Public Relations with Fexingo: PR, Media Outreach, and Earned Media Strategy

In this episode, Lucas and Luna examine the 2022 hoax press release that claimed Amazon was acquiring the food-delivery platform Deliveroo. The fabricated announcement, issued through a fake newswire and a convincing landing page, caused Deliveroo's stock to spike briefly before the hoax was exposed. They break down why journalists initially bit, how the PR industry responded, and what genuine com...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna break down how a small environmental nonprofit with a $50,000 annual PR budget landed more earned media coverage than a Fortune 500 energy company spending $4 million on PR annually. They walk through the specific tactics the nonprofit used: a data-driven narrative built around measurable local impact, a media list targeting beat reporters instead of editors, and a...

In episode 30 of Public Relations with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna break down the exact strategy behind a side-hustle pitch that landed a spot on Good Morning America. They walk through the three key elements — timing, visual hook, and personal story — that turned a homemade cookie delivery service into a national segment. Learn how to apply the same framework to your own PR campaign, whether you're a...

In episode 29 of Public Relations with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna dissect how a major outdoor gear company turned a tent pole failure during a storm into a PR win. They walk through the exact timeline: a customer's viral photo, the brand's two-hour response window, and the decision to issue a full refund plus a replacement without requesting the defective product back. The hosts explain why the brand...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna break down the anatomy of a viral video that cost nothing to produce but earned five million views and coverage in Forbes and TechCrunch. The subject is a small B2B software company called ReferralHub that shot a 90-second explainer video on an iPhone, featuring the CEO's awkward but authentic on-camera presence. The hosts walk through why the video worked — the spe...

In this episode of Public Relations with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna explore the growing trend of companies deleting their social media accounts. They examine the case of Lush Cosmetics, which walked away from Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok in 2021 and again in 2025, citing mental health concerns and algorithm fatigue. Lucas breaks down the data: Lush's organic reach had dropped 67% year-over-year, w...

Lucas and Luna dive into the underused practice of media auditing — systematically analyzing where your brand appears, how it's framed, and what's missing. Using the example of a regional health system that discovered it was dominating local TV but invisible in trade publications, they walk through the three-step audit process: gathering mentions, coding sentiment and source type, and spotting gap...

Lucas and Luna break down the remarkable PR strategy behind a startup that secured a billion-dollar acquisition through a single, audacious media stunt. They analyze how the company, a little-known data analytics firm called Kytera, orchestrated a fake product launch that generated over 500 news articles in 48 hours, caught the attention of a Fortune 50 tech giant, and led to a $1.2 billion buyout...

In this episode of Public Relations with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna break down exactly how a PR professional secured a guest spot on NPR for a client — not through a press release, but through a carefully crafted podcast pitch. They walk through the specific email structure, the subject line that worked, the timing, and the follow-up cadence. Luna shares a real example: a cybersecurity startup founde...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna break down how a PR agency in Austin turned a local story about a taco truck's rent hike into features on CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, and Business Insider. They walk through the three-step pitch framework: find the universal angle, narrow the target list, and offer exclusive data. Lucas explains why local news pitches have a 9 percent higher open rate than nation...

This episode unpacks how Lenny Rachitsky turned a personal newsletter into one of the most cited sources in tech journalism. We trace how 'Lenny's Podcast' (formerly a newsletter) grew from 40,000 to over 800,000 subscribers, and how over 60 percent of his guests have been pitched by a single PR tactic: the guest-curated recommendation list. Lucas and Luna break down why traditional media database...

In this episode of Public Relations with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna break down the surprising PR strategy of leaning into bad reviews. They explore how the hotel chain Premier Inn turned a viral negative TripAdvisor review into a PR win by responding with humor and transparency, generating millions of impressions. They discuss the psychology of negative information bias, why consumers trust brands th...

In this episode of Public Relations with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna break down how a small regional grocery chain—Publix—landed front-page coverage in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and major TV networks without a national PR team. They walk through the exact pitch strategy, the local-to-national media playbook, and the one decision that turned a hometown story into a business-section s...

In this episode of Public Relations with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna dissect how the climate nonprofit Breakthrough Energy used a single data visualization to rewrite media narratives. They walk through the specific chart – a comparison of global solar adoption curves versus IPCC projections – that got picked up by CNN, Bloomberg, and the BBC in a single week. Lucas explains why journalists crave visu...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna unpack the mechanics behind customer story-driven PR campaigns. They examine how one B2B software company turned a single unsolicited testimonial into a case study that earned coverage in Forbes, Inc., and three trade publications — generating an estimated 2.5 million earned media impressions without a single press release. The hosts break down the three-part struct...

Episode 17 of Public Relations with Fexingo. Lucas and Luna break down the one mistake that kills almost every PR pitch: sending a generic blast. They walk through the actual inbox of a tech reporter at a major business outlet, showing why the same 50-word pitch gets deleted from 50 different senders, and what a personalized, 10-minute research investment looks like. Using the example of a cyberse...

Lucas and Luna unpack how a midsize consumer-goods company turned a product recall into a trust-building campaign that earned more media coverage than its original launch. They break down the specific playbook: the initial crisis communication, the transparent investigation process, the proactive media outreach, and the long-term reputation gains. Along the way, they discuss why honesty in a crisi...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna break down the art of the media tour — not just sending a CEO to talk to reporters, but strategically placing them in front of the right outlets to build credibility and drive business results. They walk through a real example: how the CEO of a mid-size B2B software company, a CRM platform called Stellara, went from zero press mentions to becoming a go-to source for...

In this episode of Public Relations with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna break down the anatomy of a press release that actually gets picked up by major media. They use the example of a 2025 study from the American Heart Association that linked walking 5,000 steps to a 20% lower cardiovascular risk, which was covered by CNN, NBC, and the New York Times within 24 hours. Lucas explains the inverted pyramid...

Episode 13 of Public Relations with Fexingo explores how JetBlue turned its crew members into the airline's most effective PR channel. Lucas and Luna break down the numbers: 70,000 employees, 4 million combined social followers, and a 2019 campaign that generated $50 million in earned media value. They discuss the strategic shift from top-down press releases to authentic grassroots storytelling, t...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna dive into the power of a single social media post to transform brand perception. They examine the case of a small coffee roastery that turned a customer complaint tweet into a viral moment, earning coverage in Forbes, Bon Appétit, and local news. The discussion covers the mechanics of real-time brand response, the risk of over-scripting, and why authenticity beats p...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna break down the surprising case of a mid-size B2B software company that spent $15,000 on a 90-second sponsored segment within a niche industry podcast — and got a 23% lift in qualified demo requests, versus the same company's $5.5 million Super Bowl spot that generated buzz but zero attributable pipeline. They explore why earned intimacy beats mass reach, how podcast...

When you stay at a Hilton, you're not just renting a room — you're stepping into a framing story that's been 100 years in the making. In this episode, Lucas and Luna unpack the 'Hilton Effect': how the hotel chain turned its 500,000 employees into brand ambassadors and its 6000 properties into earned-media touchpoints. They trace the origin from Conrad Hilton's handwritten 'What is the Hilton effe...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna dissect the anatomy of a pitch email that landed coverage in 200 news outlets worldwide. They break down a real-world case: a B2B SaaS startup with no PR budget that got picked up by TechCrunch, Forbes, and regional business journals. The hosts explain why a subject line referencing a specific data point outperformed generic hooks, how a 24-hour embargo created urge...

Episode 8 of Public Relations with Fexingo breaks down the mechanics of the 'newsjacking' strategy — where a brand piggybacks on a breaking news story to earn media attention. Lucas and Luna examine a specific case: a tiny coffee roaster in Portland that, during Apple's 2025 'Scary Fast' event, tweeted a single image of their espresso machine next to an Apple product with the caption 'Our fastest...