It’s early December but in editorial and PR orientated minds, this is Christmas, the end of year and the start of the new year, the best time of the year for seasonal stories and PR opportunities.

For consumer print media, especially monthly consumer titles, Christmas and new year is long gone. PR teams showcased their new Christmas products and Christmas best-seller predictions during Wimbledon in July.

But now is the time when online, national and broadcast media, consumer and B2B are looking for ideas and information from PR specialists for their Christmas and New Year news and features.

So how can PR teams make the most of most of the current seasonal PR opportunities for their clients?
Here are some tried and tested PR ideas which work year after year at this time – the resulting stories are quite easy to spot in the papers.

1. Christmas shopping predictions and surveys
What is going to be all the rage as a Christmas present this year? What is the new food idea for the festive table or party? The press love such predictions.
Annual surveys with year-on year comparisons are also popular with the media such as the one by our client Valassis that reveals how many of us are going to respond to Christmas promotional offers and shop around for the best bargains and whether we plan to spend more this year than last.

2. “of the year” reviews.
It’s started; the PR competition among the dictionary publishers for the definitive ‘word of the year’ for 2017 started on 2 November when Collins declared that it is – ‘fake news.’
Over the coming weeks PR teams for various organisations will be issuing “of the year” stories on many different themes ranging from World Rugby Player of the Year, Books of the Year – in various categories – to controversial sportsman Colin Kaepernick being named ‘Citizen of the Year’ by GQ magazine.

There are plenty more to come.

3. New year resolutions and wishes
We predict that early in 2018, there will be a flurry of features in which celebrities, politicians and industry leaders will be sharing their new year resolutions, wishes and what they want to happen in the new year.
PR teams and their clients need to be ready with answers!.

4. Predictions of trends for next year.

We’re currently researching and issuing articles giving our clients’ predictions of trends to look out for and to prepare for next year, both for specific industry sectors and for life in general. In PR terms, taking an authoritative approach to this, proactively and in response to media requests, is a powerful way to build a reputation as a thought leader in the sector.

Whatever the market, from exhibition PR and meetings PR to consumer PR or baby PR, there will be opportunities in the next few weeks to generate editorial coverage using these approaches.