In control: the video enabled the Princess of Wales to tell her own story
The Princess of Wales has delivered a PR masterclass that turns media relations on its head, says STEVE SAMPSON
What do the Princess of Wales, the footballers Cristiano Ronaldo and Jude Bellingham – as well as Mr Beast – have in common? They have not only by-passed traditional media, they have taken ownership of their media, literally driving billions of views. To their message.
This isn’t a piece about Press intrusion – “why don’t you leave them alone?”. It’s all about taking media relations to an art form which Hollywood would be proud of.
Dispensing with third parties, press offices, off-the-record briefings, favoured journalists. It’s everything to do with controlling the audience through the mega social channels, working for you at global levels, galaxies beyond any legacy media.
Princess Kate’s video, providing an update on her health and imminent return to Royal duties, will do half a billion views. Ronaldo has 638 million followers on Instagram – his new YouTube channel is the fastest growing in history.
Jude Bellingham, the next big thing, launches his own YouTube channel this month – not about money, all about his message direct to the fans.
And you don’t have to be a mega star.
Mr Beast is a self-made YouTuber with over 300m subscribers to his off the wall channel of challenges and competitions. They’re all in the same game of directly influencing the message and their audience. We report what they say because there’s no other option.
The old guard at The Palace must be having the vapours. Or maybe they’ve been swept aside. Any journalist who has ever had to deal with them (and got nowhere) would be glad to see the back of them.
But Kate’s video is a masterclass full of hidden messages:
* Just three minutes – the perfect length for a viral “short”. YouTube have pioneered them as chapters. This is perfect. As is the music – solemn piano ending on a “will ye no come back again” Highland feel. This has been beautifully produced.
* It’s her medical update. Trust me – every day media from all round the world phone The Palace, the Wales’s office and any footman they have bribed for the tiniest snippet or update. Now they’ve had it and straight from the source.
* “Kindness and Compassion” – appealing to her already committed loving audience, making those against her feel like heartless rotters. Perfectly scripted. The Daily Mail headline labels her brave – shrewd more like. “Humility” – right for the jugular, bowing their royal heads to the public, look at us we’re ordinary, deeply touching. Everything the Sussex pair aren’t.
* “Love and being loved” – cut to the Royal couple hugging which is pure Sussex country. The clear message being “my husband loves me”. And kills off any marriage rift stories, which would have surfaced again in November when William attends the Earthshot event alone. Because Kate is at home with the children, holding the fort, loving from afar. Kills it for the media reptiles – that’s TIKTOK by the way, not The Sun.
* “Back to work” in the near future – Kate signalling that she is no lazy drain on the royal purse. She is battling a killer disease but will shoulder her duty. And the King , Queen and Prime Minister are in support. Harry take notice.
* The coup de grace – those wonderful children. Now we see the next generation coming at the very moment commentators are saying the Royal Family is collapsing. Watch for more at the Christmas message.
When I was Assistant Editor at The Sun, the mercurial editor Kelvin MacKenzie turned down lunch with The Queen when everyone else in Fleet Street trotted along.
He said he was too busy, blamed Rupert Murdoch – which resulted in that day’s bollocking. In those days reporters and snappers crawled through swamps to get candid pix. How times have changed.
Steve Sampson is a former Assistant, Northern and Scottish Editor of The Sun newspaper, and a Director of Trinity Mirror publications. He was a launch presenter of Radio5 Live, founder of First Press Publishing and contributes to the BBC. He is an investor/owner across a series of digital initiatives, and a media adviser. He lists “Diplomacy” as a speciality.
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