What do you get when you take a charming nine year old, an adorable mutt, a cast of highly talented grammar school students, and stir them into a whimsical stage production – Annie. Jr. the musical, of course!
One of my first projects as a public relations specialist was to take on a gig that required the challenging task of making grammar school children into highly visible mega stars. I recall the PTA director persuasively affirming that this local grammar school production is worthy of media attention.
“OK,” I thought, ” How do I get the media to bite into this news story and hopefully cover what appeared to be just another local grammar school play?” — boy, was I wrong.
“How or why is this story newsworthy?” would be the question I would first have to answer. Of course, if you’re in this gig long enough, you realize that anything can become news worthy — the trick is to frame the story with the right twist.
As I began to unravel the nitty gritty details of the release, I discovered the underlying pieces to this story. The casting of Annie Jr. was an unprecedented action on its own. The leading role for Annie was led by 9-year-old Lauralie Mufute , a bilingual student of Zimbabwe heritage. She would be one of the first colored Annie’s who would star alongside Macy the dog, the adorable mutt who starred in Annie on Broadway, the musical. This alone made the production remarkably magical- to say the least.
Macy’s own story was one of rags to riches. Prior to becoming a big star, Macy was originally a stray dog picked up by the local animal control. Bill Berloni, a Tony Award winning dog trainer, spotted Macy on petfinder.com, where he travelled to Rocky Spot Rescue shelter in Oklahoma City to adopt the loving canine. Since, Macy’s “hard knock life” story has transferred into a truly inspiring story of super stardom. He has starred in Disney television shows and many Broadway productions.
And the cast of Annie Jr.? Well let’s just say that they added the zazz in PIZAZZ. The seasoned cast of nine-twelve year old aspiring actors/actresses kept the entire audience laughing with songs like “It’s a hard knock life”, “Little Girls” and “You Won’t Be an Orphan For Long”. They were witty, charming, charismatic, and incredibly talented.
After several drafts and back and forth collaboration with the PTA school director, we finally drafted the final release copy. For this particular project, we decided not to send the release through the wire- that is, simultaneously mass distribute the release to hundreds and hundreds of media outlets. Instead, we opted to target specific newspapers and local media to see if the big fish would catch the bait. And surely, they did.
I quickly began exhausting all my resources, from emailing individual journalist to directly calling local newspapers and television stations. Because I naturally became induced with the authenticity of the production’s enchanting story line and cast, I branded the story with great flare and interest. The marketing pitch line became: “This is something you don’t want to miss, it is truly that captivating”.
Shortly after a few calls and emails and a well-crafted release, the media came flocking in. We received coverage from local papers such as The Hudson Reporter, The Jersey Journal, Jersey City Independent, and NJ.com. The entire cast felt like celebrities as the media came herding in for photographs, interviews, and comments.
But our biggest hit came from ABC affliate, WABC-TV Channel 7 news. I contacted Michelle Charlesworth, WABC-TV’s anchor and reporter, to see if this would be a story of interest. Charlesworth agreed to do the story, but canceled due to an unexpected breaking news story — patience is also an important virtue, need I not mention.
I followed up with Charlesworth to reschedule the coverage, and the next day, the Charlesworth came marching in with her microphone and camera woman. I recall the cast performing “It’s a hard knock life” for Charlesworth; she was blown away. A well-crafted stage set-up, mischievous pigged tailed orphan girls engaging in a pillow fight extravaganza, and musicals that got you to jump off your seat to sing along – this was something big.
Mufute herself dominated the stage; she possessed a remarkable stage presence. Her voice alone gave you chills down the spine. Charlesworth was so captivated by the performance that she showed up the following night with her entire family to watch the show.
“Yes,” I thought, “We have a story!”
Identifying what makes your client’s product or service unique or valuable is a quintessential element in story branding and marketing. As a marketing specialist, you yourself must be convinced that the product, service, or event is of value to your targeted audience. It is not enough that you draft a release and mass distribute to the world. You must understand and believe the value in the story you are pitching. This will transcend in the way you market the story to the media. Yes- in essence, I became part of the cast.
And that is how the P.S. #3 Conwell drama students became mega stars. In reality, they truly were mega stars to begin with, but with some lights, camera, and media attention, they were able to shine their talent beyond the stage and into our television sets.