Getting on the News: Building Your Brand’s Spokesperson Bench

For brands developing a bench of media contributors, Mike’s advice is to start with message, not hierarchy. “Work out what you’re wanting to say,” he says. “Then think, okay, well, who is going to be well placed to say it?” That’s not always the chief executive. Someone else in the organisation might simply be a better broadcast performer, and that’s often fine.

Diversity and authenticity

Diversity and offering real depth both matter here. To help capture broadcast moments, a diverse range of contributors are best placed to appeal to producers. Programme makers increasingly expect to achieve gender balance ie. 50:50 men and women contributing to an edition of a programme. Having only one strong spokesperson is a liability the moment that person is on holiday, unwell, or unavailable at short notice. “Make sure you have a handful of good people available to you,” Mike says, “who are all able to get across your messaging in a relatable and engaging way.”

Job titles matter more than people expect. A title that’s overly long or unclear can get in the way rather than add credibility. Mike’s approach as a producer was often to simplify without misrepresenting: “is a spokesperson for,” or “is on the board of,” rather than reciting a full corporate title that eats into valuable airtime.

Above all, Mike’s philosophy on media training itself is giving people the right tools without demanding they become ultra-smooth presenters. “I passionately believe once the guiding principles of media training are in somebody’s mind, you should let them be authentic,” he says. “Using a skiing analogy, everyone’s going to get down the mountain, but they’ll be taking different pistes. It might be a red (easy) route or a black (challenging) route. I just don’t want you to go OFF piste.”

The opportunity gap: are you ready to jump in?

There are broadcast opportunities for every brand and organisation serious about building impactful PR campaigns, and sometimes it’s underserved stories which make the biggest impression. As Mike explained: “If you’re really good at talking about something people don’t necessarily know they want to know about, but you can capture their attention, that’s amazing. I’ve seen that with charities in particular – someone who’s just come back from Afghanistan, Ukraine, or Iran, painting a picture of what they’ve seen, what we need to know about what their organisation has been doing there.”

So no matter your area, the opportunity to shift the narrative and get things in the limelight is real and exciting. That said, there are perennial gaps we see time and again, and we checked in with our Head of Newsroom, Ashleigh Carroll, to outline what they are.

If you operate in these industries, broadcasters are actively looking for your spokespeople: 

Legal voices

From Prince Harry’s case against the publisher of the Daily Mail to high-profile cases involving Meta and child privacy, there is no shortage of major legal stories generating significant broadcast interest. Broadcasters are looking for  a legal voice who can explain complex and high-profile cases in a way that is clear and comprehensible to a mainstream audience; someone who can quickly explain what is happening, why it matters and the potential implications.

Health and medical voices

Health stories are a constant feature of the news agenda, but while there is no shortage of commentators available to discuss weight-loss drugs and the latest developments in that space, there is a gap for a credible, versatile medical voice who can speak across a broad range of health stories. This could include medical breakthroughs, emerging health threats, NHS pressures and reforms, public health policy, patient care and the wider challenges facing the health service. A commentator who can respond quickly to breaking stories would have strong broadcast potential.

Climate and environmental voices

Climate and environmental stories are likely to remain a significant part of the news agenda. Summer 2026 is on course to be the UK’s hottest on record, while COP31 takes place in November, creating multiple opportunities for climate coverage over the coming months. There is an opportunity to develop a clear, authoritative climate and environmental voice who can make complex science and policy accessible, respond to breaking weather and climate stories, and provide informed commentary around COP31 and its implications for the UK.

The long game – from broadcast to owned media

The value of broadcast exposure doesn’t end when the interview does. The modern reality of newsrooms facilitates what we call the many waves of broadcasting, where an initial broadcast hit can roll out into social media chatter and long-tail discoverability via podcasts and YouTube playlists. As Mike explains: “It’s lovely for social media if you can clip your appearance on BBC Breakfast and put that out there. The legitimacy that great broadcast interviews give you is hard to overstate; they carry kudos.”

But the value runs deeper than a good clip. Every time a spokesperson does a broadcast interview well, they’re not just generating a moment of coverage; they’re getting better at communicating their own expertise. Developing your spokespeople this way builds two things at once: 

• The depth of knowledge they can draw on.
• Their ability to deliver it clearly, engagingly and under time pressure. 

That combination is exactly what makes someone capable of carrying content beyond the broadcast studio.

Some contributors go further still, evolving from occasional guests into recurring voices. Mike references the City commentators Justin Urquhart-Stewart and David Buik as a case in point, broadcasters who became trusted names precisely because they kept showing up and delivering. “Sometimes these people become presenters in their own right,” he says.

This is where the opportunity extends beyond traditional broadcast.  Brands can broadcast themselves and produce content of their own, whether that’s a YouTube series or stop-the-scroll social content. As Mike puts it: “These days, maybe your spokespeople become your podcast presenters.” It’s a natural progression that Broadcast Revolution is built to support: helping brands not only land the broadcast hit, but develop the owned content that builds on the themes and conversations honed by their spokesperson strategy. 

None of this happens by accident. The brands that consistently land broadcast impact aren’t the ones who shoot out the most press releases, but the ones who’ve built trust, developed spokespeople who can think on their feet, and been ready to move when the story shifts. Get that foundation right, and broadcast stops being an occasional stroke of luck and starts becoming a genuine strategy that feeds an entire, dial-turning content ecosystem.