PR Masterclass - London's best press release (January 2020)
Most press releases hit the dust. What their creators hoped was an exemplary package of carefully-crafted text fails to create a buzz and nobody bites. But sometimes a promotional missive cuts through the editorial inbox and makes its mark, and that's what today's post celebrates. Which press releases truly sparked the capital's social media last month, and what lessons can we learn from their success?
To help uncover the truth I've been examining the output of six of London's media stalwarts since the start of the year.
• Evening Standard: The former Chancellor's ubiquitous freesheet
• Metro: Your morning takeaway while the coffee kicks in
• MyLondon: The digital footprint of various former local papers
• Londonist: the capital's premier online engagement presence
• Time Out: the online newsfeed of the iconic listings magazine
• Secret London: imagine Londonist with the good posts missing
Which press releases cut through the dross to feature on at least four of the above media, which stories managed five, and which astonishing success found itself reproduced by all six?
PICARDilly Circus Goes Where No Station Has Gone Before
Nothing excites a copy editor more than a renamed tube station. A global delivery company's re-imagining of a 20th century sci-fi franchise thus rightly made several media editors tumescent, and they responded with puns, catchphrases and carefully-curated mention of the series launch date.
What The Croc?! Old Kent Road Could Be Getting An Alligator Park
The word 'could' can achieve significant heavy lifting if used adeptly within a press release. Developers Avanton managed exactly that with a startling press release which the Evening Standard kindly splashed all across page three of their august publication. The concept of a tank of alligators inside a listed gasholder certainly stokes the imagination, whereas in fact the tank would be quite small, plans are still "at a very early stage" and nobody's yet spoken to Southwark council about the idea. Indeed the reptilian park is merely one of three possible concepts at the moment, which also include a lido and whatever an 'artistic garden' is. But feed the press an irresistible artist's impression and the total lack of substance is instantly overturned.
Statues Of Iconic Movie Stars Will Fill Leicester Square From Next Month
It's always a triumph when trusted media promotes an event long before it actually happens. Unfortunately this then requires a further burst of attention closer to the actual launch date, but it's fabulous to know that a "dynamic trail of eight interactive bronze statues" featuring Mr Bean, Bugs Bunny and Batman will be appearing at the heart of Theatreland in (checks calendar) three weeks time.
London’s Most Stressful Tube Line Has Been Revealed, And It’ll Come As No Surprise
Few websites can resist a pseudo-scientific survey packaged with cut-and-dried conclusions, especially if it's research they were too inadequately-equipped to complete themselves. That'll be why, in the empty days at the very start of the year, this questionable spreadsheet exercise released by a company specialising in meditation was leapt upon as if its entirely subjective conclusions were somehow definitive. Whatever your product, repackaging public data into enticing superlatives is always a sure-fire promotional winner.
Selfridges Now Has An Adult-Sized Slide In Its Window
In fact what Selfridges has is a slide in its coffee shop, their hope that you'll pop in to behave like a big kid in front of an appreciative audience on the pavement, then stop to spend over the odds on some expensive beans. What's especially impressive here is how many writers simply lifted the sentence "There are 10 varieties of coffee on the menu, all of which are made from an exclusive Selfridges blend." simply to pad out this non-story.
Featured by five of the six
A Harry Potter Fantastic Beasts Exhibition Is Coming To Natural History Museum
The easiest way to spot a press release on a so-called news website is the phrase "is coming to" in the title. When information about some future event drops into a journalist's inbox, often the best they can say to make it sound newsworthy is "[Thing] is coming to [Location]". Bish bosh, upload a photo and there's another story pumped into the mainstream within your regulation ten minute time allocation. Look out for this wording, it's everywhere.
IKEA Is Opening A New Store In Hammersmith
Wow. An actual IKEA in actual Hammersmith. Whereas in fact this isn't a proper warehouse-style store, this is a "unique, new small store format" shoehorned into the existing King's Mall, which IKEA's parent company has just bought. Picture the downstairs half of a proper IKEA - all the accessories and meatballs but none of the big stuff, so customers who fancy a flat-pack wardrobe will have to go home and wait. But that's not what you thought when you first read the headline, and that's the genius of the press release. Job done.
Featured by all six media outlets
The World’s First Cheese-Themed Hotel Has Opened In London
Here's the story. An upmarket UK restaurant chain has a new menu which features a lot of cheese. They therefore plan to kit out an apartment in Camden with a surfeit of cheese-themed decor, then invite one lucky couple to stay overnight. Cheese will be freely available, the minibar will be stocked and a single additional delivery of cheesy comestibles will be permitted. A £50 voucher has been thrown in so that the winners can enjoy a proper meal in a restaurant at a later date, but the true prize is the opportunity to take exclusive Instagram shots to die for. Essentially it's a corporate email-harvesting ballot with a cheesy flavour, and the nation's media have fallen head-over-heels for the story.
Not only did the six platforms in my survey take the cheesy bait but also the Daily Mail, the Mirror, the Independent, Stylist, Ladbible, even Devon Live. Frustrated English graduates forced to take poorly paid online content roles suddenly found themselves able to shine by scattering a sheen of cheese-related puns throughout their prose, and totally rolled with it. With an artist's impression of the jaundiced apartment thrown in for good measure, the restaurant chain achieved absolute marketing gold, excitedly repeated everywhere. Never mind that it's not really a hotel, never mind that the overnight 'cheese hotline' only works once, just slip brie and gouda into your copy somewhere and you're done. Feta complete.
