What the Scoop Geico Commercial with Rapper DC Glenn Can Teach You About Public Relations

What the Scoop Geico Commercial with Rapper DC Glenn Can Teach You About Public Relations

What the Scoop Geico Commercial with Rapper DC Glenn can teach you about Public Relations. I had a conversation with DC Glenn who was considering working with me for media training and that conversation lasted about half an hour. It was so fascinating because he was talking about everything he had done on his own to move himself forward in the Public Relations realm. I wanted to share some of those with you.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Znkvd5UvnNI?rel=0&w=700&h=467]

1. SEO Your Website So The Media Can Find You.

He SEO’d his website. So he took all of those words that were in the Geico Commercial and all of the words that were intrinsic to him and he updated the SEO. So his website engagement went from 200 people to 3,000 people in a month. While that’s not huge, it’s a huge jump, right? As he said it’s not about the numbers it’s really about the engagement. So that’s an important measurement.

2. Research Your Media Appearance Impact

He researched his impact in other ways. Of course, the first question I asked was: How are sales? How are these views impacting sales with Geico? Are people actually buying insurance? Does this commercial work? It’s a fabulous commercial. Is it working for its purpose, right? It can be really entertaining, it can go viral, but is it working?

He said he didn’t know, but what he did find out was that even though the video had been viewed 12 million times. I think now it’s up to 14 now.

He said there were 1.2 billion impressions.

So that shows how much people were re-watching it and how much people were loving him. Those are really valuable stats for him — that it was so engaging. And you really can’t take your eyes off of him. I love when he throws the sprinkles in the air. I myself have watched it over and over again. I wonder if you have too?

3. Update Your Wikipedia So Journalists and Producers Find You.

The other thing that he did is he updated his Wikipedia. Why is that important? Because when reporters and producers are researching you they pop your name into Google and what pops up on Wikipedia is probably going to come up first. It came up first when I was researching this. So he updated his entire Wikipedia to make sure that when reporters and producers were taking a look there, they had all of the most updated accurate information. They didn’t have to ask him about it. They already knew. And that is super important because he’s controlling his narrative. That’s what we always want to do in PR: control the narrative.

4. Focus Your PR Efforts on Shows + Publications That Drive Business.

He focused on publications and shows that would drive business. What kind of business does he want? He wants voiceovers and acting gigs. So he’s already been in two movies and two voiceovers that are both going to air in May. He said he really wants to want people to hire him for those two purposes. So what has he been doing? He’s been going up on Clubhouse and he said, “I’ve been able to collaborate with actors and with Broadway stars who I never would have gotten to work with.”

So Clubhouse is really fantastic for that and people have been popping him into their rooms as a moderator. He’s been so popular there, he’s been going at that for hours and hours a day, getting himself out there, meeting new people in venues that he could never tap traditionally.

Publication wise:

For him, it was trades like Ad Week. That’s one of the things that he wanted to be in and he did get in because those are the people who are going to hire him for commercials. So he got before his core audience there.

When you’re thinking about PR you’re thinking about: what are the publications, trades, consumers, magazines and publications and shows, whatever it is — that’s going to get you in front of your core audience—that’s what’s important.

5. Create + Keep Your Bucket List in Mind.

Have the big picture, future of yourself. He is transitioning from rapper to voice-over artist and actor, right? And his agent asked him. “Well, what is it you want to do? DC, what is on your bucket list?” He said: “I want to do action films like Star Wars and The Mandalorian, animation films and the Clone Wars.” She then gave him all the resources.

Then do you know what he did? This is future planning. He started to make demos for all of those films that he wanted to be in. Very smart, because now he’s going to be ready when his agent comes in with those deals. Even if they don’t come in with those deals, he is already setting the groundwork. He’s putting boots on the ground, establishing what he wants for the future. So I love that he’s already doing that and it’s more than acting as if, it’s really doing it. You’re really doing a demo for what you want and what you say you want and I think that creates a beautiful pathway to it.

He said, “That’s how you create your own luck. Everything is about preparation.” I could not agree more.

Then he searched his name and all the terms in the Geico Commercial – like “Scoop,” and “Tag Team,” and “Sprinkles,” to see who was writing about it. So they’re not necessarily writing about him, right? Because it’s the commercial that’s a success. Then he contacted those journalists who had written about the commercial in one way, shape or form and asked if they wanted to interview him.

By the way, he’s going to be going after Ellen and he’s been doing like four to five podcasts a day. So he’s getting himself out there. Since everyone has seen that commercial, if they haven’t, he can send them the link, but most people have.

He’s been booking himself on those three to four podcasts every day. For example, he saw on Billboard that his 1993 single which is called “Whoomp there it is,” they changed it to “Scoop there it is,” reached the top position on the billboard at that time. Then it re-entered the charts at number 65. So he connected with Billboard magazine. Now they have not gotten back to him but what he said was, “I contact these people and I forget about it and I just keep moving forward. I’m not focused on like. “Oh, who didn’t get back to me. Oh, my PR is not working.”” It’s like he did the thing and he moved forward.

How did he find the addresses of the journalists? He went and found them on Twitter. Journalists would rather not be checking their email, they’d rather be up on Twitter. So he found them on Twitter, he complimented an article, sincerely — which is a wonderful thing to do — and then when they responded back and followed him, he could then connect to them directly. They’re responding back to him and his commercial pops right up so they can see exactly who he is.

6. Promote What You Want to Do in an Organic Way During Media Appearances.

The other thing that happened is he did get booked on Tamron Hall. Now the issue on that show was that there was somewhat of a delay in hearing her. So while he had wanted to promote doing his acting and doing his voiceovers in an organic way. Integrated into the conversation so it does not sound like it’s salesy, but just in the course of the conversation. Which is always what I recommend to my clients, is move into the conversation what you want to do in the future so people will hear it. Then jump back and connect and give you what you want.

How do they know what’s in your mind about what you want to do in the future? You need to actually tell them. And that needs to be woven seamlessly into the conversation.

I had noticed, he didn’t do that. That’s what he said that he had wanted but the reason was there was a delay. And because Tamron Hall is such a wonderful professional, and because he had given her the background information that that’s what he wanted to convey, she filled in those delays by her saying —and by the way, his next step is more voice acting, more acting.

That is your ideal situation. If you don’t need to weave it into the conversation but the host actually does that. It’s like a dream come true. And when they don’t do it that’s when you need to step up and do it yourself.

7. Get Media Training to Effortlessly Think on the Fly.

He was on a podcast about relationships. Now is that his core of genius? No. The host asked him, “How do you keep relationships alive?” And he’s like, “You can only go out to dinner and watch so much TV together and make love so much together.” She caught kind of caught him off guard with that question. He’s thinking, I don’t know. But what did he do? He thought on the fly.

What did he answer? He’s made it most relevant to them even though it had nothing to do with the topic that was his expertise. He was talking about self-care. How he would leave the house, take his weights with him, go to a parking lot of a mall before the store is open and do his workout. Self-care! So he’s away from his wife, he’s away from his home and he’s doing something beautiful and wonderful for himself, so he can renew himself to come back to the relationship.

You are always almost going to be caught off guard at some point in an interview and need to think on the fly to be ready to be prepared, and then to be free to be spontaneous so you can dip into yourself and pull out an experience or pull out a situation that is relevant for the moment. That’s the beauty of being able to be relaxed in a media appearance because then you can be completely in the moment where your mind is relaxed and those ideas can come in.

That’s why it’s so important to practice and get comfortable. So you have those opportunities when you’re caught off guard and you say something that’s absolutely brilliant. Which satisfies the host and satisfies you because you’ve never said it before.

And it’s your moment of beautiful brilliance that comes through—not in a linear way—but in a spontaneous way like jazz musicians. That’s a different part of the brain actually that you’re using with improvisation than you are used with memorization.

8. Don’t Be Attached to the Outcome of Your Public Relations Results.

The last thing that he did is not be attached to the outcome. He’s contacting these journalists and producers and he moves on to the next ones. He said, “If they circle back, yay. If they don’t, oh well.” And is he going to contact them again? Yes of course! He said, “If you get depressed, you’re missing the blessing.” I love that line. “Just keep refueling and keep going.”

So this is some wisdom from rapper and now voice-over artist and actor DC Glenn from him through me to you. I hope you enjoyed this and I would love to hear if you have any insightful ideas about contacting the media that have worked for you or tell me which one you love the most. I’d love to hear it.

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