PR News: The media angles + silly season alert
PR, Synapse News
Hey there,
School’s out, but journalists (and lots of you!) aren’t on holiday. So we’re here to help.
It’s silly season so if you’ve got a standout case study, data insight or fresh angle that can run all summer, share it with us. Pop your pitch into the Synapse marketplace or simply send it to us – pitches@synapse.media, and we’ll put it in front of the right journalists.
In the meantime, welcome back to The Loop – your weekly scroll of live journo requests, savvy PR tips, plus our view on the other Synapse tool that’s hitting the front pages at the moment. (ICYMI keep reading for the background. And, just to be clear, we’re not them and we’re not affiliated in any way).
So here’s what’s trending this week…
🔥 MUST READ
…advice we’ve spotted from the experts
“Some of the best coverage I’ve secured has come weeks (or even months) after the initial pitch.”
Shakira Sacks reminds us that consistency, persistence and timing beat one-off wins – build your narrative and let it mature.
🗞️ PR-Y STUFF
Here’s what we’ve read this week so that you don’t have to:
- AI tool that automates ‘expert’ comments on sale – A PR firm is now selling an AI tool called Synapse (not to be confused with us, the OG Synapse) that creates fictional AI-generated experts to respond to journalist requests…unfortunately, you did read that correctly. You can read the original Press Gazette article here, and our CEO and founder’s take here.
- Staying credible amid fake news – In an age of relentless misinformation, PR pros must double down on verification, transparent communication and proactive myth-busting to protect brand trust. read more
- PR firms are missing out on openness – PRWeek’s Beyond the Noise podcast argues that agencies that aren’t embracing openness and clear metrics are leaving trust and clients on the table. listen to the episode
- Don’t let AI steal your narrative – AI can whip up summaries in seconds, but only PR can craft the deeper story that sticks, a double down on original insight and human context. read more
- Omnicom’s PR arm sees 9.3% Q2 revenue drop – Omnicom-owned PR agencies reported a 9.3% decline in Q2 amidst economic instability, a proof that even global networks need agile strategies to weather tough markets. read more
- Editor’s View: Transparency isn’t optional in PR – After we’ve shared the news about how transparent UK agencies are last week, PRWeek’s taking a closer look into parental leave and pay‐gap data. read more
🔎 JOURNO REQUESTS
Here’s what journalists are currently looking for on Synapse:
Insider Media:
- Looking for all dealmaking-related announcements from B2B press teams in the West Midlands area – legal, accountancy, and corporate finance advisers
- Seeking dealmaking news from Dorset-based professional services – legal, accountancy, and corporate finance firms.
MailOnline:
Stylist:
- Looking for someone for a Stylist feature on the mistake of lending a friend or family member money.
The i Paper:
- Keen to speak to people who have 5+ year mortgage fixes ending in the next year and are worried about the higher costs.
- Looking to speak to financial advisers who have seen an increase in the number of inquiries about the pension commencement.
- Looking for someone who is less likely to use a cash ISA if Reeves cut the annual allowance.
- Looking to speak to people who aren’t saving for retirement because they are gonna get an inheritance from their family.
- Looking to speak to self-employed people/youngsters/a woman or someone who is worried about not having enough for retirement
Freelance:
Metro:
- Looking for What I own/rent property column – case studies
- Looking to chat to couples of all ages about how they split their money.
Triangle News:
- Looking to speak to young people who have very successful businesses, talking about how they managed it.
- Looking for parents who pay their own parents a salary to look after their pre-schoolers because it’s cheaper than sending them to nursery.
Daily Mirror / Express / Reach titles:
Or head to the marketplace now to look at requests yourself.
📆 NEXT MONTH’S HOOKS
…just because we don’t want you missing out on stuff.
- 1 August: Edinburgh Fringe Festival begins
- 1 August: ‘The Bad Guys 2’ movie release date for the UK
- 7 August: Bank of England MPC Base Rate decision – It will be reviewed to determine interest rates set by lenders and savings providers
- 8 August: ‘The Naked Gun’ release date – A reboot starring Liam Neeson, directed by Akiva Schaffer
- 9 August: Edinburgh International Book Festival begins – featuring everyone from the rising stars of fiction to Nobel Prize-winners
- 14 August: University Clearing search peak – Searches for ‘Clearing’ spike here. Smart PR timing for universities, fintechs, student accommodation and retail brands aimed at young adults
- 14 August: UK economic announcements – Balance of Trade, Gross Domestic Product, Index of Services and Industrial Production announced.
- 15 August: ‘Materialists’ movie release date for the UK – starring Dakota Johnson and Chris Evans
- 21 August: GCSE Results Day – MailOnline’s social platforms reach 2 in 5 school leavers. BBC’s informed that students will receive their results via the Education Record app this year
- 21 August: Reading & Leeds Festival begins
- 22 August: Women’s Rugby World Cup starts – London, Bristol, Sunderland, Brighton, Northampton, Exeter, Manchester and York are the host cities
- 24 August: Notting Hill Carnival
- 27 August: ‘School shoes’ searches peak – According to MailMetro Media, 46% of parents use payment schemes for back-to-school items
✨ BEFORE YOU GO
Got something great but no time?
Send it over to pitches@synapse.media and we’ll get it in our marketplace for you.
FAQs
Registration is simple! Click here to here and then fill out your information. Our team hand verify all of our users within 24 hours. Once your account has been approved, you’ll receive an email inviting you to log in.
If you have any questions or problems, get in touch with support@synapse.media
Our team hand-verify every single one of our users. Synapse is designed for journalists, reporters, editors and those in the media sourcing stories. It’s also designed for PR professionals. We have our own verification process, but if required, we’ll always get in touch with you directly to get some more information on your day-to-day role and to make sure Synapse is right for you.
There are over 3000 amazing people on Synapse; all of whom want to revolutionise the media relations industry. Our PR user base is from across the UK and covers a mix of agency, freelance and in-house professionals. Our journalist user base is similarly broad. There are national publications, trades, regionals and freelancers all using the platform.
No! At the moment, Synapse is completely free to use for all users, so register today and try it out.
We’d love to. But we’re not quite there yet.
Synapse believes that journalists have the right to their own data, and that by giving journalists control over their data, PRs will receive more accurate and timely information that isn’t currently available on any other database.
This means that we need to work with journalists to register them on the platform, rather than adding every UK journalist without permission. This is something our team is working on every single day.
Have a journalist or publication you’d like to see on Synapse? Get in touch and let us know at support@synapse.media
We launched on 21st September 2023 with over 1800 users already pre-registered. Since then we’ve grown to over 3000 users, onboarded national publications and have more news to come. Watch this space!
Our users are so important to us. You literally keep us going each and every day so we’re always here to help. From solving tech issues, demoing the platform to posting pitches and requests on your behalf when you’re just having one of those weeks, we put our users at the heart of everything we do.
If you want to read more about our users’ experiences, you can check out their stories here or get in touch with support@synapse.media
Depending on whether you have a journalist profile or a PR profile, you’ll have access to slightly different AI tools.
For PRs, you can save time by exploring our intelligent recommendations of which journalists to pitch to. Our AI will make recommendations based on proprietary data, saving you hours of research time.
For journalists, our secure AI assistant is there to help you as you write your stories. You’re in control of whether you use the tool and to what extent with options of a bulleted summary through to a full generative article.
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