Each was hand-packed with love for the doyennes of food media, at Donna Hay, Feast magazine, Delicious, Good Taste, Woman’s Day and New Idea.

It was our way as the PR team at Filtered Media of helping tell the KitchenAid story – which is all about cooking from the heart; it was essentially a new product launch, but we wanted it to be personal and intimate, capturing the joy of creating beautiful food and memories. A traditional press release distributed via email was simply not going to cut it.

To visit these creative people in their working environments was such an awesome experience. We visited a few at their offices, where we were able to spend 10-15 minutes laughing and bonding over our love for food.

Others, we were lucky enough to visit in their studios. We saw first-hand the projects they were working on and got a real feel for who they are in their usual surroundings.

It was like open week at school, as they proudly gave us a tour of their prop rooms and test kitchens. We met the stylists and photographers and were given an exclusive look over the storyboards of the latest cookbook or feature they were working on.

Each one of them greeted us with open arms, were warm and friendly and incredibly grateful we had taken time out to visit them directly.

We were able to take each editor through the features of the KitchenAid ExactSlice Food Processor and point out the “industry first” ExactSlice lever, its super wide Feed Tube and new, lighter weight, and capture the “ooh’s” and “ahh’s” live, which was priceless.

To event or not to event?
While events definitely still have their place in the world of PR, we decided the best way to effectively engage and educate one-on-one with each editor was to go to them. We intentionally only rang the day before to advise of our pending visit, wanting to meet them “where they were at”, no stress, no last-minute cancellations – like a friend dropping in with a casserole.

We felt this execution would help make each editor feel special, encourage quality, intimate conversation and ensure we wouldn’t have to spread ourselves around trying to get to everyone in a short space of time in one night, on top of managing event logistics.

We felt this tactic would be a far more efficient, productive and convenient use of everyone’s time. To secure face time with these busy, multi-tasking editors is a challenge, yet invaluable in the grander scheme of things and so a plan was set.

Our Flan Plan
Having a qualified chef on our KitchenAid PR team at Filtered Media comes in handy.

Our senior PR manager, Belinda English, conceived fresh produce packs featuring all the ingredients required to make a Parmesan, Leek and Pancetta Flan that could be made entirely in the new KitchenAid ExactSlice Food Processor, of course. What better way to a food editor’s heart than with food – in the form of a gorgeous DIY savoury treat – or the ingredients to make it, at least.

This beauty of this carefully selected recipe was it required using the full functionality of the KitchenAid ExactSlice Food Processor to make it, from slicing, to shredding to pastry making. The ingredients packs were designed with a warm homely feel, traditional but modern, with farm fresh produce nestled in a wicker basket that made you want to dive in and dig around to see what goodies were hidden within – half the fun was in creating it!

Choc-chip Cookie? Don’t Mind if I Do?
Towards the end of a rather exhausting day, we were rewarded ten-fold. Arms laden with baked goodies from the set of the latest Feast pastry dessert feature and a box of choc-chip cookies from Donna Hay herself! With fond farewells and promises of catching up soon, this was a good day for the KitchenAid brand and its PR team, in equal measures. It’s fun being a gift-giving storyteller!

Post by Sarah Broome, PR Assistant, Filtered Media

“Every problem has a solution,” I tell my kids, and this one is no different.

One of the solutions she suggested intrigued me.  I jotted it down in my iPhone Notes: “Ask questions after every page as you read a story together”.

How often have you heard wonderfully profound sounding guidance like that; it sounds so wise, you feel smarter just having heard it.  But really, you have zero idea what it means in practice.

That’s why I tapped out my follow-up question: “What are good questions to ask??” and grabbed a pause in her flow to ask it out loud.

“A great question,” she affirmed, in that special way teachers do best. “Ask your child to make predictions about what might happen next in the story.  Ask him to make a summary of the story in his own words.  Perhaps ask him what the person in the picture might be feeling. Ask him what might be another word we could use for one of the words on the page.”

Eureka! My follow-up question unlocked the treasure chest of her experience and insights, allowing her to put gold nuggets of true value in my hands, and those of all the parents in that room.

The experience reminded me that asking good questions is one of the most powerful interpersonal skills we can learn, as children and adults.

So often, follow-up questions unlock the most meaningful content.

Think about the last time you were at a networking event.  I bet the most enjoyable conversation you had was with a person that asked you follow-up questions, and stayed engaged asking more as you unwrapped your story.

In our executive coaching program we look at networking – how and why we need to get out and about – then when we’re there, how to make the most of it.  Did you know people walk away thinking you’re smartest, when they’ve done the most talking?  If you hate disingenuous small talk as much as I do, you need to learn how to ask incisive questions that cut to the heart of the issue.

So, this morning, there I was, every bit like the mature-aged Uni student: front and centre, tapping notes, furrowed brow, thrusting my hand in the air to clarify or confirm grand statements.  Many of the other parents were polite. Respectful. Quiet.

Perhaps, like many in our generation, they were taught it’s rude to interrupt. But we miss so much that way.  The next evolution for our generation, and the one we are raising, is learning how to interrupt without being rude.  Honestly, the answers to my follow-up questions will make a more meaningful difference to all the children represented in that room than being polite and not interrupting ever could.

We find it every day in our business: asking the right questions, at the right time, in the right way, is what unlocks the most powerful stories.  Try it for yourself next time you’re in a presentation or conversation – see what hidden treasures you discover with a few digging questions.

Post by Heather Jones, managing director & co-founder, Filtered Media

I remember co-hosting media training as a young up-and-coming account director at Text 100 in San Francisco. I’d been shadowing my managing director for the last few workshops, and this time, he’d passed the baton: it was my turn to be lead trainer.

I waxed lyrical about pyramid answers and handling tricky questions, owning your message and, leaning in for emphasis, “never, ever say anything you’re not happy to have on the record”.

But really, at that point in my career, I hadn’t learned any of those lessons the hard way. It was all largely abstract theory.

Now, as both a parent and employer myself, a “Parental leave funding revisited” headline got my attention in today’s Australian Financial Review. Fork poised over my lunch salad, I mumbled “bummer” on behalf of a Federal Opposition minister as I read the third paragraph:

“In a secret recording taken at the closed forum and leaked to the Seven Network, Mr [shadow assistant treasurer Matthew] Cormann said: “We are yet to announce how we would propose to fund [the federal opposition’s paid parental leave scheme]….” (Australian Financial Review, News, page 3, 18 April 2013)

The leaked news in itself wasn’t that revelatory. Really, who’s surprised the Opposition doesn’t know yet how to fund its “promises”?

But the “secret recording” part? With our growing addiction to smart phones and all their embedded audio, photo and video recording genius, even closed-door meetings are now potentially open to the world.

Some lessons are better learned the easy way: there’s no such thing as off-the-record.  Really and truly. Assume your story is being recorded, all the time, and speak and act accordingly. It’s a principle that works in life, as well as business. Mr Cormann got grounded in that theory today.

Post by Heather Jones, co-founder + managing director, Filtered Media Pty Ltd

My mission in this first blog post is to share a little of makes us tick; what gets us out of bed in the morning. When we started Filtered Media, I had a sign blu-tacked over my desk that read: “It’s all about story”.

Both Heather and I have always been fascinated by the art, passion and discipline of storytelling. For me, it was expressed through journalism, as a news editor, feature writer and columnist both here and abroad finding, telling and breaking stories; for Heather, it was the other side of the proverbial media fence, as a corporate communications expert, where her innately creative and strategic sense for shaping stories earned the trust of many big brand executives.

It’s self-evident that storytelling is part of everyday life, for all of us. We know a good story when we hear it, or experience it. Think about your favourite movie. When you tell someone why you love that movie, it’s likely the storyline itself that captured your imagination, made you think and changed your world to some degree. But of course it was a lot of elements working together to impact you: the music, script, images and sounds all work together to tell the story.

Here’re two other quick examples of great storytelling:

1. Steve Jobs, famous for his compelling keynotes, had this great insight into Nike’s marketing and positioning: “[Nike] don’t ever talk about the product…They honour great athletes and they honour great athletics. That’s what they are about.”

Not surprisingly, Apple’s own marketing followed suit with the famous “Think Different” campaign. Nothing about speeds and feeds, but a clear message that Apple’s in the business of changing the world through great ideas.

2. Sir David Attenborough is another incredible storyteller worth studying. I just read an article in The Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Weekend Magazine, in which he (perhaps ironically) lamented the rise of celebrity documentary presenters. A good presenter, in his view, gets out of the way and keeps the focus on biology and the environment.

That tells you everything about Sir David’s approach. He’s in the business of letting the natural world tell its story. He’s just the facilitator. It’s a humble, and therefore compelling, idea.

And that, for me, is the art of storytelling. It’s an instinctive sense about what story to tell, and how. It’s about knowing there are five different angles you could take when you’re trying to describe the proverbial Amazon Rainforest, but choosing just one. The most important one.

Lots of people of course find that process difficult, and that’s where we fit.  It’s part of  our DNA.  Now as a company, we’re hiring like-minded people and helping iconic brands and media companies tell the right story using multiple elements of communications, events and media production services. It’s not just a great business, it tells you a lot about who we are.

Post by Mark Jones, co-founder + CEO, Filtered Media Pty Ltd