The LEGO Sutton Hoo helmet hits the media!
Websites, TV and online
Having worked in journalism, content and marketing for pretty much my entire career, the one thing I do know is how to put together a press release. And so with the Sutton Hoo Helmet build safely gathering organic support on LEGO Ideas, it was time for a little PR campaign.
I thought interest would come purely from news sites in East Anglia, so targeted the news desks of local newspapers, websites and TV. A story like this featuring something built in lockdown out of LEGO by a father and daughter team, was always going to feature in the ‘…and finally’ slot. So I hit send and hoped for the best. Everyone bit. My daughter did more media appearances in 48 hours than I did in my first 20 years.
BBC Look East
Leigh Milner at BBC Look East did a lovely package that featured a Zoom call with us, a previous piece to camera clip from Josh Ward at the National Trust and images and clips taken from my original video.
ITV Anglia
Meanwhile Charlie Frost over at ITV Anglia arrived at our house with cameraman Chris for an interview which saw me place the helmet on Tilda’s head while she did the line in one take.
We also did interviews with Radio Suffolk and Radio Essex, and Charlotte Ball from BBC East did a piece on the BBC website that at one point was the lead ‘must read’ story on the main BBC News homepage. From my time at the BBC I know this get mega eyeballs globally.
Going national
Then Sam Russell at PA got in touch. I sent him the release, and he added it to their feed. PA, and Reuters, AP and AFP etc, are news agencies. Essentially, they write stories and syndicate them to news publishers who pay a fee to use them. News publishers of all sizes use agencies as a cost effective way of publishing stories, which is how our little story ended up in pretty much every local paper in the UK; from the Lyme Regis & Bridport News to the Inverness Courier. It was also Picture of the Day in the weekend edition of the Telegraph.
At one point we were featured on the BBC homepage
The effect of all this - bearing in mind not everyone ran the link to the LEGO Ideas page – was over 300 votes of support in one day.
If you’ve subscribed to this feed, then you’ve already probably voted (if not, OMG!) but please share with you friends and family, so we can make The Lego Sutton Hoo Helmet a reality!