By Brittany Frey, Assistant Account Manager
Nope, it wasn’t my first born, or even a human at that, but rather my dog. Olive is an 8 pound toy Australian Shepherd and the cutest thing in the whole entire world (or at least I think so!) I rescued her from a puppy mill a couple of years ago after the “breeder” told me that she would “throw her in with my order.” I took that as my cue that Olive was destined to be mine.
Little did I know that she would become obsessively attached to me and act as the Apartment Warden by not allowing anyone to enter the house. She is also very good at barking incessantly until I pick her up and end my conversation with the humans.
My boyfriend will attest that I created the monster that is Olive by allowing her to sleep with me, sit on furniture and apparently I constantly refer to her as “Mommy’s little baby.” Oh well. Live and learn. I won’t do this with my offspring.
This blog really isn’t about my dog. It is about pitching the media. As a PR professional, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to pitch and secure solid media interviews. Media outlets have significantly downsized their staff and many TV reporters are now shooting and editing their own segments. Media pitches have to be unique and we need to think out-of-the-box to grab and entice a reporter’s attention.
I’m Facebook friends with a reporter at Channel 2. She posted on her wall that she was looking for someone with a small dog to do a product test. Of course I wanted Olive to make her television debut – I’m almost positive this will lead to a PetSmart commercial down the line. But, by the time I had the opportunity to even provide details about Olive’s breed there were 26 other people that thought they had the perfect dog for the test.
I quickly read the other wall posts – there were dachshunds, puggles, poodles, chihuahuas – all small dogs that would fit very nicely into a Puppy Snuggie. I was almost positive that I wouldn’t be able to break through the clutter and put Olive into the limelight by posting yet another comment.
So, I posted a picture. I just happened to have a picture of Olive in a raincoat (yes, I know ridiculous) and included a caption that said, “You know you want this dog.”
And, I was right! Olive will be making her television debut on Channel 2’s Daybreak with Mary Friona this week (pending she doesn’t bite the photographer, Mary or eat the Snuggie.)
I suppose you can walk away with this thought – do something different and creative. There may have been a better, cuter dog (doubtful) that would have been a stronger fit, but no one included a photo in their “pitch.” Time is of the essence with the media, so get your pitch out quickly and effectively – and it might just work.
*Unfortunately, due to conflicting schedules, Olive never made her TV debut. The media rarely have the luxury of time (as previously noted) and you need to jump when an opportunity arises! I'm still confident that Olive will be seen in a series of PetSmart commercials in the not to distant future.
