Why does your story matter?
– News is not about you, it’s what people need to know about you.
Businesses are fascinated by their stories in the same way people are detained by their own reflections.
Hours are spent adjusting finest details; subtle changes painstakingly assessed, tweaked, and reassessed before passing muster for final acceptance. But does anyone notice, or even care?
Getting your story listened to is less about you and mostly about what people need to know about you. It demands arresting context – connecting your story to stuff that matters.
When online media company MSN New Zealand launched entertainment news category Entertainment Fix it needed people to know. But simply explaining Entertainment Fix and proclaiming its online existence wasn’t going to cut it. Who cared? Where was the big story?
Taking the new category’s central characteristic of entertainment and celebrity news, MSN seized the idea of celebrity obsession, conducting research to localise the condition and give its story news gravity. The research found that Kiwis are increasingly celebrity obsessed, with many showing symptoms of a condition once reserved for Americans – celebrity obsession syndrome.
The online survey of over 500 New Zealanders found that more than 50 percent of Kiwis preferred celebrity news ahead of current affairs. Immediately, people listened. We had a news story. Sure, it was less about Entertainment Fix and mostly about celebrity obsession. But, in telling the story, the existence and significance of Entertainment Fix became clear.
MSN New Zealand business manager Liz Fraser tells the story on Radio Live.
