Hearts & Minds: Kantar’s moment of Ozempic inspiration

One of the laws of mainstream journalism is that reporters do not write headlines. Nor are they lifted straight from press releases. They are the preserve of editors and sub-editors. It does not matter how major the company is, how important the byline on the op-ed – they cannot dictate the headline.

That said, it is not a hard and fast rule. Occasionally, they can breakthrough. Sometimes, too, a moment of inspiration can yield dividends. How? By putting yourself in the mind of the journalist, the editor.

Think headline. Approach it like this: you’ve got 20 seconds, less, to pitch your story at the editor’s morning conference. What is the top line, the most interesting aspect, the standout detail that will grab people around the table, all of them experienced, been there done that, journalists? They’re hugely busy, with a host of stories to consider, all vying for their attention. They know what their audience wants. Sell it to them and fast.

If you’re writing the release, make sure that point leaps out. You might have to use your imagination. Try this: you’re in a bar, you’re telling a friend what you’ve been working on, you’re not going to say it’s boring, give them the bit they will latch on to, that will spark a conversation. That’s it, right there.

Kantar did just that yesterday. Latest figures from the consumer research company showed a marginal decline in overall grocery volumes over the past four weeks. That was not going to make anyone sit up and take notice. It was worth a nib at most.

But the firm hogged the news agenda. This headline, from the Daily Mail, says how: ‘Fat jabs are blamed for shrinking supermarket sales: Shoppers buying less food as weight-loss medication stifles appetites’. Kantar speculates that the small dip has been caused by a surge in people using Ozempic and other weight loss drugs. They’re buying less chocolate and biscuits.

Fair enough, except no evidence is provided for a decline in sales in these categories – which is odd, as they will certainly have the numbers. Instead, Kantar reports merely that four in five people it surveyed intend to cut down.

By pegging an unremarkable stat to one of the hottest topics around, Kantar created media gold. They thought how journalists think. They put themselves inside the mind of the journalist, those people around the table, and they scored, big time.

Chris Blackhurst is one of the UK’s foremost business journalists. He was previously Editor of The Independent and City Editor of the Evening Standard.