In the right context, a stylish and exclusive media event can be a powerful tool in a PR’s armoury for creating lasting and effective relationships with journalists. We were recently tasked with handling the publicity around the expansion of one of the UK’s leading independent jewellers, Winsor Bishop, which has been part of the Norwich city landscape for over 100 years.
The aim of the event was to host an exclusive champagne breakfast preview for journalists from the regional, trade and luxury lifestyle media. This provided our key media targets with the opportunity to see the newly expanded store and have an exclusive preview of the new jewellery ranges.
We aimed to achieve positive editorial coverage with the key messages that the store had doubled in size and would now stock a number of new and stylish ranges of jewellery (including the largest Links of London boutique in East Anglia). We also sought to raise the profile of Winsor Bishop amongst a wider demographic audience, for example young affluent professionals.
A crucial part of the process was ensuring the invitee list featured the most influential journalists from the trade and regional press.
Perception of the brand was also a key consideration; invitations were branded and personalised, echoing the VIP experience Winsor Bishop’s customers receive in store. They were hand delivered and each journalist received a personalised gift, giving them a taster of what they could expect to see on the day.
An exclusive event like this also provided a great opportunity for a photo call; we dressed the door of the new part of the store and invited photographers to capture the official opening. Importantly, we also made sure our own photographer was on site, to take photographs for use in the media and for the store’s own promotional material post-event.
On the day our preparations paid off as we welcomed nearly 20 journalists from our top tier media to the event. Coverage highlights included a three-page interview with Winsor Bishop’s Managing Director, Sophie Fulford in Professional Jeweller, half page news stories in the business section of the Eastern Daily Press and Norwich Evening News as well as news stories and product placement within a range of titles such as Meze Magazine, North Norfolk Living, and Places and Faces Norfolk.
The breakfast provided an excellent platform from which to kick-start raising the profile of Winsor Bishop. As this event has proved, events and briefings are a great tool for helping communicating key messages and establishing relationships between clients and journalists.
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