A crap story from PR Week
Patrick Southwell
Chief Creative Officer and Founder of Five not 10, the PR agency obsessed with simplicity
As I sloped into the office this morning, bleary eyed after 12 days of lie-ins, I prevaricated a little. I rearranged my desk top. I deleted emails. I created new files for 2020. I went on the PR Week website for a quick read.
And what did I discover? A review of the top stories from 2019. Interesting, I thought. This will be an insight to the industry and what we all love to read. What snapped me out of my Christmas-induced cloudiness was the third most-read article: Teneo boss threatens to shut office bar and slams staff for acting like 'clubbing teens'.
A story literally about people crapping in showers and leaving soiled pants in the office after booze-fueled, post-work drinking.
Poo story = number three best read article on PR Week in 2019.
Before I go any further, I want to make it clear that I feel really sorry for Teneo and I’m not helping them at all by writing about this. Sorry lads. They’re not the only ones to have experienced over-exuberant staff taking advantages of perks.
What I find fascinating is that despite PR Week being a B2B publication, a story about bodily functions and bad behaviour is one of the most-read of the year – that and who’s won the top industry gongs. I’m not saying that I think less of PR Week having seen this. I love it and read it regularly. It’s just a fascinating insight to what makes news and perhaps says a great deal about us lot: the readers.
It’s like comparing the headlines on the BBC website with the “most read” section. At the moment, the editorial team has chosen to tell us about the Australian forest fires. Yet the most read article is about Ricki Lake’s hair falling out. These are both tragedies. But on a different scale. It just goes to show what we want to read.
And that normally involves something negative or salacious specifically about people we can relate to – either as individuals or peers.
Whenever I start thinking about storylines, I quite often keep this in mind. As PR people, we have to get the balance right between what the client wants to say and what the audience wants to read. We need to play the same balancing act the BBC web editors do every day – deciding what’s important vs. what will get clicks. Marrying the two into a story with purpose.
Apologies to PR Week for the clickbait headline. But having read your piece today, I’ve had a reminder about what makes a story and gets people reading. Something they’re clearly brilliant at.