Ask any author (even James Frey) and they'll tell you getting on Oprah can take an obscure book to the bestseller list. We hoped to make a Sprint phone a bestseller with the help of a story in O, The Oprah Magazine.
Metzger Account Executive Ali Randall was recently interviewed by PR Week magazine regarding work she had done on behalf of Sprint to get a new phone featured in this important women's magazine. Note the pitch timeline at the end of the article...much like a sales professional, PR professionals don't always "sell" the story on the first try. The key is to keep working for your clients.
The interview:
Who was your client and what were your media goals?
Ali Randall: We do national consumer outreach for wireless provider Sprint. We were targeting gift guides, and Oprah Winfrey's magazine was an obvious priority because it's one of the top-selling lifestyle publications.
How did you reach out to the editors?
Randall: We worked by e-mail initially. It took some digging to figure out the right editor and some persistence before we got a response. We finally got a 20-minute meeting with the style editor in August at which we were able to show her one of the new phones, Samsung's A940, for the Sprint service.
You were pitching new personal technology, which tends to be aimed at an early-adopter audience. Did you have to tweak your content or approach to appeal to O's predominantly female, mass-market readership?
Randall: O doesn't feature a lot of tech products, so I sold this phone not just as a hip gadget, but also as a fashionable accessory for women. We highlighted that the phone has a swivel screen and a built-in camera/camcorder. We also provided them with high-resolution images that showcased its sleek design.
What was the impact of the hit?
Randall: The A940 ended up making a special holiday version of "the O List," which is a selection of recommended products that have caught the eye of Oprah and the editors at O. Sprint had never been featured in the magazine before, and since everything that Oprah Winfrey touches turns to gold, they were very pleased. This phone ended up as one Sprint's stronger sellers during the key holiday season. Plus this new relationship we've established with O's editors should help not only Sprint, but also all of our clients over the long term.
Name: Ali Randall, account executive, Metzger Associates (Boulder, CO)
Placement: Featured on "the O list" in O, The Oprah Magazine, December 2005
Pitch timeline: Nine months
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