MEDIA COACHING FOR PRIME TIME NEWS

The Situation: Media skills are a must for today’s organizations, and the right media coaching is key when facing high profile media interviews. A Fortune 100 Company was invited to appear on Fox News, because the FTC had ruled against them on a key issue. The company had called on Benchmark for years for media training and consulting; they did not agree with the FTC ruling, and it was beginning to attract negative news media and public attention. The company asked us to help them assess the issue, develop messaging and prepare them with media skills coaching, so they could effectively tell their story on Fox News.

The Results: We collaborated with their head of marketing and PR Director to achieve their goals. We used our stakeholder analysis and media messaging tools to look at the issue from various stakeholder perspectives. Then, we developed key media messages, along with Q&A strategies. We conducted executive media coaching to help their spokesperson be comfortable and prepared for a range of possible interview scenarios. After his Fox News appearance, the client called to say how well our media strategies and coaching worked. Their spokesperson came across as very credible, comfortable, engaging and “human”. They felt they had walked away with the equivalent of a six-minute advertisement for their company!