When it comes to public relations, having a good story is key.  Even if you’re just a t-shirt brand, having a compelling reason for an editor to at least check out your art besides “it’s really good” or “I skate” can go a long way towards getting coverage.  And you don’t need an overpriced PR firm to make it happen (or even a moderately priced consultancy, such as BBPR).

I mentioned digging for unique stories in the action sports world a while back on the BBPR blog, but since USA Today did a piece again last week, I’ll bring it up again.

Quiksilver is really good at non-endemic PR.

Yes, they sponsor some guy named Kelly Slater who is supposedly really good at golf, but that’s an easy story to pitch.  I’m talking about all the coverage they’ve scored on Clay Marzo, such as this USA Today piece.

Before the hate emails start (are they called “hemails”?), let me say that Clay is a talented surfer and deserves all the coverage he gets.  Likewise, I don’t think that Quiksilver is being horribly opportunistic by highlighting his Asperger’s Syndrome as a pitch point for media coverage.  Now if they went out looking for surfers who had various syndromes and ailments to sponsor, with the goal of building a a super team of media-genic athletes, that’d be something else.  However, based on the article, I don’t think that is the case.

I take that back.  I base my opinion on the ARTICLES covering Clay.  ESPN The Magazine, their online extension, and Outside magazine.  Holy CR*P did Quik get a lot of coverage out of this pitch.

I realize not everyone has an incredible surfer such as Clay on their team, but what I’m trying to circle back to is that most of the brands in our industry have stories to tell and you don’t need to have a world champ, squeaky clean image or million dollar budget to tell them.  For example, Erik Ellington’s appearance in Inked.

I’ve found that the non-endemic media are very open to pitches about kids in the extreme world, but we can’t expect them to come to us.  The brand or event you work for probably has a great story to tell, but sometimes you have to point it out to others before they’ll tell it for you.