Helping Orbit Communications Champions find the news

The Brief

Part of the Orbit Group, one of the largest housing groups in the country, Stratford-upon-Avon based Orbit Heart of England manages around 16,500 properties across the Midlands.

Orbit’s in-house marketing and communications team relies on ‘Communications Champions’ to put forward stories for its ongoing media relations programme and website, as well as a variety of internal and external publications.
 
Our brief was to deliver a What is News?” workshop, to help the Communications Champions identify and filter potential stories by better understanding what both journalists and Orbit’s in-house team are looking for.

The Campaign

We put together a workshop for the Orbit Heart of England team, covering what makes a strong news story; what different media are looking for; how best to pitch a story to a journalist - or a member of the in-house communications team - to help ensure it is picked up and used; and tips on what makes a great photo.
 
The workshop incorporated practical sessions that enabled participants to play news editor, as well as matching potential stories with different target media and with Orbit’s broad-ranging internal and external publications and social networking channels.

The Services

What is news?
Find out more

The Results

The Orbit Heart of England team received overwhelmingly positive feedback following the session, with participants reporting a better understanding of what’s newsworthy – and also what isn’t.
 
“The presentation was both informative and entertaining. Members of staff from different parts of the organisation representing different levels of seniority attended, and they all got something positive out of the session. It was so useful to have an outside, impartial view of what makes a good news story and then be able to apply it to our own organisation.” - Orbit Heart of England