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EasyJet PR guru offers advice to local businesses

On Monday night Newcastle City Library played host to one of the PR industry’s most eminent experts, who was in the region to share his expertise with local businesses.

James Rothnie is the former head of PR at easyJet, and the brains behind their most famous publicity stunt. He arranged for 10 members of easyJet staff dressed in orange to board the inaugural fight of its competitor airline Go in 1998, completely stealing the spotlight.

His expertise lies in communication, including public relations, media relations, brand building, internal communications and stakeholder management. At the event, which was organised by Newcastle Science City as part of their Science of Success series, James provided the audience with real examples of good communication.

“The media have always been very important to businesses, and it’s always been the aspiration of businesses to get favourable media coverage,” explained James.

“I think it is becoming increasingly relevant as consumers become hardened toward the media, and businesses begin to look for new ways of getting directly in touch with a whole range of their customers and staff.”

The current economic climate has also encouraged many businesses to become more media savvy as a means of attracting business.

He continued: “In tough economic times, what tends to get cut are advertising, marketing and training budgets, things which perceived wisdom says can be cut.

“So the use of public relations becomes all the more important on the basis that if you ignore it, you run the risk of being irnored yourself.

While James is a strong advocate of traditional media, he believes businesses should also look towards new forms of social online media, which can reach new and different audiences.

“There are alot of opportunities through companies websites through brochures and sales distribution tools, while the explosion in social media, blogs and all kinds of internet phenomena give companies the chance to push themselves out into a wider marketplace for a better price.”

When asked for his top tips for businesses looking to start using PR themselves – he offered two: know your business and talk about money.

“Understand your businesses so you can be clear in your communications – if you understand how your business is working, you can talk about it with confidence and you can maintain a storyline with integrity in it as well.

Also try to talk about money - that’s what people are interested in. Try and make profound corporate and financial points in a light hearted and amusing way to grab peoples attention and drive them towards your business.“

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .