Journalists are by nature nosy. It’s an essential characteristic. You won’t make it as a journalist if you’re not the sort of person to be constantly peering into shop refits to see what they’re doing in there or asking questions about a new brand before the PR is ready to talk about it.
Annoying but also a characteristic a PR can use to advantage, nay, exploit. Particularly when it comes to events. It’s harder and harder to get journalists away from their desks but an event in an unusual or hard–to-access location can do the trick.
And that doesn’t always mean expensive or fancy, honestly (although, I mean it can help).
Take for instance the invite I had this week to celebrate the 5 year anniversary of the British jewellery brand, Alighieri. It promised – and delivered – dinner in a crypt under a church in Euston.
Alighieri is inspired by the work of the medieval Italian poet, Dante Alighieri, so this not only made sense in terms of branding but… dinner in a crypt.Yes please!
Maybe you have to be of a certain romantic sensibility but I for one was up for a long table bathed in candlelight and dripping with wax, decorated with spooky plaster masks and the new season’s collection of glimmering gold jewellery. It was imaginative, on brand and I’ll tell you, there wasn’t a soul down in that crypt who wasn’t Instagramming like the devil.