29 Feb 2008


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Top 100 makes the headlines


Briggs' Blog

Consultant editor Fiona Briggs on being in the media spotlight

What a week and I couldn't have imagined a better one to launch my first 'Briggs' Blog'.

Yesterday, Talking Retail launched the Checkout/Nielsen Top 100 Grocery Brands report.

Hard copies will be landing on the desks of Checkout's former subscribers today.

If you are not one of those lucky readers, the report, including the Top 100 league table, is also available to view online along with some bonus features, not included in the print version.

It's already caused a bit of a stir. The nationals have run with it –broadsheet and tabloids – as has radio, online and TV.

There's more coverage in the pipeline too, so don't forget to check the weekend press for report highlights and follow-ups.

As a result of the media buzz, I've found myself in an unusual role reversal situation being interviewee rather than interviewer.

Yesterday, and I make no apologies for bragging, I was twice summoned to the BBC at White City to be interviewed for TV.

The first was for Working Lunch, where I was mildly grilled by Adam Shaw and Nick Wood about the report's key finding – that ethical shopping has gone mainstream.

On reflection it was fun, but daunting given that you only have a few minutes to get your point(s) across.

Before going on air, I was ushered into the green room with my lovely "media mummy" Maria. After make-up – a little powder, I avoided the Cuprinol treatment – Adam entered for a brief, brief chat about the report's key findings.

In terms of pre-recording preparation that, it seemed, was that.

I was subsequently whisked onto the set, miked up and quizzed live on air.

Later in the afternoon, having just returned back home, I pick up a call from a researcher from BBC News 24.

He had just seen the Working Lunch footage and wanted me back to talk about Marks & Spencer's plan to charge for carrier bags.

There's good synergy with the Top 100 report – growing consumer concerns for the environment – so I wasted no time in deciding to accept.

I was scheduled to appear at 8pm but before I even left for the studio, breaking news about Prince Harry serving in Afghanistan intervened.

It pushed me understandably down the schedule but I still got a two-minute slot with questions from Anita McVeigh.

No preparation or briefing on this occasion but at least I managed to name check our report and Talking Retail got a plug too – hurray.

And that, once more, was that.

In the car driving back home, it struck me just how quick and timely live media has to be.

I guess it's the nature of the beast. But yesterday TV condensed the Checkout Nielsen Top 100 report – all of its meticulous research, data and thousands of finely polished words – into five minutes of airtime.

Equally, the M&S story, which is based on a deep and forward-thinking environmental strategy – the one it calls Plan A – was squeezed into a two-minute sound bite.

For those of us in the industry, we can dig behind the headlines and read more (viz; checkout our Top 100 brand profiles).

But while the TV coverage may only be skin-deep it does have, however, a greater power to inform and a much wider reach.

And, for that, I'm grateful for the media spotlight.

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