Stop chasing headlines – how to news hijack to get real results

We met with a prospect the other day and they told us a tale of woe about their current agency’s hit-and-hope approach to news hijacking. To start with, the client thought the agency was enthusiastic but then they realised they were forwarding them any big story that contained the word ‘cybersecurity’ and asking “Can you comment on this?”. As much as I was disappointed that this practice continues, it also gave me an open goal to explain Spark’s more strategic approach.

We talked about how the Spark team always storyboard a client’s POV on big issues and topics, which allows us to hit the ground running when it comes to news hijacking. It means we understand what the client can and should comment on versus what it can’t. With so many stories every day, this is critical. Our storyboards also mean we can quickly draft news hijack comments, rather than waiting for a client or spokesperson’s input every time. Speed remains of the essence, as journalists are looking for comments within hours rather than days, and often work on a first-come first-served basis.

Over the last 12 months, we have worked on a whole host of news hijacks, so we thought we’d highlight some of our successes and what made them work (our prospect liked the examples – we hope you do too!).

Planning ahead and keeping abreast of industry regulation

Industry regulation is great for news hijacking. Take the topic of AI, which continues to dominate the headlines. Earlier this year, when the EU's AI Act was passed into law, our Dynatrace account team saw an opportunity to pitch commentary about how this legislation would impact businesses. By planning ahead and working closely with the client to develop some unique angles, we were able to secure coverage in both City AM and AI Business.

Another example was the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and Ofcom’s investigation into the UK cloud market, focusing on the challenges businesses face when switching between cloud providers. Through tracking the story, our Cloudera team developed commentary that drew comparisons between how difficult it was to change your bank or mobile provider in the past and how easy it is now. By developing an insightful comment and timing our pitches with Ofcom’s initial recommendations, the team secured top-tier coverage in The Times, City AM, Cloud Pro, Beta News, and Capacity.

Keeping a finger on the cybersecurity pulse

There is no shortage of breaking news stories in the world of cybersecurity, whether it’s large brands falling victim to ransomware attacks, losing devices or a state-sponsored hack. For example, when a gang of hackers successfully compromised the likes of British Airways and the BBC, our team was quickly on the case, pitching out commentary from Secureworks, which resulted in coverage in the Financial Times, The Guardian and The Telegraph.

Elsewhere, when the Government’s cyber breaches survey revealed that half of businesses and two-thirds of charities had reported a cyber-attack or breach in the past 12 months, our Panaseer team used this as a hook to emphasise the importance of good cyber hygiene. This resulted in some excellent coverage in Computer Weekly and Intelligent CISO. Another news hook we jumped on was the NCSC’s warning about how the UK’s General Election could be threatened by online bots. Using some of the key findings from Imperva’s annual ‘Bad Bot Report’, the team were able to secure coverage in City AM and Professional Security amongst others, which drew renewed attention to the report and further raised this client’s media profile.

Finally, the Venafi team also hijacked the 10-year anniversary of the infamous Heartbleed vulnerability. Armed with commentary about organisations’ lack of readiness around post-quantum encryption having the potential to spark Heartbleed-like vulnerabilities, the team secured stand out coverage in Infosecurity and Security Week.

Don’t forget about letters to the editor

Submitting letters to the editor is another effective and sometimes under-utilised news hijacking tactic. As an agency, we’ve had great success writing and pitching letters to the Financial Times over the last 12 months. For example, when EY announced it would track employee attendance to address productivity concerns among hybrid workers, our Scalable team used this as an opportunity to draft a letter in response, arguing that this approach could alienate workers.

When research revealed long call wait times for people trying to contact HMRC, we drafted a letter from Quadient highlighting the need for organisations to balance their digital and traditional communications channels. Meanwhile, the Ivalua team responded to a story about global orange juice shortages, drafting a letter about the broader importance of supply chain visibility. This letter was praised by the Financial Times Letters Editor!

If you feel your current approach to news hijacking isn’t hitting the mark and you need storytelling that rises above the noise, then get in touch at [email protected]