latest from the blog

Yes, FREE! Some potential clients are surprised to find that we offer an ‘on the house’ idea generation service for PR research - at no cost at all. But there are reasons why:1. WE’RE GOOD AT IT We have spent years creating research based stories for national news press. It’s what we do - day in, day out. If you share your brief with us - whether it’s for a live project, or a pitch, we’re very happy to give you the benefit of our expertise. We also work with the media every day, and can give...

Our sister firm Perspectus Global recently carried out some research for us - a national survey of journalists digging into their relationships with PR and PR professionals. And one surprising fact coming from the research was that only 38 percent of press releases sent to journalists by PRs ever get used. The main reasons for releases being rejected are that there is no news hook (83 percent), they are not appropriate for the journalist’s publication (74 percent), and they seem like adverts...

Sending content to news desks is hugely different to selling in to other types of media, and here are our top five tips to help maximise your success:1) The early bird catches the worm. For print news outlets, sell in around 8.30am, before the news conference at 9.30ish. This gives editors the chance to digest your release, and if they like it, take it into conference. Don’t go later - and don’t go much earlier, or your release might get overlooked. NB online news desks have different...

After having seen a recent LinkedIn post about Clients From Hell, that resonated with an awful lot of agency people, we decided to take a positive perspective and think about our Clients from Heaven, and why we like them so much. We're naming no names, but this is a big shout out to all the PR and digital agencies, and in-house marketing and brand teams that we work with time and time again - you know who you are... Here's what we love most about you:1) You come to us early in a campaign...

Find out what 31 October has in store for you, according to our GingerComms forecast*….Scorpio 23 October to 21 November: Passionate, intense and secretive Scorpio, you will come into your own on Halloween, as you are the sign that loves 31 October the most (according to our research). Trust your determination to have a good time on this special night and make it happen. Shake off the past and look to the future - and if you don’t believe in magic now, you might well do so very...

With 31st Oct approaching, it seems an appropriate time to discuss how good research can live on, long after you think its time has passed. Just like a zombie. In April 2021, our research division Perspectus Global conducted an insights poll into emoji use, to discover which of the messaging app pictures were most in use and which made users seem old. We asked 16-to-29-year olds what emojis were only used by old people and found that the “thumbs up” emoji was top of the out-of-touch list. The...

Summer has finally arrived in the UK, and with it some absolutely brutal heatwaves. Thankfully we managed to get through them thanks to electric fans - possibly the most amazing invention ever - and keeping cool in the shade and with lots of cold drinks, whether that was water or a stronger tipple like a margherita poolside. We always enjoy seeing all the seasonal campaigns in our industry, and so have put together a selection of our favourites for this summer so far. We hope you enjoy - let...

At GingerComms, our clients are a mixture of PR agencies and inhouse PR and marketing teams. So the people we work with are all experts in media relations. But there are some key differences in terms of what we do in providing a specialised service targeting national news media, and other aspects of PR activity. In fact, sometimes what we do is the opposite of what you'd do if you were wanting to land feature coverage, get your brand on the product pages of an outlet.,or promote an event. As...

A recent Perspectus Global study, commissioned by Branston Pickle and sold in by the team at GingerComms, would certainly support this, indicating that on average, working Brits are only getting 29 minutes break during the day, nowhere near the full sixty minutes recommended. But surely with more of us working from home, we're taking bigger lunch breaks? Think again, as the research found that a quarter of us have had shorter lunch times since the pandemic began. And demanding bosses and...

Getting your press release noticed can make or break your campaign. Here at GingerComms we have a long, proud history of generating coverage for brands so we want to share what we know works and what we know definitely doesn't...   A large part of this is because we are storytellers and we know what makes for a gripping yarn. See here for a recent story for our in house research agency Perspectus Global to see:...

The start of a new year is traditionally manic for PR agencies - there are press leads to pick up on from Christmas, and putting together comms overviews for the year ahead. And on top of this, there is the pressure to go after new business to start the year with momentum. We've all been there before, sat in front of a blank screen, under pressure to put together a pitch quickly - often just days or even hours before the meeting begins. And while there are so many avenues to explore with a PR...