The Brief
Midas was hired by Macmillan Children’s Books to create and implement a strategic and impactful PR campaign for the publication of Allie’s new poetry anthology, A Poet for Every Day of the Year . Our task was to secure print, online and broadcast coverage, building a buzz around the new anthology around National Poetry Day.
Midas pitched interviews and written pieces from Allie, alongside blanket review coverage and a specially commissioned survey on poetry for National Poetry Day.
The Work
To ensure coverage in the engaged women’s lifestyle magazines for publication, we secured features from Allie in Woman & Home and Red, to run in their October issues. We began pitching potential talking points for articles, making use where possible of the support from Allie’s friends, while making sure the coverage would have the biggest impact on driving sales.
Over the course of the campaign, we worked closely with Allie on the different angles included in the book. We also created, implemented, and pitched a survey news story on Brits and their views about poetry, which was linked specifically to National Poetry Day. We secured several pieces of national coverage for Allie’s launch party.
The Results
The coverage achieved for A Poet for Every Day of the Year has been multi-faceted, showcasing the various elements of the anthology. We secured coverage for Allie’s launch in The Times, Evening Standard, Sunday Times, Daily Mail and the Scottish Daily Mail, and the Caledonian Record. We also secured an exclusive reading of Dorothy Parker’s ‘One Perfect Rose’ by Helena Bonham-Carter which appeared on BBC Two Newsnight on publication day – a first for the show.
To mark National Poetry Day and the survey, Allie was interviewed across BBC regional radio stations, including BBC Radio London and BBC Radio Newcastle, Times Radio with Mariella Frostrup, and Scala Radio. She wrote pieces for Red, Woman & Home and Country & Town House on the power of poetry, showcasing some of the diverse poets featured in the anthology. Further coverage ran in NB Magazine, Female First, A Little Bird and The School Run.
The beautiful package and easy-to-read format makes A Poet for Every Day of the Year the perfect gift for all the family. The book was featured in the Christmas gift guides in The Sun, Daily Express, Daily Mail, Good Housekeeping and My Weekly.
The social media support, from a cover reveal hosted by Bookshop.org to a swell of engagement from poetry fans and book bloggers meant Allie and the book were featured prominently around publication day and National Poetry Day. Allie was interviewed for SJ Watson’s Book Club on Twitter later in October, further spiking engagement online.