As any old-school newspaper editor would no doubt tell you, the decision about what makes the front page and what doesn’t is one of the most crucial of the entire news cycle. Since it’s all that potential buyers will see when that crisp new copy hits the newsstand, the limited column space at the very front of a newspaper is extremely valuable real estate. So, making the front page of South Africa’s biggest-selling weekly newspaper is no mean feat. But that’s exactly what we managed to achieve back in 2018 as the final piece of our PR puzzle.
First, let’s rewind. The Baby Show, the United Kingdom’s leading parenting and pregnancy event, was coming to South Africa for the very first time and would have huge brands such as Pampers, Tommee Tippee, Dis-Chem, Bepanthen, Babies R Us and Angelcare in attendance. Tasked with creating awareness about the three-day expo’s local debut at the Kyalami International Convention Centre in Gauteng, we were also entrusted with the assignment of promoting a selection of the more than 140 exhibitors, and ultimately driving ticket sales. Our event promotion strategy included extensive use of competitions and diary listings, drumming up interest – in and around Johannesburg as well as nationally – in the lead-up to the show.
However, it was our careful placement of The Baby Show content with selected high-reach mommy bloggers that ensured the message resonated strongly with so many of the country’s parents-to-be. We further expanded the reach of our content-seeding campaign by crafting bespoke articles – based on interviews with key experts (such as Meg Faure, occupational therapist and best-selling author of the Baby Sense series of books) who would be exhibiting at the show – for some of the country’s biggest titles.
But the cherry on top would come early on the morning of day three, when the first copies of The Sunday Times came off the printing press. Yes, you guessed it: we had placed The Baby Show on the front page of the South Africa’s biggest Sunday newspaper. What a feeling!
