One of the key skills to any accomplished PR person is the ability to pitch a release at precisely the right level to a target publication or broadcaster.

For example, two completely different national newspapers may well each have good reason to publish your story. But you will invariably need to adopt a different angle and approach in order to convince the editor that it is something that would interest the readers.

A redtop paper, such as The Sun, is more likely to respond favourably if you highlight the fun, sensational or quirky side to your story.

By contrast, a quality broadsheet, such as The Guardian, will require a more sober approach that brings out a deeper and more serious aspect to your message.

But then again, things are not always that simple – as clearly exemplified by the curious case of a bizarre promotional video for Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who is believed to be considering running again for president again in elections early next year.

The sexy video shoot of a group of scantily clad women, known as Putin’s Amazons, staging a bikini car wash dedicated to their revered political icon was met with rather contrasting reactions from the two news presenters on a multilingual Russian TV news channel.

Whereas the male news presenter thoroughly enjoyed his moment of titillation and clearly saw the funny side to the story, his female anchor companion was most definitely not amused, leading to an embarrassing pause of silence live on air.

But, whatever the reaction of the presenters and the programme viewers, the video quite evidently had its desired effect, as a number of newspapers and broadcasters picked up on the story, giving the video an added boost of national and international publicity.