I just finished reading the press releases from the Consumer Electronics Show. You’re probably wondering what kind of masochist would do such a thing. Well, I was looking for examples of companies that used humor (or creativity) in a press release at CES.
Sadly, I didn’t find any great examples. Some of them showed promise but I wish they had gone so much further. For example, MWV, a company that creates plastic packaging for electronics, could have done something fun with how their product reduces “wrap rage.”
For a conference that showcases some of the most interesting and exciting consumer products you would scarcely know it from the depressing way companies describe them in their press releases.
Yet I bet those of you on the trade show floor had a vastly different experience. That’s because the floor was filled with pumped up sales and marketing types who were focused on one thing: selling.
As much as it pains me, companies still use press releases as the preferred method of news distribution. However, what pains me even more is the lack of any salesmanship (and creativity) put into them.
If the sales people on the trade show floor were as boring as the press release no one would go and no one would buy. Isn’t one of the primary goals of a press release to increase the chances of a sale by either directly informing your target consumers or by getting the media to write about it? (Please tell me you are nodding your head up and down).
Now some of you might argue that you can’t capture the energy and intimacy of a sales pitch in a press release. To that I say: baloney! These days, you can attach all kinds of creative media (e.g., video, images) that could enhance a press releases sales potential.
So here’s a thought: The next time you have to write a press release, call your company or client’s top sales person and listen to his or her elevator pitch. Write it all down and then stick it verbatim in your next press release.
Better yet, capture it all on video and then send that in place of the press release altogether.
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I’d say it’s bad PR people who are boring…and creatively challenged, unable to take something cool and develop a must-read, newsworthy release. Agree it’s time to get out of the old ruts, tap marketing resources and get creative.
With respect, I have to say I think this misses a critical point … Yes, there should be something to catch people’s eye, but in my experience (and as I chronicled in a post just before CES), it’s not about creativity – it’s about a lack of understanding for some about what it means to tell a story effectively. Catching my attention (or any other blogger or media person for that matter) by a snappy, creative release that fails to target the topic I cover is a waste of time.
Before worrying about salesmanship and creativity I’d say that folks would be far more well served by worrying about whether they’ve targeted the correct people and whether they even have a story to tell.
I do agree that creativity and great selling points are what we need to make press releases captivating. But there’s also a line we must be careful of: the line between advertising and PR. If our releases are very editorialized, we get told “buy an ad” by the reporter or editor we are pitching. Still a really good topic of discussion and nice post!
News releases are boring because news as a whole is boring.
News releases were designed to appeal to the “serious” nature of journalists. In some cases, you wrote your release so the weekly papers with no time for oversight might even slap it in unchanged.
News releases today, of course, are just as likely to live in a cache on a server, and get significant organic search engine traffic. In that regard, they ought to be entertaining (which is superior to funny, for reasons I can expound upon later if required.)
Blame humorless PR on PR people who don’t yet realize that they are more than Media Relations people.
And let’s face it — comedy is hard, and there are no guarantees. Right, Conan?
Many press releases are doomed from the start due to established process in large, particularly publicly held, companies. There is a headline, a dateline, a lead, a “story” told in inverted pyramid style, two complementary quotes from senior executives, a call to action, and some standard boilerplate.
The formula leaves little room for creativity. Once the release is written to the formula, it is reviewed by a dozen people, and finally ready for release.
While this process originated in old line Fortune 500 companies, PR people who had their training here (in-house or on the agency side) often take this process to start-ups and smaller companies that ought to be more open to a better way.
The press release is a useful reference as a written, available-on-the-web record of a company’s transactions, including quarterly earnings, product launches, leadership changes, etc. In most cases, it will not be the catalyst for any significant market influence.
I used to be much more creative with my consumer releases but I have found over time that A) editors don’t have time to appreciate it – they need to know the details pronto and B) with SEO we construct our releases to come up with the best possible search results.
Our creativity comes through in the pitches we develop for specific media as well as the social media and traditional campaigns that we develop. Releases are “just the fact’s ma’am”.
I often challenge my students to adopt the notion that there are no boring subjects, but there are plenty of boring writers.
So in public relations, both might be right.
Best,
Rich
Communication students are taught to use the inverted pyramid style and include only the facts with little personality or excitement. When I first started writing releases post-college I was initially terrified to stray from this style because in school “creative” press releases are condemned. While I now recognize that both styles have a time and a place (SEC releases etc. should probably stick with the inverted pyramid), I think it is hard for those who have more traditional backgrounds to throw everything they have been trained to do out the window. Recent graduates just perpetuate the cycle because they flock to the big firms or traditional companies (before landing at a start-up or somewhere else) where they do things the way they have been doing them for decades which in today’s market is no longer sufficient. In order to change things, we need to start at the beginning and how students approach the basic press release because while pitches are more effective, press releases can and do garner coverage on their own sometimes if they are well done.
So many itches that this only begins to scratch. Unless that’s psoriasis. But some of the issues to look at here:
1) journalists like to say that they are serious and want only the facts. but look at the paper today. how much sensationalist journalism do you see? they have realized that people want to be entertained. even by the news. and they are happy to oblige to sell more papers. (hard to do these days with a “just the facts ma’am approach)
2) we need to remember what a press release was even invented to do. it was created to convey the appropriate information to a journalist to get media coverage. it was created in a time that there really was no other way. now there is. and editorial staffs are much smaller these days. how are you going to get their attention with an inverted pyramid that looks like every other one. (ready to topple by the way… they need a good sturdy base–like an interesting story.)
3) why is advertising considered more creative? because they’ve had to learn to break through the clutter to get their ad noticed. PR is selling column inches in a paper where nothing sticks out. they haven’t had to really compete in the way advertisers have had to. well, guess what? now they do. so let’s see the good story-telling, creativity, and really “earn” your earned media.
4) there are more drama and action movies made in Hollywood than comedies. why? good comedy is hard to achieve and is more subjective than the other forms of story-telling. but if it was easy, everyone would be doing it, right?
Sad, but true. Clients say they want to be different and stand out, and yet they tie your hands creatively. It’s completely false that levity or lightheartedness = less serious. It’s about connecting on a human level with your HUMAN customers. Sadly, and esp. in B2B, companies get scared and revert to the same boring familiar crap. Aversion to a little risk-taking. But fun – not comedy – is not super-risky if done right and the upside is huge! Playfulness is about putting your customer first – it’s completely consistent with what great marketing is about.
I’m glad to see some of the comments here. Yes, we were taught to give just the facts in a press release — that we could have some fun with the headline to try and catch the eye of the journalist — allowing the journalist to be creative — that journalists don’t want to be told how to write. Today, as many have said, you have to find a happy medium. What a PR person can do is follow up and help the journalist understand why the factual, and, as you say boring release, should be written.