Fiddling Around with Great Press

November 2018 Newsletter

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Staging Some Amazing Press!

This year, the Anat Gerstein team has been promoting National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene's Off-Broadway presentation of Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish. We've always worked with arts and cultural venues, but this was our first Off-Broadway show! And it didn't take a miracle - just hard work - to get amazing media coverage. The show has done so well that this week it was officially announced that it will continue on through 2019 (and tickets are still available at www.nytf.org by the way!).

We began our work months before the show began; and we have garnered international coverage on all media platforms, including stellar reviews. The result: the show's brief run has been extended four times already!

Our Joanne King secured much of the Fiddler press. She shares a few lessons that can help in your press strategy:

Great PR comes from a great client partnership. We can't do it "to" the client or "for" the client. To be successful, it has to be "with" the client. Folksbiene let us inside so we could discover engaging story lines. They also understood that media is 24/7 and were flexible about doing interviews when and where the opportunities arose.

There is no media outlet too large or too small . Every tweet, every local weekly news outlet, and every online outlet helped to build the buzz that led to the smash success. We worked closely with the cast to share media hits so they could spread the word - and this increased engagement and attention.

Ditto: there is no media opportunity too early or too late . We worked with outlets round-the-clock; staffing visits to television stations at 5:30 AM and managing media requests long after hours.

Great visuals made a big difference . Folksbiene always provided professional photos and b-roll footage that were eye-catching and colorful. It was a great investment. The media adored them, and it pumped up the amount of space they got on every page and website.

There are many angles to every story. We used every one we could find including hometown newspapers and special interests of the actors. For instance, we noted that a group of actors lived in one neighborhood, and secured a front-page piece in a Queens newspaper. And, the people working hard behind-the-scenes also have stories to tell: The New York Times profiled one of the ushers! We even attracted New York 1's Michael Scotto to learn the show's iconic bottle dance. And, there's even more on the horizon!

Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish - Featuring the Bottle Dance

Welcome our New Clients!

We love the organizations that we get to work with, so are proud to announce several of our latest partners!

Pitching Notes:

Celeste Katz

Sr. Political Reporter,

Glamour

Since Celeste Katz joined Conde Nast's Glamour in the spring 2018, she has written extensively about the midterm elections, voting, and public policy. She's also a host for WBAI 99.5 FM and Sirius XM radio. She previously worked for Newsweek, New York Daily News, and The Providence Journal.

How did you come to work in journalism?

From a young age, I gravitated toward a lot of things that end up making for a career as a reporter: I was curious, I asked a ton of questions, and I enjoyed writing about what I learned. I was also naturally competitive. Working at my college paper, The Brown Daily Herald, was a huge lesson in how exciting it was to be part of a news operation - from getting to meet and listen to different kinds of people to breaking stories and scrambling to meet deadlines. I considered other lines of work, including law and diplomacy, but I have never once doubted I ultimately made the right choice.

You've basically covered everything - all beats it seems. Why politics?

Aside from the human drama of campaigns and elections, government and public policy affects everyone's life and well-being, so it's critical that we have reporters serving as watchdogs over our institutions and the people who run them. It deeply offends me when anyone tries to intimidate or take advantage of others, so fighting for transparency and investigating corruption is personally meaningful to me.

What is your current beat and what do you cover?

As the only staff writer at my magazine who's devoted full-time to covering politics, the midterm elections took up the major part of my attention. Women had a historic year both as candidates and voters, so there was no shortage of stories to write. At the same time, I never say I only write about "women's issues," which is a pretty generic and nebulous phrase. The Supreme Court confirmation proceedings, for example, affected the entire country; but I was interested in looking at it through certain lenses, such as the implications for abortion law, the #MeToo movement, and the political futures of the women lawmakers on the Judiciary Committee.

You've also been regularly hosting radio shows. What do you like about radio?

I've been appearing on radio as a guest for a long time, so it's been great to move into hosting over the last few years. I love the question and answer side of reporting as much or more than the writing, so doing interviews - whether on live shows or podcasts - is really fun for me. I also like interacting with callers. They ask great questions, and talking to them on air is a good lesson in reacting to both praise and criticism in real time.

What kinds of stories are particularly interesting to you?

I have a longstanding personal dedication to reporting on voting rights and particularly on voter suppression. Perhaps unfortunately, there is a lot to write about there, as the 2018 midterms proved. I also like to write about problem solvers, particularly when they are coming up with unique new solutions to longstanding issues or helping people who are disenfranchised in American political or economic life. Aside from investigative work, which I find intensely rewarding, I also enjoy writing profiles for the challenge of trying to understand what makes someone who they are and explaining that in a compelling way. People (including me) always like to read about other people and what motivates them.

What advice do you have for people who would like to send you a pitch?

Take a moment or two to look at the focus of my work before pitching me. Just because a reporter writes for a title that covers entertainment AND politics AND sports does not mean that he or she writes exclusively about those things. Also, it's best to start with an email that specifically explains why you think this story is right for me and my outlet. Don't be afraid to follow up - especially if the pitch is exclusive or timely - because reporters are stretched thin and emails do get lost or end up in spam. At the same time, pressure tactics like endless phone calls or texts won't endear you to anyone.

What are some common mistakes that people make while trying to pitch you?

Everyone goofs up once in awhile, but it's still annoying to get a pitch addressed to another reporter. If you want Mary to consider a story, write to her, not me. I also don't care for pitches that tell me right off the bat that some other outlet has covered a story - if it's already out there, what's new to it for me? Sorry, but no beat reporter wants to eat someone else's leftovers.

Anat Gerstein, Inc. focuses on nonprofits. Provide some tips about how nonprofits can best send pitches to you.

The way to a reporter's heart is often an exclusive. Even if a group is going wide with news about some program or initiative, the odds of my covering it are dramatically improved when someone takes the time to figure out an angle or an interview that I can have first and that will have meaning for my particular readership or listenership.

You can reach Celeste at Celeste_Katz@condenast.com .

We're Seeking a Junior Level Communications & Public Relations Professional

We are seeking a communications and public relations professional with two to five years of experience. We are looking for a creative, high-energy individual who excels at writing, has experience with traditional and social media, is interested in various public policy issues, and easily multitasks.

Check out the post for a Junior Level Communications & Public Relations Professional here.