Wednesday 11 May 2011

Think mainstream, act niche

Watching BBC Worldwide as we prep for basketball finals in Barcelona this morning and heard "think global, act local" from three different spokespeople. With the world enjoying a multi-language chat-a-thon through Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, 'think global, act local' isn't just a cliché it's stating the obvious.

But like all home truths it's important to revisit and refresh from new perspectives now and again. Wordville's clients are often specialists or holding one off events or brands famous only to one audience. And it's our job to widen the pool of influence, break into broadcast and make it to the mainstream.

It always takes an understanding of the media targets, one by one. We avoid blanket statements to a mega-list of journalists who can't see the relevance. And we re-write, re-focus and re-pitch as often as required, drawing in specialist help as needed to help us shape the story, the photograph and the event to make media magic. This ensures we never miss a chance to turn the media spotlight to our client.

This approach gives us the opportunity to work with some great PRs - who know a particular geography or a particular medium inside out. These 'visitors to Wordville' join the town's growing number of citizens and have a lasting effect.

Alfons Pich and his team have been our Wordville Espana for the last six weeks and really prove the point. Interviews with all major Spanish newspapers couldn't have been secured unless we had found an angle for each of them. And that's not going to happen unless we focus on the end result and use a one to one approach. It's not the world that's getting small it's the opportunities that are getting bigger.