How to Hijack the News Successfully
There’s one thing that anyone who works in communications aspires to achieve, and that is newsjacking.
Newsjacking in simple terms is ‘the practice of aligning a brand with a current event in an attempt to generate media attention and boost the brand's exposure’.
Here at Down At The Social, would you believe it when we say the combination of the perfect storm, a man live-streaming from Heathrow Airport and a can of pale-ale successfully led to us hijacking the news agenda? Well batten down the hatches because this is the story of Big Jet TV and Beartown Brewery.
Storm Eunice really got everyone talking and, during it, nothing gripped the nation and united us more than Big Jet TV.
As hundreds and thousands of Brits were gripped to Big Jet TV’s live stream of planes attempting to land at Heathrow Airport, an idea was born…it was a Friday afternoon and suddenly it all made sense. Could we create a limited-edition can commemorating the occasion?
After a very blustery phone call with Joe Manning, managing director of Beartown Brewery, an independent brewer based in Congleton, Cheshire, who just so happens to be one of our most beloved clients, the wheels were set in motion and he was off to brief his designer on creating a special can to commemorate the occasion - introducing ‘Big Jet TV’ - a stormy pale ale.
We got the mock-up of the can at about 5pm and quickly drafted a news alert, we also got it straight on social media and started a conversation going - and would you believe it, Big Jet TV started talking about it!
By Monday morning, coverage had landed everywhere and social media was a buzz, with people asking could we sell the cans…well after another conversation with Joe, we launched a limited-edition run of them which sold out in under 30 minutes and actually crashed the website!
Joseph Manning, managing director of Beartown Brewery said: “What a day, what a storm, and what a time to be alive to watch that epic broadcast from Big Jet TV. I should have guessed I’d get a call from the ‘Creative One’ from Down At The Social asking if we could do a special can, it’s just been amazing to see the reception to it. We’d like to dedicate this special can of pale ale to the absolute heroic nature of keeping the nation gripped. Nothing has united us more than watching those jets land safely, so cheers to you Jerry and Big Jet TV.”
The Big Jet TV Beartown story achieved 8 pieces of coverage and an overall reach of 953 million, we also grew the social following of Beartown Brewery by 1,270 followers (an 11% growth!) in just 7 days - with social reach up by a staggering 780% percentage on all platforms across Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
The Beartown Brewery story began in 1632, when Congleton, a town in Cheshire, sold its bible to buy a Bear. From that day forward Congleton was given a new name, Beartown.
Beartown Brewery was officially born in 1994, and blossomed in a world of cask beer – the pinnacle of craft brewing and has over the decades added bottles, cans and kegs to the range. Regardless of beer style or vessel, the one thing that runs through the core of all Beartown Brewery beers, is quality craftsmanship and flavours.