TheStreet. com is launching a Professional Markets Group that will offer research and trading products to hedge fund managers, brokers, financial planners and traders. The
Professional Markets Group will supervise RealMoney Pro and TheStreet View, both launched before the advent of the new group. RealMoney Pro includes insight from analysts, fund
managers and traders, and TheStreet View is targeted at hedge fund managers. The new division will launch more products aimed at brokers and other professional financial
audiences, but the publisher intends to continue its focus on individual investors throught other products, as well. (TheStreet. com, Thomas Clarke, 212/321-5000)
An Exercise in Media Relations
How long has it been since you and your staff truly put yourselves in reporters' shoes? PR pros are constantly making an effort to grasp the mindset of the journalists they
pitch every day, but if you really want to understand where the media's coming from, try an exercise recommended by Paul Sullivan, president and director of strategy at Sullivan
Media in Vancouver.
Sullivan recently presented "A News Director's Reality Check" at the IABC International Conference in Chicago. He recommends assembling the media relations staff first thing in
the morning (as a news team would assemble for its daily planning meeting), distributing a few copies of national and local papers and having the staff divide into two groups: One
will be the No. 1-rated newscast in the area, the other will be the No. 2-rated newscast. Those groups then have 20 minutes to make use of the papers and any other news they've
picked up to assemble the "top stories" for the 6 p.m. broadcast.
After hashing out the stories, PR pros will generally have a better understanding of what it takes to create a competitive broadcast that offers the right mix of hard news,
human interest angles and local "need-to-know" appeal - which translates to a deeper understanding of how to create the best news hooks for your pitches. (Sullivan, 604/685-4742,
[email protected])