In this episode of The Press Playbook, I sat down with Briana Trulear, Account Director at BAM, to talk about how she helped her client, AutoIVF, land coverage in The New York Times.
This wasn’t just about pitching a study or an announcement. It was about having the full story ready before the pitch ever went out.
We break down what made this placement work and why top-tier stories require more than just one news moment.
Below are the key moments and takeaways from the episode, or listen where you please:
Guest: Briana Trulear, Account Director at BAM
Client Featured: AutoIVF
Key Placement: The New York Times (digital with upcoming print)
Episode Focus: Building a complete story for top-tier media
I introduce Briana and her role at BAM. She shares background on AutoIVF and the work they’re doing to bring automation and AI into fertility care.
AutoIVF had a major milestone with its clinical study being published in Nature Medicine. That gave the team strong validation, but they knew it needed to connect to a bigger story.
Instead of pitching just the study, the team combined multiple elements:
This made the story feel complete before outreach even began.
The team focused on a New York Times reporter who covers reproductive health and could understand both the science and the human side of the story.
No prior relationship with this reporter, just strong alignment.
National outlets bring in their own experts and take time to vet stories. The team expected that and made sure everything could stand up to that level of scrutiny.
The story first ran online and was later selected for print, which is something you earn through strong editorial interest rather than pitch directly.
This episode is a good reminder that top-tier coverage doesn’t happen because of one exciting announcement.
It happens when you bring a full, well-supported story that shows real impact and holds up under deeper reporting.
When everything is lined up before the pitch, it makes it much easier for a journalist to run with it.