University of Maryland Zachary Berman

Department of Communication May 29, 2014

COMM386: Experimental Learning Summer 2014

POINT PAPER MEDIA TRACKING

Subject. Tracking client mentions is a basic duty account managers complete daily.
It requires reading/following local publications, clipping relevant articles/broadcast
segments and submitting clips to clients.

Background. Allied D.C. reads five daily publications The Washington Post,
Baltimore Sun, Washington Times, The Express and Virginian Pilot and scans for
film mentions to forward to studios.
Employees clip film mentions and save in PDF form.
Employees add text to clips indicating market, publication and date.
Employees upload clips to professional database that forwards clips to
studios.
It is important to remember each studio/client may either prefer the
database or require clips be forwarded to them directly.

Discussion. Publicists relied on me to read the Baltimore Sun and Virginian Pilot. I
became familiar with where films were typically included in the publications, but
made sure to scan the entire paper for displaced mentions. After taking screen shots
and neatly compiling images onto a document, I forwarded my clips to the Allied
publicist working on the studio account for the film. This role was important
because it provided proof that the Allied D.C. office was effective in receiving
coverage.
My reading carefully and not missing clips ensured studios of Allieds hard
work.
Clips had to be sent within an hour. At first I found this to be challenging, but
the task became easier as time progressed.
I want to pursue a career in PR, and tracking media coverage is a common
entry-level task.
I felt satisfied when I had finished clips within the time limit and when a film
I had done work for was mentioned in a publication.
This provided me better experience working under deadline pressures. I also
did not realize the importance of media clips to clients before completing this
task.

Recommendation.
Though the studios do not require this to be done, I think Allied publicists
should compile annual comprehensive media tracking reports for each
studio. This would provide proof of media coverage in an organized format.