I came across this thanks to @adrianweckler of the Sunday Business Post – a fantastic example of getting media coverage by providing journalists with factual, interesting and topical data. No journalist will ever say no to that!
Absolute Software, a UK based computer security firm, put in a simple Freedom of Information request into the BBC to find out the extent of losses due to theft and loss of IT equipment within the corporation.
This was a great move because:
- it provided them with the invaluable currency of previously unpublished data
- it is of interest to the general public who are focused on money wastage
- it directly places Absolute Software as the remedy to the problem
- it dishes a bit of dirt on one of the UK’s best known organisations
- it facilitates discussion on TV licence fees and where they go as well as internet security, bringing Absolute Software out of tech pages and into national news pages
The story received reams of coverage in the UK and further afield.
Just some of the Google news results for the story
Offering unique data to the media is a wonderful way of getting some column inches – provided of course, that it is interesting!
A FOI request is just one of the ways of doing this – you can also do a cheap and simple internet survey, comission a survey or go out and vox pop people yourself!
Craft a nice, eye catching press release with the most interesting aspects of your research and you have a good chance of getting some media interest.
