by Mike Golden

PR – Public Relations – is the special forces of marketing. We drop down behind enemy lines, insert our message into the media, and by the break of dawn have safely retreated back to our comfortable agency environs to sip lattes and play foosball. Meanwhile, the lumbering tanks and artillery of advertisement – TV commercials or full-page types of visuals — rumble on by. The magic of PR is even more obvious in China, where reporters trawl across town, day-in and day-out, looking for press conferences to attend, and looking for pre-written articles to fill their allotted space. This article looks briefly at PR in China and how to utilize it to form your own “special ops” team.

The particular relationship

Public relations agencies, the media, consumers and our clients form a unique and mutually beneficial relationship. The clients – whether it is a watch brand, a kitty litter company or a government agency – want to publicize their brand, their event or their company. The media – magazines, TV, newspapers, websites – need well-written pieces and good photos to fill their pages. Consumers or end-readers want to read new, fresh interesting news. And of course PR agencies want to make media placements – articles, TV coverage, magazine photos, etc. – for their clients. This type of placement is not an advertorial, which is a paid placement, but an actual article written by a PR agency and published by the media. We constantly receive phone calls at our agency from journalists begging us for news and photos to fill their empty pages (and the deadline was yesterday of course).

The ubiquitous red envelope

The red envelope (hongbao) is a cash-filled envelope traditionally given to newlyweds or to children on Chinese New Year’s. The hongbao has spread to the PR field where journalists are rewarded 200-400 RMB (USD $30-60) for attending press conferences – nominally a “transportation fee”. If you don’t pay some type of hongbao, then the journalist might never come to your press conference again, but paying it could also be an ethical dilemma for some companies. One way around this is to provide a transportation card or some type of gift coupon. The existence of this cash system can be really dangerous: we once had a journalist write a negative piece about our client, because he came uninvited to an event and we would not buy him lunch.

Sleepy journalists

While the level of professionalism of journalists has definitely risen in the last decade, with the support of graduate degree programs in journalism and more exposure to international publications, there is still a constant struggle to grab journalist’s attention – especially at press conferences. I have seen journalists doing the sleepy head-bob, chatting to their girlfriends on phones, playing with their laptops and staring vacantly at the ceiling, all while the speaker vie for their attention. How can you avoid this? For starters, make sure you have interesting content that will appeal to their readers. Don’t be afraid to jazz up the presentation – these journalists spend a good part of their day reading press releases and attending mind-numbing speeches. For the House of Yue-Sai, an interior furnishings lifestyle company, we had a health instructor talk about leading a healthy lifestyle, and even led the group – almost all young female journalists – through some basic yoga moves. The worst thing you can do is to chastise the audience or get angry. Case in point, I once saw the ambassador of a major European country lose his cool in front of a bored Chinese media audience, and they responded in kind by chatting louder and migrating to the snack table.

Building a communication architecture

Media placements are not just random news about the brand – the entire campaign should be based on the brand’s key message, and all of the articles should play supporting roles to this key message. For example, the key message of Frederique Constant, a Swiss watch brand, is Live your Passion. So the articles to support this message include profiles of people who live their lives with passion, such as yachting and fencing enthusiasts, or other angles that capture the feeling of the brand and support the communication architecture.

Events to drive news

Press conferences are a very effective way to bring all of the media to one place, feed them your story, and let them get on with their day. Other events that work well are smaller media groups – good food and drink has won over more than a few journalists. Just like the communication architecture, events should have a point. And the venue, food, decoration, and program should support the goal of the event. I also like to see events produced with a “story arc” – a clear beginning, middle and end that brings the participants on a journey.

So, the next time you see a new products page in the magazine, or a brand story, give thought to the agency that placed the message, and just maybe you should consider strapping on a parachute, loading up your canteen with caffeine, and diving deep behind enemy lines to publicize your brand.

Mike Golden is the managing director of Adsmith China, a marketing and communications agency specializing in media relations.