Richard Hudson, director of digital and marketing and Mark Hunt, head of communications, Meningitis Now Visit the CharityComms website to view slides from past events, see what events we have coming up and to check out what else we do: www.charitycomms.org.uk

1. Hijacking the news
Richard Hudson
Director of Marketing and Digital
Mark Hunt
Head of Communications

2. saving lives,
rebuilding futures

3. A little background
• Meningitis can affect anyone
• Many different strains
• No vaccine for all types
• It can result in limb loss,
hearing loss, brain injury and
death
Free for iPhone and Android
www.MeningitisApp.co.uk

4. Our vision
A future where no one in the UK loses
their life to meningitis and everyone
affected gets the support they need to
rebuild their lives

5. You are a dandy
highwayman!

6. What is a hijack?
Illegally seize (an aircraft, ship, or vehicle)
while in transit and force it to go to a
different destination or use it for one's
own purposes.

7. Stick ‘em up
A large cargo of gold is coming up from the
coast.
What do you need to do to hijack the stage
coach?

8. Hijacks are (mainly) planned
• Knowledge
• Experience
• Speed
• Responsive
• Flexibility
• Timing
• Clear goal

9. Media hijacks are planned & managed
• Knowledge
• Experience
• Speed
• Responsive
• Flexibility
• Timing
• Clear goal
• Relevance
• Credibility
• Consistency
• Content

10. Types of
news story

11. Ones you know are happening
“There are known knowns.
These are things we know that we know.
There are known unknowns. That is to say,
there are things that we know we don't know.
But there are also unknown unknowns.
There are things we don't know we don't know.”
Donald Rumsfeld
Read more at
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/d/donaldrums148142.html#eSSMkrrXfBEo
X5Pv.99
Vaccine approved
It will be introduced
We don’t know when the
vaccine will be introduced
Increase in UK Men W cases

12. Ones that surprise you

13. Our hijacks

14. Beat it Now!
Integrated campaign to force through the lifesaving
Meningitis B vaccine:
 Hijack MPs (and their priorities)
 Hijack social media
 Hijack traditional media headlines
 Hijack sofas

15. Beat it Now!
Operational Strategy
 Exploit milestone events and or create
reasons to engage
 Leverage the human tragedy and cost
of inactivity
 Be an indispensable friend to key
journalists/commentators
 Be available and prepared
 Plan, plan, plan

16. Hijack MPs

17. Public affairs

18. Public affairs: PM Questions

19. Hijack social media feeds
• License Twitter
announcement
• Reached 1 million in 24
hours
• 2.6 million people
reached in 3 days
• Brand trending on
Twitter in the UK

20. Create news > 1,000 cases

21. Create news > 2 years since license

22. Hijack relevant stories

23. The heist

24. Be the go to contact

25. Be the first to break the story online

26. Own the news on social media

27. Continue the engagement

28. Celebrate success

29. Results
• Over 3,000 total mentions in March
• Owned broadcast news headlines for two consecutive
weekends across the BBC, ITV and SKY
• Owned 1st charity comment in shared national press
• In 24 hours over 3,000 comments on our Facebook
page and 13,000 shares
• Press coverage spike continued in April and May
• Reinforced Meningitis Now as a credible, reliable and
authoritative source of information
• Well placed for the next news hijack opportunity –
Summer 2015

30. 10 point checklist
1. Think ahead - Consider all options/outcomes (even the
ridiculous ones!)
2. Prep statements, blogs & posts for all media and then be
prepared to change them!
3. Create integrated share graphics for social channels and
website
4. Establish list of relevant case studies, seek
permissions/approval and thoroughly brief
5. Prepare Q&A’s brief relevant teams and tell them how it
will run
6. Establish ‘mission control’ - ensure all spokespeople are
contactable and ready at a moments notice

31. 7. Test and be sure of technical capabilities
8. Ensure out of hours cover to arrange interviews and
handle social media enquiries
9. Use relationships with journalists to seed expectations/
what ifs, but don’t set false dawns…
10.Don’t rely on your specialist contacts to be there – get
to know the guys who run the news desk, especially out
of hours and make them your new best mate! But be
prepared to know the answers and act quickly
10 point checklist continued

32. Visit the CharityComms website to
view slides from past events, see what
events we have coming up and to
check out what else we do.
www.charitycomms.org.uk

33. South West Regional Group
5 June 2015
Bristol
#ccsouthwest
South West Regional Group
Hijacking the news