Peer Review

When you are looking to launch an exciting new product; a revolutionary treatment; a new clinic; or a machine that promises to give you the body of a supermodel (okay the last one is wishful thinking), how do you go about making it an event journalists will want to attend?

Often, it’s about throwing in an expert that will give journalists some useful inspiration or information, or a celebrity that provides a frisson of excitement and some kick ass quotes. It’s a straightforward trade off. You come to my event and I will give you some juicy nuggets for features, and some social currency – who doesn’t want to hang out with the famous and beautiful?

Sometimes, and I’ve noticed this happening more, you might recruit a journalist/influencer to comment or host an event.

As the digital world evolves, some journalists are becoming celebrities in their own right, with hundreds of thousands of followers, profile pieces in the broadsheets and their own ‘brand.’ It makes sense to think about them as ambassadors/hosts. There are positives about this: they are extremely well connected and known within the industry; they are likely to draw their well-connected friends to the event; and most importantly they are likely to know what they are talking about, have some interesting opinions and be professional. So they turn up on time and you get to immerse them in the brand, which bodes well for future coverage from them.

There are some negatives though. Journalists may be put off by another journalist hosting an event or representing a brand. Sometimes because they don’t respect the other hack or their opinion; sometimes it might be a bit of professional jealousy; or it might not be useful to them to quote another journalist in their features.

Something to consider?