Corporate Television Networks

case study

Client: Birds Eye Wall's

Agency: Burson-Marsteller

VNR company: Corporate Television News

Distribution: Media Link

Cost: pounds 7,000

At two o'clock one afternoon earlier this year, Birds Eye Wall's learned that the Office of Fair Trading had decided to refer the issue of ice cream cabinet agreements to the MMC. It was crucial for Wall's to respond immediately and defend the agreements system, under which ice cream manufacturers supply retail-ers with freezers free of charge in return for the exclusive sale of their products.

The company felt particularly under pressure because it was being accused of using unfair trading practices by other ice cream manufacturers, including Mars. Wall's PR agency, Burson-Marsteller, recommended that it produced a VNR for that evening's national news bulletins, providing a rapid response and letting it control the messages. We needed to put Wall's posi-tion quickly to the media,' says John Brown, deputy chief executive at B-M. We had filmed, edited and distributed the VNR by 5pm.'

The footage included an interview with Birds Eye Wall's chairman John Sharp along with pictures of cabinets in store. It was used by the BBC's Six O'Clock and Nine O'Clock News and ITN's News at Ten. Mars' response, by comparison, was low key and the firm was not directly quoted in any of the broadcasts.

To anyone considering a VNR for the first time in this type of situation, Brown stresses that it is crucial to decide immediately whether the story really is newsworthy and to establish how the company wants to play it. Is it better to hide under the table and let someone else speak on your behalf or are you going to come out and state your case yourself?' he asks. In this instance a VNR assured us of three things: speed - to make sure we met all the news deadlines - accuracy and control.'

Corporate Television News has appointed Nick Mawer as its head of video news release production.

Corporate Television News, the joint venture between ITN and Burson Marsteller, has abandoned VNR production. The announcement follows the suspension of the deal between BBC Resources and Medialink which aimed to give that VNR producer exclusive access to key BBC production and distribution facilities. But Stephen Watson, managing director at CTN, said the decision was purely commercial and was not related to wider controversy surrounding VNR use. According to Watson: We haven't produced VNRs for some time, and they now represent two per cent of CTN's turnover. So in 1996, we won't be producing VNRs.'