Gift guides, keeping warm & half-term holidays: How to get UK press coverage in October

Deciding how to get coverage in the media in October? Halloween may be the immediate focus but there are plenty of other trending topics and issues that you can tie campaigns and experts into. Find out below what has been popular in September on the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service and what this will mean for the rest of this month.

Gift guides in demand

Christmas is approaching quickly and journalists have been keen to get their gift guide features compiled in the last month. Over 7% of the total requests in September contained the words ‘gift guide’. This has resulted in some big increases for some of our more consumer-related categories with Men’s Interest rising by 60% compared to August, a 44% increase for Women’s Interest & Beauty and a massive 88% increase for Children & Teenagers.

Journalists at The Sun, Cosmopolitan, Health & Wellbeing, The Guardian, Saga, and GLAMOUR have all sent gift guide-related enquiries in the last month. These have been ‘for him’ and ‘for her’, as well for children, for pets, food & drink products, beauty items, wellness and much more.

Going forward? Gift guide requests will remain frequent throughout October and November as we build up to Christmas. In October 2024, nearly 10% of the total requests was for ‘gift guides’ so expect an increase in journalists from national press and major consumer magazines asking for product samples to test and feature in their reviews.

Staying warm is hot stuff

October marks the beginning of the colder months of the year and journalists have been keen to find out ways that people can stay warm during the Autumn and Winter. ‘Heat’ has appeared as a keyword in just over 1% of all requests in September and ‘warm’ in just under 2%. This also ties into the topical issue of concerns over energy bills and how this might impact people’s personal finance and budgets – with ‘budget’ also appearing as a keyword in nearly 3% of enquiries.

Requests have included looking for expert insights on how UK households are staying warm and cutting energy costs; a heating expert to share expertise on the best time of the day to put the heating on and the best electric blankets to help keep warm this Winter.

Going forward? With temperatures set to drop in October, then there will be more requests around ways that people can stay warm for less. This will increasingly link into the finance side of things as ‘budget’ appeared in over 4% of requests last October. Get heating and finance experts ready and you could be featured in outlets such as GB News, Ideal Home, or Homebuilding & Renovating.

Travel back in fashion

June and July are usually peak season for both the Travel category and ‘travel’ as a keyword but September has seen its popularity rise again. ‘Travel’ cropped up in over 6% of all enquiries last month and the Travel category as a whole increased by 35% compared to August.

This is in part due to journalists looking to get recommendations on where families can head to for the October half-term. However, there have been other topics too with requests for unusual travel experiences, staycations with a twist and trade-friendly tour operators that specialise in adventure travel. These have been sent by outlets such as PA Media, Selling Travel, National Geographic Traveller, and The Wall Street Journal.

Going forward? There will be requests for last-minute travel packages for the school break plus journalists will be looking further ahead with other Autumnal getaway destinations and information on Winter holidays, too. Be prepared with information on different escapes and travel experts to offer comment and there is potential for coverage in a national press title.

Other opportunities for PRs in October and beyond

While we aren’t that far into Autumn, ‘Winter’ becomes more popular on the Journalist Enquiry Service from this point onwards. Last year it appeared in over 4% of requests during October and we would expect to see a similar level of interest this year. This can vary in topic from gardening jobs to do during this period to looking to get information on the fashion and beauty trends for the Wintertime.

It doesn’t receive masses of requests but journalists spend this month gathering information on the best places to see firework displays to celebrate Bonfire Night. Around 1% of all enquiries in October 2024 were centred around this topic, so if you’ve got information on different locations putting on events to celebrate this occasion then have them ready if you want to get press coverage.

Want to get the most out of the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service? Find out how here.