Abstract
Back in the days of press releases on A4 sheets of paper, news editors might devote a maximum of 10 seconds before tossing them into the bin. Too many words, a boring headline, nothing special to catch the eye, and that could be reduced to three seconds.
Newspaper journalists have a built-in “spam filter” that gives short shrift to press releases and follow-up phone calls from nervous PRs. Only a few make it through, and even when they do, the “brand” is usually given a brief mention far down in the story, often deleted in the subbing process. The fear of being “got at” is conspicuous in our trade. PRs and journalists have always been a different breed and never the twain should meet in a newsroom, many of us believe.
So, the phrase “brand journalism” provokes a familiar response in the heart of this reviewer. It sounds like a contradiction in terms and indeed the author, Gay Flashman, is endearingly apologetic in her approach as she admits that no one is pretending we’re talking about BBC News or Channel 4 News or the Washington Post here. A former newspaper reporter who went on to work for the BBC and ITN news departments, became managing editor of Channel 4 News, and founded marketing agency Formative Content, she describes herself as “a pioneer of brand journalism”.
Her book is likely to end up on the reading lists of public relations students, just as Essential English for Journalists, Editors and Writers by Sir Harold Evans and McNae’s Essential Law for Journalists are must-reads for reporters.
Journalists too should read it, if only to be alert to the latest PR techniques, although Harry Evans himself might recoil from some of the phraseology, such as “buying journey” (think she means shopping), “thought leadership” (your company needs to take a stance on current trends), and “stealth content” (burying a “message” deep within a story). As for “indicative brand journalist content schedule”, many non-brand journalists will have fallen asleep before the end of that paragraph about “to do” lists.
You can’t just sell these days: you need to align your company with the core views of your target customer. That’s the central message of this book. According to Flashman and a notable range of experts quoted, people want to do business with companies that think like they do.
You need to “sell with a purpose”. Companies need strong views on social issues, environment, equality and politics. It’s not enough to say you believe in fair trade – you have to mean it and constantly reinforce it. Flashman believes that trust in news brands is so reduced that people are turning to companies for information and insight.
She sets out her definition of “brand journalism” as follows: “…the phrase divides marketers and communicators based on where they are from, whether they have been a journalist and what their exposure is to the world of content marketing.”
And crucially: “The nature of brand journalism is such that it is most obviously not about independence from power. It is, by its very nature, supported by and paid for by brands themselves.”
If that is the book’s key and honest message, its aim is to explain how this can be done. “Brand journalists are not writing stealth content that buries a brand message and purports to be news. Instead they are creating truly interesting stories for brands, corporates and organisations; stories that communicate a broad brand message or value(s), but do not explicitly try to sell,” writes Flashman.
Brand journalists may not necessarily be creating these stories for the target audience, but influencing a group who may never buy the product yet are the first link in a chain of influencers. It’s all about creating trust. Focus has shifted from product-focused content to “values”.
Flashman talks about “arresting the scroll”, clearly a common phrase in the PR community, which means stopping you flipping TV channels or scrolling through Facebook stories and the like. The book is full of handy tips on how to do that. Human stories are the best – not exactly a revelation to journalists – and you should quote an expert when putting them together. Flashman also talks about “evergreen content”. We would call these “recycled stories”.
There’s also plenty of advice about timing a story, connecting it to an external event such as Pride Week, or when a new CEO comes on board. Flashman starts her textbook sounding like a journalist but lapses into PR-speak, so watch out for instructions about “mission narrative” and “sales tunnels”. For example, students need to know that different stories encourage different responses “depending on where in the sales tunnel they sit”.
“Sales tunnel” is just another PR-speak phrase for shopping trip.
Flashman acknowledges that grabbing attention is harder than ever these days, with the explosion of competing internet and social media outlets. There’s so much information, but the quality of much of it is questionable. That’s why it’s so important, she believes, to be plugged into world issues, care about climate change, and be aware of LGBT issues and disabilities.
She provides meticulous notes on every chapter and an impressive list of acknowledgements, with a foreword by the managing director of the World Economic Forum, Adrian Monck. She also brings together the collective thinking of her industry.
It all boils down to the basic tenet of journalism: what makes a good story? Flashman compares a journalist’s five Ws (Who, What, Where, Why, When) to a PR’s five Ps – Planet, Purpose, People, Process and Product – and urges her students to use a journalist’s approach to tell great stories.
