Inspiration and Perspiration in PR
Yesterday I met with an interesting company that was interviewing healthcare public relations agencies. They had developed a detailed set of criteria for the PR agency that they were going to select. This is not uncommon, in fact, it is de rigeur. In this case, management kept coming back to their desire to hire an agency that “thinks out of the box,” and is “highly creative.” Not the “normal type of healthcare or medical PR” agency.” Understandably they also placed a premium on results, with the goal of selecting the agency that could combine their intellectual and creative assets with a solid track record of delivering for their clients.
Our discussion made me think of Colleen, a senior account executive at Schwartz. For years Colleen and I have worked together on a non-branded campaign to heighten awareness of Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). The target media for the campaign has always been consumer-type media of all kinds - daily newspapers, women’s books, men’s publications, family magazines, etc. - the hardest and most difficult coverage to land. We have been hugely successful in our campaign, due largely to an account team composed of people like Colleen.
Around three years ago (yes years!) Colleen first interested a senior editor at Self in writing a piece on OSA. This was a key outlet for us because women are gatekeepers to family health and our research had shown that spouses and significant others frequently “turned their husbands and boyfriends in” due to excessive snoring - a leading indicator of OSA. Colleen was thrilled since Self is a such a tough “get.” She sent information to the editor but the piece kept on getting pushed out. The editor left Self and Colleen had to start over again and again and again…Every time important new studies came out on OSA, Colleen would renew negotiations with a revolving cast of editors. As Ahab, it became her Moby Dick. Time passed but Colleen would not be deterred. Then one blessed day last month, Colleen arrived at our meeting breathless with the news that after getting a freelance writer interested in writing the story for Self and prodding her to conduct interviews, the piece was finally going to run in the January 2010 issue of Self. And you know what? It did. Here’s an abbreviated version:
What's really keeping you awakeSo, what does any of this have to do with the company I met with yesterday? Like them, I believe that great healthcare PR people need to be creative and be willing to leave traditional ideas behind and think expansively and “out of the box.” Over the years on this campaign we had consistently provided the client with some really great, innovative concepts. BUT….and this is a big “but,” more than anything, the best PR people I know are tenacious, “never-say-die” advocates for their clients. I have always thought that great healthcare PR or PR of any kind actually combine a dose of healthy inspiration with a continuous dose of perspiration. While companies sometimes think that there must be a magic bullet or mysterious secret sauce to what we do, I disagree. It’s pretty simple if you think of it.
Creativity and brilliant strategy is essential to all effective PR.campaigns. We take great pride in our ideas here at Schwartz. But sometimes it is the sheer effort of a bright, energetic, tireless, undefeatable PR pro - like Colleen - that makes the difference. In PR as in life, there’s no real substitute for going the extra yard.
Posted by Lloyd Benson on January 27, 2010 at 9:21 AM
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