Jumping on the news agenda

One of the stories that caught my eye last week was about the Manchester United fan that dialled 999 to speak to Alex Ferguson after their League Cup defeat to Sunderland.

As well as being amusing, I was intrigued as to how the call made it in to the news. I hoped the answer was that a savvy press officer from the Greater Manchester Police saw the news value of the call and set the ball rolling.

Looking at the Facebook page, this seems to be the case, although they may not have realised how big the story was going to be. It was covered everywhere.

To that press officer, I say well done. PRs often dream of jumping on the news agenda in a creative way that  communicates their organisation's key messages. But making it happen is extremely difficult. This is an example that really worked.  

But why? Well, I think there were a few reasons: 

• It summed up much of the audience’s feeling about the current form of Manchester United and the yearning for the glory days of Sir Alex Ferguson, meaning it fitted perfectly with the coverage of Man United's defeat.
• It was great content. It was genuinely funny and by making a recording of the call available, it worked equally well for broadcast and print and was extremely shareable on social media.
• And finally, it had an important message at it’s heart – don’t waste police time by calling 999 if there isn’t an incident.

It just goes to show, that quick thinking and execution can often be just as effective as a well thought out campaign. No delays on sign-off on this one. We could probably all learn from the savvy press officer from the Greater Manchester Police.