Gazumping

I recently commissioned a major feature for the Telegraph Magazine about a battle between residents of Wimbledon and the All England Club’s developers – a huge area of parkland is planned to be turned into 38 tennis courts, much to the chagrin of homeowners who love their views. It had everything – sport, history, money, countryside…

The writer spoke to everyone concerned and my art director worked with a graphic artist on a brilliant interactive illustration. However, a rival publication was also onto the story and ran theirs a week before. To use the editor’s vernacular: aaagggghhh.

We managed to get our version online immediately but it was very disappointing to be gazumped. My point is that if we had been working with a (good) PR it wouldn’t have happened. I suppose residents who’ve formed a protest group don’t generally get a media expert in – but a PR would have either negotiated an exclusive with one title or found a way to get different aspects of the story for different publications – the interest and goodwill was there. 

I’ve learnt to be more cautious next time and am more thankful than usual that when it comes to a lot of our content, a clear honest conversation with a PR is jolly useful.