To Event or Not to Event? Pros and Cons of Running Media Events

Well, a media event is designed to attract the attention of the media, as a way of promoting your brand. So yes – it’s all about promotion. But shameless? Hardly… Media events are tailored, considered and organised to a tee, allowing brands to communicate their messages directly to journalists, influencers and other key players in the media.

These events are diverse, ranging from media missions and press lunches or dinners to product launches and more traditional press conferences. But, while a press conference involves a formal presentation to journalists with a Q&A session, a media event can include different formats. Depending on the client and the target media, these events can be far less formal, and all the more effective for it. The ultimate goal is to create an engaging environment that facilitates direct interaction between the brand and media, and how that happens depends on the who, what, where and why (or “why now”, as we’ll find out…).

So – let’s get into media events, how they help (with some examples the Lemongrass team have previously organised) and weigh up whether they’re the right avenue for your travel brand to pursue.

We regularly organise Media Missions for our clients. During a Media Mission, we invite a client representative to join us in the UK, and we arrange a series of one-to-one meetings between them and relevant media. This used to be a London-centric affair, but we have since begun organising events in different cities, like our SCHLOSS Roxburghe event in Edinburgh, and a Visit Cascais Media Mission in Brighton.

That’s partly because, post-covid, we’ve noticed that events outside of London are performing well. More people in once London-bound roles and organisations have moved away from the city – and by diversifying the ground we cover, we get to work with more niche titles. That’s important to clients, because niching down really lets us target the specific audiences we’re looking for.

Media Missions can be a big effort for clients and their representatives – with a lot of travel involved, and time away from family and work. So, are they worth it?

Our advice is that a Media Mission is only worth organising if there is some real, pressing news. Otherwise… Why now?

In fact, the trick is to make “why now” your main driver.

To give SCHLOSS Roxburghe as an example, they had just opened new hotel expansions, which included a new spa and restaurant.

Vienna, who we regularly host Media Missions for, often come prepared with a great list of what’s happening in the city over the next few months – including new hotel openings, big anniversaries and celebrations, and major stories like being crowned the world’s most liveable city.

In a great case of “why now”, Luxembourg (another client of ours) met with local Manchester media for a press lunch, to discuss new flight routes between Luxembourg and Manchester. There was an informal presentation on the country, introducing the media to the destination – with food and drink to give attendees a little taste of Luxembourg.

This worked well; it had a news hook (a new flight route) that gave it a clear “why now”, and it has resulted in several interesting press trip opportunities taking advantage of the new route.

Our client FORESTIS was closed for an extended period, to carry out renovation work. So, we organised a big media and sales combined event in London that would give the media access to key people that they’d never otherwise have the opportunity to meet.

Our main client contacts came over – but as the hotel was completely closed, we also brought over the Head Chef and some of the bar team. This was really exciting because it gave our key media the chance to meet the creative forces behind the scenes, and to have the incredible food at FORESTIS come to them. But most importantly, this was our chance to create excitement about the new additions to the hotel, and let it leap into action again when it reopened.

That’s the importance of making “why now” your main driver – because even if you’re closing down for renovations, you can turn downtime into positive action for your brand.

Media events are huge opportunities for direct interaction between your brand and the media. They’re a great way to build relationships and give brands an advantage over the competition – because if a journalist has to choose between one place and another, having that personal connection from a media event can really help.

Depending on the type of event and whether there is news or not, there can be direct deliverables. We often get press trips confirmed off the back of a Media Mission – which lead to wonderful in-depth coverage.

This is of course possible without a Media Mission, but it can take longer without that personal face to face connection.

Having a media event sets the stage for in-depth conversations and rapports to develop, which help create the story long before a journalist sets foot in your hotel or destination. That connection also leads to personalised itineraries that make your coverage even more special.

Naturally, all of this comes at a cost. And there’s a real potential for low ROI.

Events need healthy budgets behind them and venues are increasingly more expensive to hire. There’s the costs of food and drink, the travel costs of having representatives come to the UK – and the CO2 impact of all of this.

On top of financial challenges, there are logistical challenges.

We work in an industry where it is very difficult to get people to events. Media people are always busy either working, travelling for work or working while travelling. And when they’re getting inundated with hundreds of other event invites, your event has to be truly special to even be considered.

Post-covid, there has been a big change in how we all work, and many publications have adopted the hybrid office and work from home system. This has made it even harder to get people to events.

The carbon cost of an event isn’t just limited to the client flying in, either. All the media contacts invited to the event, all making their way to it? That’s going to add up fast. The carbon output of the food, drinks, entertainment – in a world where we need to all be more conscious of why we are doing things, you need to ask whether the event is worth its carbon.

So, the pros are; excellent media relationship building, fast tracked press trips (with amazing, personalised coverage) and a real competitive advantage. The cons are in costs, logistics and CO2, while there is no formal guarantee of press coverage, this makes ROI more difficult to calculate.

But even knowing all of this, you should still consider the following points before you take the plunge (or bow out gracefully).

1. No news, no event - Journalists are busy people. There’s so much competition in the event space that if there’s no reason for them to have to be at your event, then they won’t be there. Remember – ”why now”? Let that question drive your decision-making.
2. Pick a format - If it's just coverage you want, then a media event probably isn’t the best use of your budget. Ongoing press office work, or working steadily to organise press trips would work better for you.
   Are you launching something new? Then a media lunch where you get your message out to as many people in one go is a good fit.
   Do you have really interesting stories that the media don't know about yet? Then, a Media Mission would be a great way to find those journalists to share those stories with – and we can help you turn that into coverage.
   And if you want to get your brand or destination’s name out there to as many people as possible, and tell your meaningful stories at the same time, you could opt for a Roadshow format (stick around to learn more about how we run our Travel with Purpose Roadshow).
3. Budget - Can you afford the costs associated with organising an event – and is it really the best use of the budget? Would other PR activity allow for higher levels of brand exposure? Ask you PR agency to make these recommendations – we will always tell our clients where we would prioritise their budget spend for the most impact.
4. Objectives - Are your goals aligned with the potential outcomes of a media event?
5. Target audience - Will the event attract the right journalists and influencers for your brand?
   

Having said all of this, there is one format of media event that works for absolutely everyone, every time: Roadshows. In this last section, we’ll cover the what and the how – with details of our Travel with Purpose Roadshow.

Our Travel with Purpose Roadshow puts us out on the road, directly into over 100 meetings throughout the UK and Ireland – and last year got us on average over 15 headline opportunities for each of our clients. We’re talking press trips and future round-up inclusions, aka big opportunities for coverage.

This has a ton of advantages. We go to journalists, saving them time and effort. We travel light as a small team, saving carbon. And we get to speak with a large, diverse group of people and publications; from nationals and glossies, to niche titles and content creators.

Roadshows are a great option for smaller and lesser known destinations, as they will often have a slimmer budget than the big tourist boards. Participating in a roadshow is a great way to maximise budgets with dedicated time in front of the press, with a concentration on stories and angles tailored for coverage in the following 12 months.

For bigger tourist boards and brands, it's all about being strategic, and deciding which stories to showcase to the variety of publications and media attending the Roadshow meetings.

Different media types help diversify your coverage and reach broader demographics, enhancing your overall brand visibility. Plus, we've had overwhelmingly positive feedback from the media about branching out from London: we have constantly been told how refreshing it is to host a media meeting outside of the M25.

Don’t rule out smaller niche titles based on their reach figures alone, because the audience that they reach might be the perfect fit for you. Podcasters, YouTubers, content creators, radio – all have their place in the media world.

Think like a consumer, and how you take in messaging around you. It’s likely that you consume elements of all types of media, and that’s why it’s important to work with all media types as a brand.

Now, let’s get into the nuts and bolts of pulling a successful media event off.

If you’ve come this far, and media events are the right path for you and your brand, then here are our top recommendations for organising your own.

1. Set clear objectives and KPIs to measure success.
2. Choose a strategic location that is convenient for media.
3. Timing is everything - give your invitees as much notice as possible, ideally 2-3 months at a minimum. Avoid big holidays, Mondays and Fridays when people are most likely to have prior commitments.
4. Plan engaging activities and presentations to capture media interest.
5. Share regular updates with your PR team.

See your PR team as an extension of your core team; they’re there to help you make the event a success, and the more information we have about the event, the more we can communicate to relevant media and get the right people there.

In fact, we’d go as far as to say that outreaching your media event is best left to your PR agency.

We prepare media briefing documents in advance of media events, so that you know the names, background and past articles of the media attending. This is super valuable when meeting with them – you will feel prepared, and already have an idea of the best and most fitting brand stories to share with them.

Once it’s all done, make the most of the impact and follow up the day after the event – or if you have a PR agency, let them do it! You’ll still be fresh in the minds of everyone who attended, and thanking them for coming shows that you have taken the time to appreciate them being at the event.

Speed counts – so make sure to include all of the information they asked for when you met, as quick as you can; images, links, story angles… This allows them to pitch potential trips and stories to editors while your brand is still on their mind.

The sooner you act, the better chance you have of something happening off the back of your event.