Maroon PR (MPR) was recently hired as Facebook’s Maryland/Washington D.C. Agency of Record for media relations. As part of our ongoing work, we are tasked with finding local businesses and individuals in Maryland that are using Facebook’s products successfully or have unique stories sparked by their use of Facebook.
After noticing a photo of a United States Marine serving in Afghanistan go viral on the U.S. Marine Corps Facebook page, our account team quickly discovered that Marine was a Maryland native, and sprang into action to garner coverage for our Facebook client.
After doing some outreach, we were able to secure contact information for the Marine, Sgt. Matt Jaffe and connected with him to introduce ourselves and our purpose. In talking with the Marine, we gathered more information about the story behind the photo along with a statement we could use for media pitching. With his blessing, we put together our pitch with his statement and distributed it to our local DC and MD media contacts.
With so much attention on Afghanistan, we knew this story would fit in with the current news cycle. After distributing our pitch, the story quickly gained interest after local news stations discovered the viral Marine was in fact a Maryland native.
Our team secured media hits with WMAR, WUSA9, FOX5, WJLA, and FOX45 in the DC and MD regions. We even had Sgt. Matt Jaffe’s parents on an interview with WJLA.
With the word spreading fast, the story was pulled by over 50 affiliate news stations and media outlets across the United States all within 48 hours of distributing our original pitch, including The Today Show.
In addition to traditional outlets, this story was also shared across multiple media social media channels across the US.
This is just one example of how our team pays attention to the news cycle and uses research and quick action to help our clients get their stories told.
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