They are delightful photos which make the front pages – indeed the splash story – of many national newspapers. Yes as every woman knows, few images evoke such an emotional response as the ordinary but wonderful real life story of new dad cuddling his newborn baby. And when that new dad is Simon Cowell, arguably one of the most famous men on the planet, it is every PR’s dream.
What is most interesting however is the way in which these photos have been released. There has been no hiding away baby Eric and neither have these photos been released in some PR puff to the press.
Instead they were quite simply tweeted on Twitter, presumably by Simon Cowell himself (although in fact many celebrity Twitter accounts are run by a PR team.)
So are these intimate snaps really just selfies taken by Simon Cowell or mum of baby Eric, Lauren Silverman?
Possibly. But most likely these beautifully lit and styled pictures were taken by a professional photographer and a decision was made with Simon Cowell’s press and publicity advisors to post them online. For a start, it’s interesting they appeared in plenty of time for the UK press to ensure they got those photos into their papers.
They also appeared with a few choice words from Simon, saying he was unprepared for the ‘love and pride’ he would feel towards his ‘handsome’ baby son.
Obviously, interest in baby Eric – and getting that first photo – will surely have been running high. So giving the photo that the press wants and the public wants to see will have – they hope – gone some way to ensuring they are now left in peace with their newborn.
But more than that – since even posting these photos won’t stop other photos being sought after of the new family – this was the right way to get the pictures out there.
For releasing them via Simon’s personal Twitter account has made the photos ‘personal’. Simon has made himself like any other doting new dad proudly showing off his newborn to the world. There is no money involved in these photos – as they have been made public on Twitter they are free for anyone to use. And Simon was putting his followers first as they were first to see them. Which all goes towards making Simon Cowell seem down to earth and genuinely delighted with his son.
‘Releasing’ them to the press via the usual PR route would have smacked too much of a promotions and publicity team operation. Sending them to just one paper or mag would have raised questions of whether some deal was done to sell them. Putting ‘official pictures’ out to just ‘professional’ newspapers and magazines – rather than the general public – could have looked too controlling.
However by doing his own photos, Simon Cowell is remaining in control of exactly what photos have been put out to the public and how he, Lauren and baby Eric even appear in the pictures.
Of course Simon Cowell is hardly the first celebrity to discover using social media in this way can result in much better publicity than going the traditional ‘press release’ route. Recently Tom Daley released a YouTube video when he came out as gay. And it’s become the norm for celebrities such as the Beckhams (or their PR teams) to carefully post details about themselves and their families on Twitter – knowing their postings will go straight into the papers.
Yes there might well be a huge press and PR team behind every posting on these celebrity Twitter websites – but it proves that these days in the publicity game sometimes not appearing to try so hard gains more.