“My phone has been ringing off the hook and WhatsApp has been going crazy all morning. I’ve not had much sleep.”
It’s been a long night for Julian Pearce, the founder of Leeds agency, Yasper.
After all what could possibly go wrong, when you take on a pro bono brief for ROW4MND, as charity rowers seek to raise £57m in a challenge inspired by rugby legends, Rob Burrow and Doddie Weir?
“We always knew that the key to getting this important challenge covered was by being able to react quickly to rapidly changing circumstances,” Yasper founder, Julian Pearce told Prolific North.
“However, I don’t think anyone could have predicted that the crew would be mistaken by a sitting MP as a migrant boat.”
Oh yes, that could go wrong.
Great Yarmouth MP, Rupert Lowe, an independent since March, having had the whip suspended by Reform, called the coastguard believing the high profile charity row was in fact illegal immigrants heading to his constituency.
He also sent out a Tweet to that effect, at 8.30pm, calling for “mass deportations. NOW.” [sic]
“While seeing the spread of fake news in real time was troubling to witness, it presented a PR person’s dream,” continued Pearce, who’s been working throughout the night.
“My team and I pulled up our black book, WhatsApping and emailing warm contacts. We quickly came up with a response poking fun at the mistake, while highlighting this important cause.
“In particular we worked with trusted political journalist contacts at PA and the Mirror, arranging an interview for PA with the crew at 11:30 at night. Through outreach, we then spoke to ITV Good Morning Britain at 01:30, arranging a Zoom interview for this morning’s programme at 05:30. We were subsequently contacted by warm leads at BBC Breakfast at 07:00, who did a pre-record with the crew.”
The crew explained that the coastguard had responded to Lowe’s call and asked them if they could see a dinghy nearby. The coastguard, of course, was aware of who they were.
Mike Bates, charity co-founder, Royal Navy vet and record holder for rowing solo across the Atlantic, then realised that the dinghy in question was probably their own and looked to the shore and saw dozens of people staring at them.
Bates told journalists, through interviews arranged by Yasper, that he found the whole ordeal “hilarious.”
“I’ve not been mistaken for a migrant before,” he said.
“The best comment was the one asking where the Royal Navy were when you need them. I’m a former Royal Marine, so the Royal Navy were on the boat.”
Pearce said it had been a very long night:
“My phone has been ringing off the hook and WhatsApp has been going crazy all morning. I’ve not had much sleep – especially with a 11month old in the house – but I’ve certainly had more sleep than the four hero rowers, who have been rowing through the night while ably taking my requests to fulfil interviews. We’ve been given a high level of autonomy by the crew, so working in an agile way has allowed us to react quickly to the evolving picture.
“So far, our media monitoring has picked up 211 pieces of online coverage to add to the 300 items we’d already secured. More pleasingly, this has resulted in a big spike in donations for ROW4MND, with many people crediting Rupert Lowe MP for prompting them to put their hand in their pocket.”
Lowe has not apologised, however, he has pledged to donate £1k to the charity.
You can donate to the three charities supported at: www.ROW4MND.com.
