 5.8million opportunities to see (OTS) positive, educational messages about the problems of metal theft.
That was exactly the kind of reach and influence the SBRC was looking for, to help it shift perceptions and to help change behaviours and attitutded.  That’s exactly the kind of experience your business could enjoy with help from professional PR experts.
 
The first wave of our PR activity was to  highlight the credentials of those attending the summit, as well as the national importance of the changes to law rendering scrap metal a cashless industry, securing key coverage in business, trade and national titles.  A snapshot of these included two articles in the National, the local title to the Cambuslang venue (the Rutherglen Reformer), Scottish Business News Network and Hub4.
But, with our ‘multiple bites of the cherry’ mindset we went on the hunt for further stories to tell – and after a bit of digging we were equipped with information from one of the day’s key presentations, from SP Energy Networks. By scratching further we unearthed a wee gem – CCTV footage showing two reprobates dicing with death to steal copper cabling from a an electricity substation in Lanarkshire.

Edinburgh PR agency show how they help clients achieve more media coverageWhy tell your most powerful business stories just once? With our ‘multiple bites of the cherry’ mindset, we help our clients to get repeated coverage in the media, by finding many ways and angles to tell their stories. Want to find out how you can enjoy similar perks? Then check out our blog post describing exactly how we delivered three times as much coverage for one client


We then carefully planned a rollout, prepping a press release with quotes from SP Energy Networks. This well and truly grabbed the media’s attention, resulting in coverage in the Times, Herald, Daily Record, BBC, STV, Deadline News and Mail Online.
Yet we still weren’t finished. Next up we switched our focus to broadcast, securing three massively important, far-reaching and influential items of coverage on the BBC.
With interest in the issue well and truly heightened, we pitched SBRC expert Jim Scott for a feature on Radio Scotland’s morning commuter favourite, Good Morning Scotland. Later that same day we secured yet another item of broadcast coverage, with Chief Inspector Ronnie Megaughin interviewed at the Summit, on Radio Scotland’s John Beattie Show.
We also turned our attention  to TV, with the news of the conference also featuring on the Reporting Scotland news round-up during the hugely popular BBC Breakfast show.

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