“Riding the Breaking News Wave Without Wiping Out”
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Title: Newsjacking
Author: David Meerman Scott
Category: Sales, Branding & Marketing, Culture & Society
What if the biggest marketing opportunity of your year is breaking on the news right now, and you have about four hours to act on it? Sam and Sophie dig into David Meerman Scott's Newsjacking, a book that feels either genius or completely terrifying depending on the day.
The episode walks through the core mechanics: injecting your angle into a breaking story in real time, flipping the journalist relationship so they come to you, and the brutally short window where the first clever connection wins. Scott's ethics line gets real attention — tragedies are off-limits, and the gap between clever and crass is razor thin. There's the airline dragging case, the telescoping light bulb changer company that rode a story about public building maintenance costs, and a delivery company that newsjacked its own viral crisis with a response video. The pair also cover the prep work: constant monitoring, pre-approved templates, a rapid-response team, and knowing when to stay quiet.
If you run marketing, comms, or a small brand and you've ever watched a news cycle pass you by, this one names the mindset shift required — giving up control to move in seconds instead of days. The takeaway: speed comes from preparation, not panic.
Newsjacking by David Meerman Scott. For the full written summary, the whole library is on 7minutebooks.com/app — over 6,000 fiction and nonfiction titles you can read or listen to in any language, with infographics on many titles. Unlimited access from $2.99 a month, $9.99 a year, or $19.99 lifetime.
Chapters
00:00What Newsjacking Actually Means00:39Flipping The Journalist Relationship01:14Speed, Substance, And The Ethics Line01:43The Airline Case And Prep Work02:56Light Bulb Changer And Crisis Newsjacking03:45When Not To Newsjack
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