Don’t Sleep On Sharing Oscars Credits

The day after the annual Academy Awards is forever one of the busiest in an editorial calendar, and this Monday was no exception. While some fashion, beauty and features teams work all-nighters on their coverage, at Harper’s Bazaar we favour an early start; reflecting on what’s been reported overnight and actioning any suitable angles we think might be missing.

But whether real-time reporting on the Oscars or not, it’s really helpful to receive brand credits for coverage as soon as humanly possible. And not only for our convenience when turning stories around quickly; it clearly maximises opportunities for inclusion within them.

Chanel set a stellar example this year, winging over make-up and nail artist interviews with product credits and shopping links in an email by 1am. Granted, they came via the fashion house’s New York press office – not something every beauty brand targeting UK press has! – but they proved an invaluable resource for me come 6am when looking for leads. What was less helpful were the ‘get the looks’ emailed way after lunchtime, when I’d already published much of my reactive Oscars-related content.

This might be an unpopular opinion, but I’d wager that PRs with a vested interest in securing coverage from such major entertainment events would benefit from early starts the morning after them, too. One of the simplest pieces of advice anyone in editorial publishing can offer a PR is to ‘think like a journalist’ – and that might sometimes mean working like one. Just a thought.