I can already feel it at Roxhill – the wheels starting to turn ever so slightly slower, a sense of relaxation creeping through the office, the anticipation of picnic spreads, swirled ice cream cones, icy pints and sun-kissed evenings. Summer is here, and with it begins silly season, when journalists need your news more than ever, and clients can get coverage where perhaps they wouldn't at another time. Read on as we explain exactly what silly season entails, and how to make the best of it.

What is "silly season" – and why should you care about it?

by Ben Clatworthy,

Transport and Travel Correspondent, The Times

In a matter of weeks, schools will empty out for the summer, FTSE 100 chief executives — and just about everyone else — will turn on their out of offices and there will be an exodus from Westminster.

WhatsApp chats with special advisors (Spads) to ministers will fall eerily quiet and the rate at which emails dropping into journalists’ inboxes will, hopefully, slow.

Glorious summertime is here. And so too is “silly season”. You could be forgiven for having forgotten about this perennial period. Last year the Boris Johnson government collapsed over the summer school holidays, and in 2021 and 2020 the media swirled with endless stories about the easing of lockdown restrictions.

We are now back to more normal times. This year when recess rolls arounds silly season will, major news events aside, return. While the streets of SW1 will fall quiet from July 20, it is really the month of August which proves the biggest headache for editors.

Why? Because there simply isn’t much going on. “News” really does dry up. And even features departments struggle to some extent, with fewer news events there are fewer pegs for longer reads: there are only so many articles about last-minute holidays and beach wardrobes that a publication can print.

Newspapers and websites are undeniably the worst affected by this because their lead times are so short, whereas the glossies are already thinking of winter — there is a reason “Christmas in July” is such a factor in PR schedules.

At newspapers there is often a sense of mild panic. Mild, because even those editors still working (often the ones without children who book their holidays when flights are cheaper) are somewhat more relaxed. Pages must still be filled.

It is a time when journalists and PRs can get creative. Precious page lead slots, which are notoriously hard to grab, suddenly have a lower bar and there is also an appetite for lighter news. In summers gone by I have had a front-page story on how a miserable August had prompted a surge in bookings for foreign holidays. Further back in the book we have looked for the UK’s most expensive bottle of water (during a heatwave) and examined whether it is appropriate to wear suit shorts into a meeting (also during a heatwave).

These are stories that would simply not be entertained at other times of the year. Many of them stem from PRs who employ some abstract thinking. Abstract is the key word: not lunacy. A publication like The Times will never run ludicrous surveys of ten people, or  listicles on “the top ten tips to get a free upgrade, as revealed by a TikTok cabin crew influencer”. 

Yet there is fun to be had. More marginal stories can stand out when pitched correctly. And exclusives carry even more value. With those exclusives, ditch the embargoes. Going to a journalist with a good story and saying “this could run whenever in the next few weeks” is useful as it gives them flexibility to deploy it on a quiet day.

It is also a great time to send little tips, or nuggets, that a journalist will have more time to examine. Again, these should be exclusive – even if weaker than the rest of the year, exclusives are the stories that get the big slots along with genuine breaking news (often the grim stuff).

Try and think like an editor. News lists are all about the “mix”. Think how your story would fit into that mix — and really try and target the publication. Pitching an exclusive to The Telegraph that would only ever make The Sun and vice versa makes PRs look like they don’t read the publications. Take an idea to a single contact with conviction and you may just be pushing on an open door.

It's also an important time to stay in touch with your clients. Don’t send out a release with lots of stats two days before the person at the company who deals with said stats goes on holiday – it is inevitable a journalist will come back with queries that you won’t be able to get an answer on. Flakey replies about the client being away can burn bridges and lead to missed opportunities. As ever timing is key.

Finally, it can also be a good time to catch up with old contacts and make new ones. Don’t be pushy, but the offer of a beer in the sunshine might just be gratefully accepted. Or a cup of tea indoors if it’s a washout.

What the Roxstars say...

Laura Craik, Freelance Fashion Writer

Journalists either love or hate silly season. As a lifestyle journalist, I love it, because it allows you to cover stories that might not otherwise see the light of day. When I worked on broadsheets, the morning conferences during silly season were hilarious, as the more serious editors tried to grapple with stories that really didn’t gel with their highbrow tastes.

PRs should consider silly season a golden opportunity to pitch stories that might otherwise be deemed too fluffy – especially to broadsheets, who relax their standards more markedly than tabloids. Whoever dreamed up the ‘Barbie pink paint shortage’ angle deserves a promotion.

Bridget March, Digital Beauty Director,
Harper's Bazaar

There’s nobody to interview, red carpets are sporadic, street style pickings slim, and all exciting launches seem scheduled for September. So? Instead of clutching at straws, my efforts go into strategic SEO updates, adding fresh info into my most-read ‘evergreen’ stories. In digital editorial, this makes silly season sensible.

Lisa Markwell, Editor, The Telegraph Magazine

One summer when I was new to newspapers, I pitched a story in news conference about a huge uptick in women getting highlights. I was shot down by a colleague for it being a silly season story – and an oft-misunderstood ‘women thing’. But the laugh was on them, hair colouring being worth a significant amount of revenue (in the multi-millions). Not everything in summer is silly!

An award-winning digital and social content specialist, Akesha joined Cosmopolitan in 2019 as Contributing Beauty Writer after several years working on trade titles such as Hairdressing Journal International and Black Hair. She went freelance for a stint in 2020, returning to Cosmo in 2022 as Contributing Beauty Editor, and moving up this year to Acting Beauty Director. In her current role she commissions and creates content across fragrance, skincare, makeup and hair.

This special session is part of Roxhill’s events programme, which aims to allow PRs to build a personal relationship with each journalist in a more relaxed setting.

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