Blog Post

Why you should consider using vox pops in your PR campaign

Never has there been such an opinionated age as now. No matter what the topic, whether trivial or significant, these days everyone has a view. And that’s what makes the use of vox pops so valuable as part of a PR campaign.

So, what do vox pops add to a PR campaign?

  • Vox pops are a great way of stimulating debate because you can express a variety of different views through them.
  • Engaging video is all about content and humour is a good way of doing this – impromptu comment can often be a good vehicle for this.
  • Vox pops are relatively quick to produce as you don’t need to book time in anyone’s diary. Whilst you often have to ask several people to get one decent answer, it’s only a matter of time before you get enough good content as there are an infinite number of people to ask!
  • Vox pops can be used in a variety of different ways – they’re short and sweet enough to be used individually for social media, or to join together to be used alone or as part of a video package.
  • They’re cost effective – if you asked us to produce them for you, something like this would cost from £250:

Guidelines for producing successful vox pops:

  • Unless your campaign is targeting a specific demographic group, try and use a variety of interviewees. Voice of the people means your interviews should be representative of the general public, so try and include both male and female voices, a range of ages, and some ethnic diversity.
  • Think about your location. It needs to be appropriate to the topic, but you need to avoid unnecessary distractions such as background noise or activity. So a park with dog walkers in the background might be appropriate for asking people about their pets, but you might go to a market to ask people if they eat 5 fruit or veg a day.
  • Questions should be open-ended to avoid a yes or no answer. Ideally an edited answer should be between 5 and 15 seconds long. A good producer will encourage the interviewee to reflect the question back in their answer, so there’s no need for further explanation.
  • The vox pops should be varied and reflect different views – it’s just too dull, and defeats the object if everyone says the same thing.

What to do if you’d like to commission some vox pops:

More Blog Posts

you and yours logo
26. Mar 2024
Our latest Small Talk event featured the Executive Editor of the consumer team, at BBC Radio 4, Pete Wilson (below).   This blog is a summing up of what Pete said, as heard by Shout! Communications director, Keren Haynes. A little bit about our speaker Pete WilsonPete Wilson is a stalwart of the BBC, celebrating [...]
crisis sign
15. Mar 2024
Any organisation, business or brand at some point has to deal with a crisis – and it occurs when there is a severe risk or threat to the reputation of a business, organisation and brand. A crisis can affect a Government or a nation – even a family can be in crisis. Prince Harry’s book [...]
Crowds of people and RAJAR logo
4. Mar 2024
There has been much change in the world over the past 12 months, from troubles in the Middle East, economic turmoil back at home, and even talks of a new COVID variant heading our way.  Amongst all this however, one thing has remained consistent - radio; and it is stronger than ever!  According to the [...]