Recently at Pierce Mattie PR there has been a large influx of brands coming from Europe to the USA wanting press. When we do our initial new business meeting we often review your global press books. Europe always generates solid fabulous press. But recently some of our American clients have done the reverse and launched in Europe and are actually getting much bigger press mentions in London and Paris than New York or Los Angeles.
WHY?
When we review the UK strategy we find that they are doing no more work than we are here in the USA. We actually sometimes find that they are doing a bit less. We have spent many trips in Europe sitting down with our fellow publicists and shadowing them for a day or two to see what is this UK or European magic. We find that they are doing the same thing, but getting much better press than the US agents?
WHY
It seems in London or Paris all you have to do is have a lunch event, get up and speak and hand out products and bam! you have yourself a full page editorial in Vogue and Elle. Ok, maybe I am oversimplifying this process and I mean no disrespect to my European counterparts, but you get the gist. The USA - we can fly in a helicopter to take an editor to a spa, have the celebrity hand them the bag of products, have a doctor follow-up with a phone call and still you get that little blurb on a page with two sentences, an 800# mention and a dollop of your face cream in Allure Magazine.
WHY?
America is not France or the UK. Our news is vacuum based meaning all fashion books are centric to service the reader and not be a preacher. And the reader in America has 10x the options that they do in the UK for apparel, beauty and fitness. There are also many more PR firms in the USA than in Europe. Edelman has over 10 offices in the USA and only 1 in France and 1 in England. The editors in the USA are slightly more jaded than in Europe. They have been there; done that and most of all don’t want to do it again. Chances are when you present a New York editor with a new product they have seen something just like it earlier that day or maybe that month. But we still love them.
Here are some tips if you are a global brand and find that your US press is not up to snuff with your UK or French press.
1. Don’t box yourself in just to the top fashion magazines. Meaning hit up broadcast.
2. Pitch the top 50 newspapers, they speak volumes and will help drive your story.
3. Don’t have European expectations. If Cosmopolitan only covers beauty products that are under 49.00 and your newest launch breaks the bank, be reasonable.
4. Distribution equals contribution from the press. In Paris if your brand is at one or two stores than you will get French press. In America if you’re only sold in one store, chances are you will not get much press at all in the national glossy books. You have to be in all 50 states to generate that national coverage that you feel you deserve like in Europe.
Posted by Amy Bailey on February 3, 2007 4:49 PM
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