Newsjacking Can Earn Positive Free Publicity – or Get Egg on Your Brand Face
Newsjacking is a clever PR ploy to gain visibility by leveraging off a high-visibility news story. It can generate free publicity and viral buzz. It also can backfire, causing serious embarrassment and reputational damage. Like comedy, timing is everything.
Real-time newsjacking pairs well with real-time media, and it has been used effectively in ads, blogs, videos, livestreaming, tweets and infographics.
The most famous newsjacking occurred during the 2013 Super Bowl when power went out for 35 minutes. Marketers at Oreo filled the broadcasting lull with a quickly developed commercial featuring a cookie and the words, “You can still dunk in the dark”.
The Oreo newsjacking succeeded because it was witty, timely and non-controversial. On a cost-per-view basis, Oreo’s newsjacking generated a larger ROI than its paid advertising. Oreo became a newsjacking pioneer and continued to exploit its prowess by newsjacking the birth of the British royal couple’s child.
Newsjacking also can flop spectacularly, as fashion brand Kenneth Cole discovered when it tweeted “’Boots on the ground’ or not, let’s not forget about sandals, pumps and loafers” amid the escalating conflict of the Arab Spring. Critics and consumers called the ill-timed promotion of shoes “inappropriate and heartless.” The newsjacking got noticed – for all the wrong reasons.
The Inventor of Newsjacking
David Meerman Scott, who coined the concept of newsjacking, bills himself as a marketing strategist who “turns fans into customers and customers into fans” by piggybacking on breaking news in real-time. The benefit, he says, is getting noticed for free. Sometimes, newsjacking alsoallows a brand to insert its views and opinions into ongoing discussions.
Scott describes newsjacking as “the art and science of injecting your ideas into a breaking news story.” To be successful, he says, requires brand managers to adopt a “real-time mindset.”
Newsjacking, which is a lot like jump-roping in a lane of traffic, is not for the faint-of-heart or marketers unable to consider consequences of their newsjacking in a 360-degree dimension. You can win big or fail badly. And you don’t have a lot of time to decide whether what you are doing will succeed or suck.
Risky But Worth It
Scott insists the rewards are worth the risk. “When I first invented newsjacking, I focused on the idea of getting your ideas into news stories,” he told an interviewer. “My main consideration was to teach the technique of getting you quoted in the stories being written by mainstream media reporters at newspapers and magazines and in broadcast stories on radio and television.”
“As I’ve spoken with hundreds of people who have successfully implemented my ideas,” Scott added, “I realized that many of them were generating sales leads, adding new customers, selling products and services and growing their business — all from newsjacking.”
Timeliness Is Critical Quality
Newsjacking, like breaking news itself, depends on timeliness. Not every breaking news story is an opportunity for newsjacking. Many breaking stories have relatively short life cycles. To be effective, newsjackers must jump on the horse while it’s still running.
Scott says frontline marketing personnel must have “the freedom and flexibility to write a blog post or send a media alert when the time is right. To successfully newsjack – or fend off a newsjack – you can’t wait for approval. You just have to do it.”
Scott recommends drawing up a formal mandate – approved by senior management, PR team and legal department – that sets rules of engagement, much like military commanders are empowered to take action on the battlefield.
Defensive Newsjacking
The practice of newsjacking has become so widespread that Scott advises companies and high-profile individuals to be prepared for defensive newsjacking.
“When I give this message to corporate audiences, I often see skeptical expressions on the faces of senior executives in the front row. Many are not comfortable with this,” Scott says. “So I look straight at them and ask, ‘How can you afford not to react to news in real time?’”
“This is not simply a question of missed opportunities,” Scott insists. “If you cannot react in real time, you risk being torpedoed by a competitor, an unhappy customer or the people you don’t even know.”
Newsjacker-in-Chief
Donald Trump’s ability as a businessman and politician to stay in the headlines can be credited to his seemingly innate newsjacking skill.
“In today’s real-time news cycles, an aggressive, but smart approach to injecting ideas, angles, predictions, facts and data can generate meaningful media coverage for an individual or business,” Scott says, which Trump has proven to be true.
When he was running for president in 2016 as an underdog, Trump earned coverage by injecting himself into headline stories. An example was his comment in a Fox News interview of “Who do they think they are?” that challenged Apple’s refusal to unlock an iPhone used by a suspected criminal. His continuing criticism of Apple was widely reported in major news outlets, including The New York Times.
Trump’s ongoing newsjacking has become easier because he now can post on his own social media platform that is closely monitored by the media.
Newsjacking Common Sense
“The rush to plug into the latest news through newsjacking should be tempered by common sense,” advises Curtis Sparrer, who owns his own PR firm in San Francisco. He recommends assessing potential newsjacking content “with the same critical eye that a reporter or news director might have.”
Sparrer says if you can’t imagine a second round of coverage for a story in a major newspaper or broadcast outlet, then newsjacking isn’t going to be worth the media’s time. Newsjacking can be more successful during slow news periods, he notes.
Even if newsjacking attempts aren’t successful every time, Sparrer says they can have residual value of keeping a brand or company “in the mix” with the media that could result requests for comments or interviews.
Sarah Burke, a PR and social media professional in New York, urges newsjackers to “think critically.” Her advice: “Look at it from the point of view of an everyday human being who’ll come across this content – Do you think it’d be offensive? Do you think it’ll be funny? Does it make sense? Sometimes it’s hard to be critical about your own work, so it’s also good to get a second opinion before anything goes out.”
Gini Dietrich, founder of Spin Sucks, says newsjacking stumbles more often than it shines. For it to work, she says newsjacking must “balance the need to be quick and bold with the imperative to be in tune.” Avoid slang, be upbeat and don’t get too cute or clever, Dietrich advises.
“Newsjacking is powerful,” she says, “but only when executed in real-time…and only when it makes sense to your brand.”
