Media relations professionals know the good stories take planning—sometimes lots of planning.
In the case of WAND-TV’s (Decatur, Illinois) news story showcasing a day in the life of an Ameren Illinois gas journeyman, the idea came about because reporters would often ask to ride along during storms or emergencies. “In theory, that sounds good, but we can never do that for the safety of it,” Brian Bretsch, public relations and media manager for Ameren Illinois, told American Gas.
But as a former news reporter, Bretsch worked with Ameren’s safety team to figure out a way to make a similar story happen, but in a controlled environment. That first piece featuring a reporter doing the job of an electric lineman—called “Just Getting Dirty”—led Ameren President Lenny Singh to ask Bretsch about getting similar coverage for the gas side.
The segment was shot at the company’s natural gas training center in Pawnee, Illinois, and the reporter certainly got her hands dirty, operating an excavator, putting on personal protective equipment, hand-digging pipe, and tightening and loosening a gas meter.
Making a story like this happen requires thinking of it in terms of what the reporter needs—in this case, compelling visuals and engaging subject matter experts. Bretsch started with an initial pitch, walking the reporter through the scenario. Then, he summarized the concept in bullet form, sending that in an email she could easily share with her assignment editor.
He estimates the approach has a success rate of approximately 90%. “I do that for nearly every feature story I pursue,” Bretsch said. “When we make it fun and experiential for them, they’re much more likely to cover our news. These stories also carry over nicely to social media and give the media outlet another round of eyes from viewers.”
Occasionally, his front-end work includes producing the story himself for Ameren Illinois’ internal channels, then sharing it with his go-to reporters to let them see firsthand how it will translate to TV.
In the case of the gas journeyman story, all the effort and expert preparation paid off. “The ‘day in the life’ story ran about three minutes,” Bretsch said. “That’s three minutes of airtime about our natural gas business and the people who deliver for our customers. In the media relations world, that’s gold.” —Eric Johnson