June 17, 2019

This June Little Train & HRPR worked with Author Darren Mort on the launch of his beautiful children's book Tommy & Tiger Terry. Launched by the To Be Loved Network the book is a companion children’s book to the short film Tommy which has now finished filming at Phillip Island and has gone into post production. The brain child of Darren Mort, Tommy & Tiger Terry depicts a child in the midst of family violence and conflict. His imaginary friend Tiger Terry is Tommy’s safe place to fall. The film and book highlight the enormous and growing global problem of families in crisis and in particular the repercussion on children. 

As a result of Australia’s 260 daily divorce cases, threats involving children in family violence have increased by 76% in the past three years. In Victoria alone, two category one children (dead or almost dead) are reported to the Department of Human Services (DHHS) every day. The immense psychological impact of this on our children and young people is massively underrepresented. Darren Mort, Producer and Author brings to the table his 30 plus years of working as a Barrister of Family Law. He knows first-hand the impact divorce has on children and served on the Family Violence Taskforce Committee reporting to the Royal Commission in 2015-2016. 

“For children they will see their story reflected in the pages” said Darren Mort, Author “whilst parents will be able to identify what they can do better. The book aims to give children a voice, where they have none.”

The To Be Loved Network is formed by a group of legal, medical and political experts who deal firsthand with cases of family violence and child neglect.  The book was funded by the Family Peace Foundation and will be used as a resource / tool for parents and children to help make sense of family violence and parental separation. Through beautiful illustrations by Niama Wessely and a both heart-warming and wrenching story penned by Darren, powerful messages about the importance of treating our children properly are communicated. 

The To Be Loved Network has already resonated in a huge way: Degree of Separation (their first film) launched in 2017 was accepted into 24 international film festivals and won 7 international film awards including Best Foreign Film at the Hollywood Now Film Festival. It has since been picked up by a Hollywood Film Distributor. With an equally powerful message the network intends on taking Tommy & Tiger Terry down a similar path before filming production of the 15-minute short Tommy commences. 

“This is more than just a children’s book” said Darren “it is a crucial project with an important message behind it: that our children are our most precious gifts, and they must be cared for properly.”

We are looking forward to sharing the short film Tommy with you. For enquiries relating to the book contact Bronny, bronwen@littletrain.com.au

Wednesday, 8 May, 2019

On Friday Little Train PR & Marketing had the pleasure of launching Jon Smith Subs in Australia. We arrange this fantastic red carpet event for their first store with lots of fun activities. The franchise store is situated at the District, Docklands right outside the Melbourne Star! Our store launch event saw our guests enjoying delicious subs, crispy fries and had a chance to win on the spin and win! VIP guests walked the red carpet at the red carpet event and had a snap on the media wall. Lee Chan of SBS Food launched the store with a special red ribbon cutting with the team from United Franchise Group and Jon Smith Subs. Influencers sampled the food and over all it was a brilliant day out for a delicious lunch for everyone. Congratulations Jon Smith Subs! Publicity and marketing are always key in generating a great event and we were really excited to be working with the marketing team from United Franchise Group on this excellent activation and store launch event. We can't wait for the next store launch event and look forward to sharing all the news with you about it. You'll want to be red carpet ready and on the look out for a VIP Invitation from Little Train PR & Marketing.

12 April, 2019

In answering the question do you need a Publicist, first it is important to understand what a Publicist does and how publicity and PR will help you. In essence a publicist can get you in the media. Publicists are gate keepers and bridge builders. A good publicity team will run your publicity / pr campaign with a number of different elements making up the project. Usually the project will include a media kit and contained within will be: a media release, headshots or product pictures along with your bio or spiel. The second element is a a targeted media database which the publicity team will build to suit your needs. For example, if you have a great new fitness product you don't want media who work covering technology receiving your release, unless your product has some amazing tech aspect to it! The publicists decide what media needs to see your message. Publicity might require a stunt or for your product or brand to engage with celebrities, influencers and bloggers. Good publicists will have a track record of getting media and you'll be able to see this because they will share this all over their own social media!  Publicity includes news stories and interviews in trade journals, industry sites, newspapers, magazines, blogs, webzines, websites, radio, television, social media and podcasts.

But why would you want that? It's pretty simple, publicity is an extremely important tool for all businesses in an increasingly competitive market place. A news story can legitimise your business whilst endorsing skills and knowledge. Publicity can also be owner-generated content that exists on your own business platforms for example across social media. Sometimes a business just doesn't have time to manage all this social media creation and that's where they might outsource to a social media agency or a freelance publicist also skilled in creating content. Publicity can also position your business as an ‘expert’ in a particular field and is a great way of generating regular publicity and keeping a strong media ‘game face’.

Publicity can also include crisis management. Maybe you have been thrust into the media spotlight with an unfortunate incident that may be personal, professional or of no fault of your own. This is where you might need a professional publicist to take over the message that you want conveyed in the media. Once the media picks up a story they will be relentless until they get what they want. This might be an exclusive interview, pictures or a statement from the family or business entity. A PR agency will be able to manage all of this for you and can also become your spokesperson. Publicity are skilled in dealing with the media and can talk the media talk.

Publicists can also garner speaking engagements for you which is also another excellent opportunity for exposure and considered PR. Publicists can arrange product launches, brand activations, public events, cocktail parties and special events. Publicists are usually 360 event manager specialists. Launches and activations are also another excellent opportunity for publicity and can garner media interest and a digital footprint, particularly through social media exposure. Publicity will:

- Build awareness about your products/services, expertise and people.

- Drive prospects to your website.

- Drive participation in a promotion or event.

- Educate the market about problems your company can solve.

- Create an ongoing dialogue with the market.

- Generate Search Engine Optimisation and Social Media Optimisation (the capacity for your website and social media to be found by Google and search engines).

- Position you as an industry expert / spokesperson.

- Generate new clients and enquiries.

Publicity can be either a short or long-term investment that builds relationships and generates awareness. In deciding if you need a publicist it is important to understand the publicity is not marketing. There are no guarantees and the two activities are quite different.

Marketing is a strategic mix of promotional activities that work towards building your brand. Marketing is a paid guarantee of advertising whether that is on social media, digital platforms, the radio, television or in the newspaper. This is a created ad.

Publicity is the job of getting your brand or voice into the media. Publicists essentially introduce you to people you should know, and introduce people who should know you - to you through strategic activities: media campaigns, events, speaking engagements, ambassador roles, brand activations, product launches, social media engagement etc.

Publicity is not guaranteed and relies on the connections a publicist can make with the media. To put it in plain text:

Marketing will get you a television commercial, publicity will get you an interview on the television with a journalist.

Companies, individuals, celebrities and brands engage PR Agencies for access to their networks, existing media relationships and databases. It's important to know that PR agencies do not pass on databases at the end of a working relationship as this is considered the agencies IP and agencies pay hefty rates to subscribe to important media databases. They also spend years making sure their databases are up to date. The client enjoys access to the agency's years of experience, contacts, and relationships built over time in the media, which in turn generates strong new media results for them.

So, what makes a good PR agency? A good PR agency has a track record of media gets, this means their clients have been interviewed on the radio, their story has appeared on the television or in editorial in newspapers and major online platforms. A good PR agency is only as good as their database! A good agency will have a strong database that has been refined over time, they will have contacts with media and personal relationships with the media. They will be able to make the phone call to a journalist that you can’t. A good publicist will be able to get the television station receptionist to put your call through simply because of their name and track record with the media. The receptionist will likely be used to receiving calls from the publicist and instantly put the call through as opposed to ending the call quickly and without joy for the person ringing. A good PR agency knows people, especially the people you should know and who should know you.

As mentioned, there are no guarantees in the world of publicity, however if you have a story the media like, then you can expect to see results anywhere from 2-6 weeks for a campaign. If you are working on building your profile as an expert in your field, influencer or celebrity then results can take anywhere from 3-6 months to even a year! We have helped get people on television and in roles on reality television programs! Good publicists know how to work a narrative that producers are looking for and give excellent advice on the steps to take to get where you want to go.

Once you decide you need a publicist, you'll find the process fairly simple. 

1. The publicist will work with you to create your story or glean it from you.

2. The team will create a custom database for you.

3. If you require a strategy, this will be created and then various elements will be executed by team members.

4. Your media kit is created: media release, head shots etc.

5. Your message is broadcast to the media!

Last but not least, it's all in the relationships. The Publicist will use their existing relationships to lock down media coverage through personal pitching to secure media coverage.

So? If you think you need a publicist. Let us know! 

25 March, 2019

Little Train PR & Marketing had the pleasure of working with Fast Track events on "A Million Dollar Evening with The Altman Brothers and Special Guest Luis. D Ortiz". We also managed to negotiate for our client Zed Nasheet, Real Estate Agent from ZED Real Estate as the opening warm up speaker. It was a great night all around ant the event was a sell out. Our PR appeared across television, radio and editorial and all in all the tour was a huge success. We love working with Fast Track events who are specialists in bringing the best talent to Australia. They have presented tours with John Cena, Scott Adkins, Stephen Seigal, Claude Van Damme, GSP and more! True event specialists when it comes to the speaking tour circuit. Get in touch if we can help you with PR for your speaking tour or conference. Publicity and marketing are so important in ensuring you have an amazing audience for your tour. We always work closely with our clients on their marketing, publicity, events requirements and more to make sure we give the best support for their activities. One of the most amazing experiences was the opportunity of working with Fast Track Events to make a little boys dream come true of meeting John Cena. Bryce McKiernan shortly before his passing was able to fulfil a dream of meeting John Cena. It was a beautiful and heart warming moment and we were so pleased that we could have played a small part in making this happen.