Who chooses the next bright young things?
October 4, 2014 9:11 AM Subscribe
How are "top 10 brightest" "exciting new people" "exciting new projects" lists put together? And what can a person do to get one it?
I saw this PopSci "The Brilliant Ten of 2014" list, and became curious as to how these lists are put together. There is Up-and-coming Start Up CEOs, Up-and-coming New York Culture Makers... I could go on.
Does anyone have experience with being on one of these lists, or putting a list like this together? What is the process like, and what helped get people on, or taken off, any shortlist? While I recognize that these types of lists are hardly definitive any way, their value as publicity boosts must be good, right? Or maybe these types of lists are just a type of content filler for magazines and websites.
(Personal angle: I am working on a series of projects right now, and would love to have a project end up on a list of this nature, or personally be featured on a list like this. I acknowledge my own vanity and self interest: this ask is motivated mostly by curiosity, but I would be lying if I wasn't interested in getting on one)
I saw this PopSci "The Brilliant Ten of 2014" list, and became curious as to how these lists are put together. There is Up-and-coming Start Up CEOs, Up-and-coming New York Culture Makers... I could go on.
Does anyone have experience with being on one of these lists, or putting a list like this together? What is the process like, and what helped get people on, or taken off, any shortlist? While I recognize that these types of lists are hardly definitive any way, their value as publicity boosts must be good, right? Or maybe these types of lists are just a type of content filler for magazines and websites.
(Personal angle: I am working on a series of projects right now, and would love to have a project end up on a list of this nature, or personally be featured on a list like this. I acknowledge my own vanity and self interest: this ask is motivated mostly by curiosity, but I would be lying if I wasn't interested in getting on one)
Oh ... and many of these lists are on a (shall we say) sliding scale of integrity. Not just getting your friends and followers to brigade the vote, but reporters and editors who are pliable in several directions of ply, and publishers who will give some careful thought to advertising revenue, access to you and your funders, etc.
posted by MattD at 9:54 AM on October 4, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by MattD at 9:54 AM on October 4, 2014 [2 favorites]
These lists are pretty much exclusively compiled by PR people and publicists. Much moreso the further down the food chain of Important Journalism you get.
So... get a PR rep and make sure they inform all the important journalistic outlets in your area that you are a Very Important Mover And Shaker?
posted by Sara C. at 10:04 AM on October 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
So... get a PR rep and make sure they inform all the important journalistic outlets in your area that you are a Very Important Mover And Shaker?
posted by Sara C. at 10:04 AM on October 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
I had always assumed they were mates of mates of the editors. Always seems that way for the UK lists. Ditto all these hottest new actor/model lists - they are usually somebody or other's kid.
posted by tinkletown at 10:04 AM on October 4, 2014
posted by tinkletown at 10:04 AM on October 4, 2014
The editorial team of the site I used to work for put together an annual list of movers and shakers in the food world and near as I can tell, they did it mainly via brainstorming what they saw as the big food trends of the year, and then looking at who was driving those trends. If they didn't have specific people in mind, they'd ask other people who were working in those sub-fields who they thought was worth looking at. No doubt having a PR person helps -- you have to be well known for what you're doing in your niche already in order to get the broader general recognition -- but at least in our case, the staff was genuinely trying to put together an independent, informative list based on their knowledge of the area not just sucking up to PR people.
posted by jacquilynne at 10:46 AM on October 4, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by jacquilynne at 10:46 AM on October 4, 2014 [4 favorites]
Husbunny writes such articles about college and pro women's basketball. The articles are linked on websites and quoted by college programs. I'll remind everyone here. He's a guy who LOVES women's basketball. So some of them are 100% some dudes opinion.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 1:22 PM on October 4, 2014
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 1:22 PM on October 4, 2014
Best answer: These lists are pretty much exclusively compiled by PR people and publicists.
This is absolutely wrong for any even semi-serious publication. I've worked at a diverse assortment of publications, good and bad, and I frankly never even did a publicist so much as a favor. They just didn't have anything to offer me.
We used to put together these lists based on staff pitches. Like, all the contributing writers would get together and pitch their ideas to whomever is compiling the story. Some writers become aware of interesting people to profile based on PR, but they also do a lot of poking around on the web and doing things. You know, reporting.
The best way to get on one is to do good work, actually complete your ideas (don't be an unfulfilled Kickstarter), and have a great web presence that effectively communicates who you are, including biographical details about, like, what city you live in and a professional head shot.
Make no mistake: That kind of list isn't strictly based on merit. They try to have some amount of diversity, gender, color and age-wise (less so for "hot and under 30 lists); they try to mix up the people's areas of focus (e.g., not all filmmakers); it doesn't hurt to be attractive. Some people are considered overexposed, so their inclusion isn't surprising or interesting to readers, so they get left off too.
posted by purpleclover at 2:49 PM on October 4, 2014 [3 favorites]
This is absolutely wrong for any even semi-serious publication. I've worked at a diverse assortment of publications, good and bad, and I frankly never even did a publicist so much as a favor. They just didn't have anything to offer me.
We used to put together these lists based on staff pitches. Like, all the contributing writers would get together and pitch their ideas to whomever is compiling the story. Some writers become aware of interesting people to profile based on PR, but they also do a lot of poking around on the web and doing things. You know, reporting.
The best way to get on one is to do good work, actually complete your ideas (don't be an unfulfilled Kickstarter), and have a great web presence that effectively communicates who you are, including biographical details about, like, what city you live in and a professional head shot.
Make no mistake: That kind of list isn't strictly based on merit. They try to have some amount of diversity, gender, color and age-wise (less so for "hot and under 30 lists); they try to mix up the people's areas of focus (e.g., not all filmmakers); it doesn't hurt to be attractive. Some people are considered overexposed, so their inclusion isn't surprising or interesting to readers, so they get left off too.
posted by purpleclover at 2:49 PM on October 4, 2014 [3 favorites]
have a great web presence that effectively communicates who you are, including biographical details about, like, what city you live in and a professional head shot.
So, in other words, hire a PR person. Or be really good at doing this type of work yourself, and committed to follow-through on tedious PR stuff.
posted by Sara C. at 2:54 PM on October 4, 2014
So, in other words, hire a PR person. Or be really good at doing this type of work yourself, and committed to follow-through on tedious PR stuff.
posted by Sara C. at 2:54 PM on October 4, 2014
Best answer: In my experience as a one time freelancer, it's completely arbitrary. Like, if you sat down and wrote one of those lists yourself? That's basically how we pulled them together. There was absolutely no formal criteria, it was simply if someone could think of a person or thing that would fit the list. If there was some good marketing collateral in the form of pictures/website/copy, so much the better. But you're talking about 50-150 words per item here, youdon't need a tonne of material.
So, things you can do: have a decent website with some press friendly photos, copy, and a bio of yourself on it. Ensure you have a twitter account, facebook, etc. I mean, just traditional PR stuff, really.
posted by smoke at 4:22 PM on October 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
So, things you can do: have a decent website with some press friendly photos, copy, and a bio of yourself on it. Ensure you have a twitter account, facebook, etc. I mean, just traditional PR stuff, really.
posted by smoke at 4:22 PM on October 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
I've ended up on a couple of these lists. Usually I think the way it happens is that the publication will reach out to people in the industry for nominations. My agency has a PR person who was likely the contact for some of them. For others, it was the result of a project I did that got some buzz. In general, though, I feel like the people I see on these lists the most often are also the best networkers (something I've never been great at, so I am thankful for a Pr department to do it for me!)
posted by missjenny at 5:46 PM on October 4, 2014
posted by missjenny at 5:46 PM on October 4, 2014
This is absolutely wrong for any even semi-serious publication.
Posting here to strenuously disagree with you. This may not be true for your publications, depending on what you mean by semi-serious. But I assure you, this happens everywhere.
The plain fact of the matter is that many, if not most, journalists are simply not experienced enough, or simply do not have the time or resources, to write these kinds of pieces with enough coherence for them to be meaningful.
And when a journalist does do this successfully, based purely on their own opinion and research, it is most likely because they are covering a narrow field, such as a specific area of entertainment, such as music, film, television.
But when TIME Magazine does its "50 people to watch in 2014," it is all PR, and specifically because the PR professional has placed the story, or the PR professional has developed a long-standing relationship in which they become the journalists' first phone call.
In fact, when you see these types of pieces, it is most likely that a PR professional, or a group of agencies working together, has pitched the entire list to a journalist all at once.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 11:33 AM on October 5, 2014 [3 favorites]
Posting here to strenuously disagree with you. This may not be true for your publications, depending on what you mean by semi-serious. But I assure you, this happens everywhere.
The plain fact of the matter is that many, if not most, journalists are simply not experienced enough, or simply do not have the time or resources, to write these kinds of pieces with enough coherence for them to be meaningful.
And when a journalist does do this successfully, based purely on their own opinion and research, it is most likely because they are covering a narrow field, such as a specific area of entertainment, such as music, film, television.
But when TIME Magazine does its "50 people to watch in 2014," it is all PR, and specifically because the PR professional has placed the story, or the PR professional has developed a long-standing relationship in which they become the journalists' first phone call.
In fact, when you see these types of pieces, it is most likely that a PR professional, or a group of agencies working together, has pitched the entire list to a journalist all at once.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 11:33 AM on October 5, 2014 [3 favorites]
To elaborate, many places the PR folks aren't actually writing the lists. But companies have PR teams that are constantly getting the names of execs and people in those companies out to the media, so they are top of mind when lists are being written. Those articles you read with interviews of people from companies? Put together by PR teams, who are constantly pitching the company and its execs to all relevant publications.
Also, I've noticed being in NYC, many of these lists are laughably NYC-centric when they come out of media companies located here. Like, lists around people in tech from NYC media often have pretty trivial people in NYC tech represented far beyond their influence, etc.
posted by ch1x0r at 7:05 PM on October 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
Also, I've noticed being in NYC, many of these lists are laughably NYC-centric when they come out of media companies located here. Like, lists around people in tech from NYC media often have pretty trivial people in NYC tech represented far beyond their influence, etc.
posted by ch1x0r at 7:05 PM on October 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
I've been in one of these lists, and I've never hired a PR person. I'm not very photogenic either (at least, by Malaysian standards). My work just got really popular, and it was a niche no one else in the country was filling. Some of the lists I've seen of this nature ask you to nominate people - I've gotten a friend in one such list this way.
Autostraddle (used to?) have a Hot 100 list that worked purely on nominations, but then they realised that it was only ever the same 50 people that get nominated - mostly because they were already well known enough to get more than one vote - so they looked at the outlier nominations and made a list of them instead.
posted by divabat at 7:55 PM on October 5, 2014
Autostraddle (used to?) have a Hot 100 list that worked purely on nominations, but then they realised that it was only ever the same 50 people that get nominated - mostly because they were already well known enough to get more than one vote - so they looked at the outlier nominations and made a list of them instead.
posted by divabat at 7:55 PM on October 5, 2014
This thread is closed to new comments.
It helps not to be of the dominant gender / race(s) of your field, because there is a strong editorial mandate for these lists to be diverse.
posted by MattD at 9:51 AM on October 4, 2014 [2 favorites]