Michael Smart, national news director for Brigham Young University, generated fabulous publicity for the university several years ago just as the show “Survivor” was debuting on CBS.
“We had an honors class at BYU on team-building that had been taught for 13 years, and it wasn’t new,” he said. “The students were told they were stranded on a desert island and had to figure out ways to get off.”
He pitched the story to local media, tied it to the “Survivor” debut, and ended up with publicity in the local newspaper and on the CBS affiliate station.
Then, two years ago, he did the same thing again when “Lost” debuted on ABC.
“The same media outlets did the same story on the same class simply because the pitch was tied to pop culture,” he said.
He suggests businesses tie their pitches to “The Office,” the mega-hit that’s in its fourth season on NBC. TV producer and reporter Shawne Duperon, who teamed up with me to present a teleseminar called “103 Sizzling Story Ideas from July through December,” says TV stations love pitches like the kind Michael delivered because we live in a celebrity-obsesses society, and the local TV station gets to call attention to another show on their affiliated network.