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Press release, the immortal
By Hemant Arya on Jun 20, 2008 in Pressrelease
We, PR pros, have an undying faith in the power of the press release. Every evening, somewhere between 3 and 4, PR execs run to the terrace and load the canons. It’s poetry in motion. With natural grace they slide a fresh press release into the barrel, swiftly point it at the target (in Delhi it’s ITO, CP, INS Building), light the fuse and take cover. BANG! The press release lands with a hiss at the desk of Mr. Business Editor, Leading Daily Times. Mission half accomplished! The infantry, heavily armed with release-loaded plastic folders, launch the assault exactly half an hour later. The team rests only after hitting each and every target.
“Nonsense,” you say? “That was years ago. We have evolved, moved on.” But why are our brothers and sisters still shooting releases. “Necessary evil,” a colleague had said conspiratorially and winked before she reached out for her Gate Pass in the snow white ToI building. For a moment I felt I was part of a secret brotherhood, surreptitiously making eye-contact with the elusive journalist, trying to extract a pledge of 10 cc (or more) of premium space for my client.
I don’t have more to say about the immortal press release. I won’t even be surprised if “Press Release 2.0” has been released(!). I suspect something like that is already in the air, secretly infecting the PR industry. But there are a few incidents about Press Release 0.0 that will forever play in my mind. There was this one time when a senior editor made good use of the press release I gave him. He thanked me and instantly used it as a paper plate for his snack – two tiny, oily samosas. It was a cruel conspiracy – the greasy patches took shape on my client’s quote I’d spent half a day on.
And there was this other journalist who used to look up from her monitor and smile sweetly when you gave her a press release. She read the first two paras (I suspect she looked at it blankly) and if it bore her, discreetly put it in the bin. Though I would be heartbroken, I felt relieved there would be one paper less to scan the next morning…
On Jun 20, 2008, Palin Ningthoujam said:
About press releases: Sometimes I wonder if it was the best anybody can do, or did we goof it up along the way.
On Jun 20, 2008, himanshu kapadia said:
u r article brought a smile on my face, we all have faced the same, i compare us with the dabawalas, there job is to deliver the dabas with food everyday not knowing whether some one has eaten or not,postmans job, or a liftman is somewhere similar. i agree with palin have we lost the plot somewhere
On Jun 20, 2008, Hemant Arya said:
Palin, Himanshu: Press release is PR industry’s Frankenstein, a monster we created. It’s become big and powerful and almost as popular as the industry itself. So it comes as no surprise when companies want to issue a press release for almost everything. I was once asked by a well-known company to issue a release for a Mata ki Chowki…