Yoga & Health PR
Midas PR was commissioned to promote yoga expert Maya Fiennes and her book, Yoga for Real Life. This was Maya's first book, though she already presented Sky TV's Body in Balance yoga show, and had released a series of DVDs.
For the campaign, we positioned Maya as 'the Nigella of relaxation' - a yoga expert with a fun and fresh approach, who adds a touch of glamour and brings yoga to a mainstream audience. The key idea behind Maya's book is that you can practice yoga anywhere - whether you're stuck in traffic or feeling stressed at the office.
Maya lives in L.A., making time for 'in person' publicity very limited. To maximise publicity for the time we had available with her, we organized a 'Maya Masterclass', inviting as many media as possible to meet her face-to-face when she was over in the UK in August. As a result, we secured strong coverage in long-lead magazines, including Good Housekeeping, Easy Living, Red, Psychologies, Yoga and Yoga and Health and book trade magazine, The Bookseller. We also arranged for Maya to meet a journalist from Sunday Times Style, which resulted in a full page piece - making the 'Nigella connection' - in their New Year health issue.
Once Maya was back in the USA, we continued the campaign, arranging further interviews by phone, including with the Mail on Sunday's YOU magazine, The Resident and Junior Magazine (for a piece on yoga for children). In addition, Sainsbury's magazine ran a high-profile 6-page extract from the book.
Maya returned to the UK for publication day and a one-to-one yoga session was arranged for then with the Evening Standard. This resulted in a full page interview in their health section - 'Working out with Yoga's New Messiah' - as well as interviews in the Daily Express, the Press Association and on regional radio.
As a result of Midas' campaign, Maya Fiennes' profile was raised through a broad range of national media and Yoga for Real Life reached the top of Amazon's bestseller list for health and exercise books.