I like surprises

Yonks ago, I received a press release. “Research reveals,” it declared, “that Brits’ favourite destination in America is… New York!”

I might well have guessed that — and therein lay the problem. News, in its purest sense, needs to be something that’s changing. Equally, readers of a travel section want to learn something fresh. If somewhere less expected — Boston, San Diego, Orlando — had topped that American destination chart, beating out the likes of NYC, it would have been far more notable and thus pitch-worthy.

Now, obviously you can’t lie. The stats are the stats. But there are maybe two routes to a compelling, sufficiently surprising stat or survey result.

First option: you think of a survey question(s) or Google search data result that, based on a hunch, feedback or prevailing lifestyle trends, could/should throw up something suitable. I appreciate that this is a bit needle-in-a-haystacky, however.

The second comes when your client tells you of such a trend, based on their booking or web data. Ideally they do this as a rule, but I certainly never found that unicorn of a client in my PR days! More likely, you’ll need to school them or just keep asking.

Ah yes, Richard, you might be saying, but what about when the client requests (i.e., demands) a release about a boring survey outcome — such as New York topping that US destination chart? In that case, be creative: look further down the list to see if there’s a more interesting number 2 or 3 and, if so, lead with that. Or see if the winner fits a wider, burgeoning trend in travel or lifestyle.

One final thing: a 1000% year-on-year spike in interest in holidays to Timor-Leste, say, might sound good — but that probably just means 10 enquiries versus one the year before. Such small numbers are too trifling to carry much water; spikes need to be meatier, more substantial.