Team One is Publicis Groupe's fully integrated media, digital and communications agency dedicated to helping premium brands thrive in the modern media landscape. Team One has five North American offices, including its Los Angeles headquarters, Dallas, New York, Chicago and Atlanta. Team One clients include Lexus, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, HSBC Premier, Expedia, Jacuzzi Brands, St. Regis Hotels and Resorts, Cathay Pacific, VISA, Make-a-Wish, It Gets Better Project, Warner Brothers Interactive, and W Hotels.

Search and Media Lists

Before Muck Rack, I’d typically spend 30 minutes per reporter looking up their social channels and searching for and reading their recent articles. With Muck Rack, having all that information populated on a profile takes all that extra Googling out of my day. I now spend 5-10 minutes on a profile rather than 30 minutes and up.

Plus, Muck Rack makes it easier to locate journalists by geographic location, which is important because we often work on locally-focused events.  

As part of an initiative for one of our biggest clients (a luxury vehicle brand), our team has supported a popular food and wine festival. We had several client events throughout the weekend focused on culinary masters giving tutorials or chef demonstrations. We wanted to tell that story to culinary and lifestyle media based in the San Francisco area. Muck Rack made this process efficient and easier than in the past.  

About two months before the event, I used Muck Rack’s Search feature to start researching journalists who might be a good fit. We sent them a targeted pitch inviting them to borrow a vehicle to drive to the event for the full experience.
 
Last year, I was able to locate a culinary journalist from Where Traveler Magazine. She was not someone I was familiar with before using Muck Rack’s Search. She wrote a fantastic profile of the event in depth using our imagery and shared why it was a bucket list destination for foodies in the area and beyond. 

Muck Rack is more user-friendly than legacy databases. With other platforms, it's hard to search by location. Being able to search for key terms and locations allowed us to find and reach journalists we may not have considered before. Also, there’s nothing worse than saying “love for you to stop by this event” when the journalist is based in Michigan. 

Media Alerts 

We’re often working on multiple campaigns at once. Back in June, we worked on three major events, plus a handful of smaller ones. There was a lot of news happening all at once.

Being part of a small team, it can be tough to track media coverage when you’re on the road traveling for client work. Muck Rack Alerts have been a great supplement to our own searching and it often pulls articles I may not have found myself. Plus, when I’m on the go, I’m able to quickly see alerts in my inbox and share the good news with our client. 

We even noticed Muck Rack has a bit of an edge on Google in terms of timeliness of its alerts.

Coverage Reports 

Coverage reports are especially helpful when we have a big campaign or activation that garners a lot of media coverage. 

For example, our luxury automotive client was the official vehicle for a major movie release earlier this year. We had so much coverage to sift through -- about 200 articles! Part of my job is reporting impressions and it’s tough to go in manually and search one article at a time. Being able to copy all links at once and paste in a coverage report and have numbers pop up automatically is very helpful. 

1. What made you decide to use Muck Rack?

I heard about Muck Rack from a colleague at an agency I previously worked at. They were talking about how it was a helpful tool. When I came to Team One, we were looking for a more efficient tool for our media efforts. 

2. How would you describe Muck Rack in three words?

Efficient, creative and helpful.

3. If you had to explain how you use Muck Rack to someone in a tweet, what would you say?

Muck Rack is an essential tool to pitch intelligently, ensuring that users reach the right people at the right time. The days of pitching a reporter who retired to Costa Rica from NYC are over.

4. What has your experience been like working with Muck Rack’s customer success team?

Muck Rack’s customer success team is always helpful. We’re on the go a lot and being able to chat within the tool when we have a question is convenient. The team is very prompt in getting back to us. I don’t have time to send a lengthy email or get on the phone, but the chat function is seamlessly integrated into the platform.

5. What would your job be like if you didn’t have Muck Rack?

A lot harder. I would definitely be at the office a lot longer. I’d also feel more in the dark when it comes to media relations. My ability to communicate with journalists would be at a disadvantage.