Head to Head: Is the press release dead?
In this new series, Mumbrella invites the industry’s most senior PR professionals to share their opposing views on the industry’s biggest issues. This week’s Head to Head pits Roberto Pace, managing director, Eleven and FleishmanHillard against Sarah Gale, managing director, AMPR.
This week, debating whether or not the press release is dead, Sarah Gale says they remain an important communications tool while Roberto Pace believes they’ve become like zombies and need reinventing.
Is the press release dead?
Yes, argues Roberto Pace, managing director, Eleven and FleishmanHillard:
I may be too far into The Walking Dead, but the press release feels a bit like a zombie.
I think it is not dead but serves a difference purpose. We see clients putting press releases on their websites using the traditional format of media releases to share news with their stakeholders that has the kudos of a press release.
If analysed by quantity, it’s always been dead. As the majority were binned and deleted. It’s the biggest scam from the PR agency industry – charging on output that failed (realistically) to deliver outcome. If you ask journalists – I suspect most would agree that they don’t need a press release. What they need is all the elements that make a story credible and newsworthy – and maybe a fact-sheet with all the nouns and numbers that substantiate the story. Most press releases have all that stripped out through the approval process.
As a corporate holding statement, or promotional guff, it will live long on website, sales stands and even eDMs. Called a press release, but hopefully never released to the press…