Sublime PR has been working with Lisa at Babyworld on exciting parenting and baby related stories for some time now, she's a great person to know and she appreciates the value of good stories that will interest her readers. This week we were lucky to be able to grab a few moments with her to ask her some burning questions...

What is your professional job title?

Babyworld Editor

What an amazing week it has been for high-energy drink Red Bull.  With a bold publicity stunt, an obviously-staged 24-hour delay tactic (which ensured that everyone knew about the planned 'jump' if they hadn't already heard), it gave the media more time to plan for the event in terms of coverage and it meant that 'everyone' was talking about it which in turn, created huge hype - not to mention high winds (hmmmmm). Of course if the delay was genuine, it was a pure genius stroke of luck.  #AMAZING!

Another thing that struck me about this particular stunt was the subtle branding on Red Bull's part, a small logo (as opposed to the space suit being a replica branded 'drinks can'); in fact, I doubt the story would have achieved nearly as much coverage had the logo been 90% bigger.  In this case less is definitely more; a brave a clever move.  The result has been a phenomenal level of media coverage and a 'buzz' that will go on for weeks.

This is an example of a very well executed stunt that PR people will talk about for years to come.  May we all learn from such an example!

This month Sublime PR was delighted to interview Lucy McGuire, features writer for a number of women's weeklies, real-life mags, travel and lifestyle wesbites.  Lucy has a lot of experience in journalism and we asked her lots of questions on her experience of PRs, her thoughts on what is hot at the moment and we also found out a little bit more about her passions and personal interests...

Sublime PR: What is your professional job title?

Lucy: Freelance feature writer.

Sublime PR: What magazines do you write for?

Lucy: Weekly real-life women's magazines as well as travel and lifestyle websites.

Sublime PR: What is your PR pet peeve?

Lucy: Being sent press releases multiple times that are not relevant to my work.

Sublime PR: Do you prefer a phone pitch from PRs or an email?

Lucy: Email.

Sublime PR: How many emails and/or phone calls do you receive from PRs every day?

Lucy: Dozens!

Sublime PR: How do you read the news - via newspapers, TV, radio or online?

Lucy: All three, but mainly online during the week and newspapers at the weekend.

Sublime PR: What newspapers/magazines do you read?

Lucy: The Guardian, The Times, The i and The Sun.  My favourite magazines are Cosmopolitan, Company, Red, Elle, Marie Claire and Grazia.  I also read The Sunday Times Travel and Conde Nast Traveller.

Sublime PR: Are you a regular tweeter and can PRs contact you via Twitter?

Lucy: Yes, PRs can tweet me on @LucyAMcGuire

Sublime PR: What is your top tip for businesses/PRs wanting to get coverage?

Lucy: Always be familiar with the publication you're pitching to and have an idea of how your product or story is relevant.

Sublime PR: What is really grabbing your attention in the industry at the moment?

Lucy: The unknown writers who make a name for themselves simply through edgy and interesting blogs.

Sublime PR: How important is a good image/video for a news story?

Lucy: Photos are essential for grabbing interest and video journalism skills are like gold dust - 'vlogging' seems to be taking off.

Sublime PR: What are your passions, interests or hobbies?

Lucy: I love cooking and reviewing all sorts of wonderful bars and restaurants which are always popping up in London.  I also enjoy keeping fit by running, doing pilates, Bikram or yoga.  My vice is escaping with a travel magazine and dreaming of my next travel destination.  I've just come back from Malaysia and have totally fallen in love with the Asian culture and cuisine.

Many thanks to Lucy for her insight, you can visit her website for more information: www.LucyMcGuire.com

I was speaking to a client earlier in the week about organising some media training and the reaction I got was one of fear and panic; but interestingly not related to the whole idea of speaking to a journalist, it was something much worse.  What my client was really worried about was the affect that a dose of media training might have on him. In short, his biggest fear was sounding like yet another corporate robot.  "A corporate robot?" I asked.  "Yes", he replied.  "Don't you think that you can always tell when someone is fresh off of the media training conveyor belt?  They sound like a pre-controlled robot, even their voice becomes bland and robotic."

This got me thinking, what if he's right?  Is it possible that a number of media training courses out there are doing nothing but petrifying delegates so much that they almost live in fear of speaking to a member of the media?  In fact, are these courses going a step too far with over-planning, over-preparation or over-thinking?  Could such a session lead to a complete change of personality or indeed, leave that person a shadow of his/her former self?

If this is happening across the country, then it is a real shame.  I speak to journalists every day and I know for a fact that you need to have a bit of character about you, a bit of passion, a bit of charisma (if you will).  I doubt many media professionals out there are looking to speak to lifeless, monotone characters who bore the life out of them.  Media interviews (like PR), should be about great storytelling.  For those five or ten minutes over the phone to a journalist - you are the storyteller.  You need to be engaging, interesting, bold and energetic about your subject matter. 

Of course, good media training should emphasise the importance of preparation and planning (in many ways this is vital for a truly successful interview), but not to the detriment of the entire conversation.  I've always been a believer that over-planning and over-thinking something will always lead to other issues and it's really not a good idea to go down that route.  I guess my final feeling is that any good media training session needs to find the right balance between scaring the inidvidual senseless and giving some useful tips and tricks to ensure you manage the discussion as you would in any other important business situation - with an element of control, a great deal of enthusiasm and probably a sense of humour and a bit of fire in your belly. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking the concept of media training because I happen to think that done right, it can provide you with an extremely valuable set of tools for speaking with the media, but we mustn't forget that we are only human.  It's ok not to know the answer to something, it's ok to give a professional response and get back to a journalist with the correct information as soon as you can (rather than landing yourself in it), and it is also ok to ignore awkward silences rather than fill them with waffle that could lead you off track. 

A journalist will always come back to the people who know their stuff, but who are interesting, thought-provoking and engaging too.  Does that mean taking the odd calculated risk?  Maybe.