What reactive PR is.
Reactive PR is the practice of putting a spokesperson into a story that's already running. A journalist is writing about a rate rise, a heatwave, a new law or a viral trend, and needs an expert to explain what it means. The brand that supplies a clear, quotable line within the hour gets named in the piece, usually with a link. The brand that supplies it tomorrow does not.
It is the opposite of a planned campaign. There's no asset to build and no story to invent; the news has done that. What there is instead is a race, and the race is won on preparation rather than luck. Newsjacking is the same thing with a less flattering name, and done badly it deserves it: a brand forcing itself into a tragedy or a story it has no standing in. Done well, it's simply being useful to a journalist on a deadline.
Monitoring the requests.
Journalists ask for experts constantly, through request services, on social media and directly to the agencies they trust. We monitor those channels through the working day and match each request against our clients' spokespeople and their agreed topics. We also watch the news itself, because the best reactive opportunities are the ones we take to a journalist before they have asked.
The filter matters more than the volume. A recruitment client does not need to see a request about skincare, and a request that's really a fishing trip for free consultancy gets ignored. What reaches you is a short brief: the journalist, the title, the angle, the deadline and a suggested line. We draft the line from your pre-agreed positions and file it. It takes none of your time; you see the result in the coverage report.
Pre-agreed lines, filed fast.
Speed comes from work done in advance. At the start of a reactive programme we build a bank of positions for each spokesperson from what they and the business have already said publicly: what they think about the recurring stories in their sector, where they disagree with the consensus, what they would say if a rival collapsed, a regulator intervened or a big number was published. For scheduled events such as a Budget or a rate decision, we draft lines for each likely outcome the week before.
Then we file from those lines the moment a story breaks, without a round of approvals. If you would rather see quotes before they go, we build that in; for regulated clients we work from pre-cleared positions only. None of this is complicated, but the programmes that skip the preparation are the ones that keep missing deadlines by twenty minutes.
What makes a quote get used.
Journalists cut most of what they are sent, and there is a pattern to what survives. A quote that's used says something specific: a number, a consequence, a piece of advice the reader can act on. It takes a position rather than balancing every side. It is short enough to sit in one paragraph and written in the plain English of the title it's going to, not the language of the brand's website.
It also arrives in a form the journalist can lift straight into the piece: name, title, company, a single paragraph of comment, and a line offering more if needed. No attachments, no press release, no request for a call. We write to that standard, and our clients' comment has run on titles including the Daily Mail, The Sun, the Daily Mirror, the Daily Record, the Daily Star and LADbible. Expert comment PR covers the writing in more depth.
How it fits alongside planned campaigns.
Reactive PR is the second lane of a digital PR programme, not a replacement for the first. The planned campaign, usually a data study or a product push, is what earns the bigger, more linkable coverage and lands the authority on a chosen page. The reactive lane fills the weeks in between, keeps the spokesperson in front of the same journalists, and often produces the fastest placements.
The two feed each other. A journalist who used your quote last week is far more likely to open the data study you send next month. And a data study, once published, becomes a source of reactive lines for months: every time the subject comes up in the news, the number is ready. Our campaign formats page shows how the lanes are planned together, and digital PR strategy covers the longer view.
Turnaround, packages, and when it is not enough.
Typical turnaround from request to filed quote is two to three hours, and under an hour where a pre-agreed line already exists. Coverage can appear the same day. Reactive commentary runs alongside the planned stories in the Growth package at £4,500 a month and the Scale package at £8,000, and is included in every bespoke retained programme. Starter at £2,500 is built around a single planned campaign batch of five placements and doesn't include it. The pricing page has the comparison.
On its own, reactive PR is not enough. The coverage tends to land on the homepage or an about page instead of a commercial page, because there is no asset to link to. It depends on the news cycle, which can go quiet for a fortnight. Pair it with a planned campaign and it's the most cost-effective lane in the programme; run it alone and you get coverage without much direction.