Behind the scenes:
How a BBC Breakfast Budget-related segment came about

We were very chuffed to get one of our small business clients on BBC Breakfast today, Michele Davison, manager of Angels on the Park nursery in Hackney. Regarded as the pinnacle of TV opps for a lot of our clients, BBC Breakfast is of course watched by many millions of people each morning.

I thought it might be interesting to show how these types of pieces can come about around major events like the Budget.

We recently connected up with a new journalist who’s joined the BBC Work and Money team and collaborated on a story together for our manufacturing member group client Made in Britain. That story didn’t end up working out for a variety of reasons, as can often happen, but knowing the Budget was round the corner we asked the journalist whether she might need any case studies, perhaps small businesses concerned about what might be coming up in Labour’s first Budget this October. Fortuitously she did, and within a few days we were arranging filming and getting consent forms signed. The fact that the business was a buzzy and busy nursery helped as it’s a great visual background for a TV piece.

There are a few ways of getting good coverage around the Budget. We always find getting ahead by a week or at least a few days with clients’ predictions/ demands/ fears bears the most fruit for us. The national newspapers, TV, and the small business press are always keen on what small business owners want to see or are worried about seeing in a Budget.

We also keep a close eye on the newspapers’ live blogs as the Budget is announced and watch along on TV so we can provide relevant reaction comments ‘as it happens’, which we’ll be doing around lunchtime this Wednesday as well.