Working with the Media to Create Two Press Releases - Case Study Example

Working with the media Introduction The paper presents two rough drafts of media releases providing the national tour details of two of the biggest names in the world of music: Michael Bolton and John Mayer. However, even before providing the drafts, it is needed to understand the concept of press release and the elements that encompass a press release. Further, the paper would focus on the information needed to create these two press releases. Finally, two rough drafts of the releases would be provided. Describing press release A media release or press release is described as a written or recorded form of communication disseminated to the media to announce about some important news. Generally a press release is sent to the media via mail, e-mail or fax. Such a release is sent to all form of media, i.e. newspapers, news channels, magazines, radio stations etc. Some even employ the services of professional press release distribution companies to distribute releases to a wider audience. Some of these distribution services are Business Wire, PR Newswire and PR NewsChannel (Bartram, 1999). Press releases are being commonly used in public relations field. This is a method through which public relations companies try to attract media attention towards the product or event of their clients and provide favourable publicity. A release is generally given to provide the reporters some basic information about the product or event. On the basis of this release, the journalists develop their stories. A press release is issued to announce variety of news such as scheduling of events, winning of awards, launching of new products or services, sales and revenue data etc. Many journalists also develop a feature story out of these releases. Some of the releases are also used to announce details about conferences or changes in an organisation (Bivins, 1995). Elements of press release Although, there are various types of press releases like event related release, product launch release and financial announcement releases, most releases have common characteristics and follows a unified structure. This is done to help journalists in recognising a press release easily and separate them from other such public relations tools like a media advisories or pitch letter. Some of the common characteristics of a press release are (Bartram, 1999): Headline: The headline should be brief and crisp, summarising the news in a line, albeit in a creative manner. Dateline: The release date and the city from where the release has originated. Introduction: Basic information about the event is provided in the very first paragraph of the release. Body: This describes the event in detail, providing data and background on the event. Boilerplate: It is also known as the about section, wherein, information about the company, event or personality is being provided. Close: Different countries use different symbols to indicate that the press release has been closed. For instance in the US, “-30-” is being used. More commonly the symbol #### is used. Contact information: The name, number and all other relevant contact details of the PR personal is provided at the end of the press release so that the media may contact the person for further information. Media release for the national tour Even before starting to write the media releases for the two tours that is going to be undertaken in Australia, it is important to understand what type of information needs to be collected to create a proper media release. One needs to understand what type of information should be included in the release, where would this release need to be distributed, how and when should the announcement be made, what should be the most important task about these releases, what would create buzz in the media about these stories, which would be the most challenging tour to promote and what steps should be taken to make oneself aware about the events (Cusic, 1996). As far as these events are concerned, both are musical tours and therefore the target audience is music lovers and fans of these singers i.e. Michael Bolton and John Mayer. These releases should be distributed to all the major media houses, be it magazines, newspapers or television channels. However, special attention should be taken to disseminate the press releases to the media houses specialising in the music genre. For instance, the press release should reach the offices of Channel [V] and MTV and the public relations officer should have the ability to influence these music channels to publicise the event in their channels regularly. This should be in addition to the ads about the event being showcased in these channels. This means that the video jockeys (VJs) should be asked to promote these events through their programmes. Similar strategies should be adopted with the radio channels as well (Mahoney, 2008). It is also important to create strategy around announcing the event. The tone and the way the event needs to be announced to the readers and viewers should be closely monitored. As these are musical events, therefore, the announcement should be made in an impact full manner. The articles and the promotional announcements should be full of life, zest and energy. It should be able to create the right amount of excitement and anticipation around the event through the use of vivacious language and positive tone. Further, the announcement should be made at least a month in advance. The media release should provide additional publicity to these events other than the paid advertisements. The public relations officials should influence the television channels, radio stations, newspapers and magazines to publicise these events in their editorials and programmes (Cusic, 1996). The most important task in the entire media release process is providing the right information to the media. It is essential to give the details in a correct manner. Data such as the date, place, ticket details etc should be provided correctly in the release. Any error in these data would result in publishing wrong information in the media. To rectify such mistakes takes the tedious process of issuing another press release and making sure that the correct data is published in the next edition. This may result in the target audience missing out on the important information or confusing the details. This would further affect the publicity of the event as such events generate a lot of word or mouth publicity and any confusing details would kill the buzz in the beginning itself. Thus, the most important task in this entire process is to provide correct information to the media (Bivins, 1995). However, one should also note that a media house receive several press releases in the course of the day. Therefore, it may be possible that the release has not caught the eye of the journalists and they may not publish or broadcast the news. Further, a mundane press release might not interest the journalist to publish it. Thus, it is also imperative to turn a press release into an interesting story. In this case, the press releases focus on the musical tours of two famous singers. Thus, the release should be full of enthusiasm and zest. It should use youthful language as the target audience for the event is the young people. Possibly, the release should be accompanied by a few interesting photographs of the singers. Further, the media release should highlight the unique selling points of the events (Bartram, 1999). For instance, the Michael Bolton event may highlight the fact that Bolton is going to sing in Australia after a gap of 17 years. Such a statement would create enough buzz and excitement around the story. As Bolton is going to sing in the country after a long time, the excitement around this event would be palatable. Therefore, it would not be too difficult to promote this event. However, in case of John Mayer, the singer has performed here at least thrice and therefore most of his fans have already heard him. As tickets to these concerts are quite expensive, most people might not attend the concert again. Thus, it would be important to create anticipation around this event so that people would still want to attend the event. The public relations professional may create a value proportion around the fact that Mayer likes the Australian fans so much that he is drawn by the crowd here to perform on a regular basis. In order to write the press releases, the most basic thing that a public relations representative needs is relevant information about the event. The representative should make extra effort to learn all the details about the event. In case he or she is not aware about some of the details of the event, he or she should contact the organising company at the earliest and find out everything about the events (Bartram, 1999). Rough media release draft for Michael Bolton tour Michael to rock Australia after 17 years! Sydney, Australia, May 28, 2010 Rock and pop singing sensation Michael Bolton would be on an Australian tour during the month of June. Bolton would be returning to Australia after a gap of 17 years. The 57-years-old, famous for his soft rock ballads, promises to sweep his audience off their feet in Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Melbourne from June 22-27, 2010. The Grammy award-winning vocalist is currently touring Canada and US as a part of his Love All Tour, which he is soon going to bring to Australia in June. Tickets for the concert would be available from May 29, 2010 at the concert venues. Tickets can also be booked through the website: www.Onelovetour.au or calling up the hotline number 1800-120-120. The venue details for the concert are as follows: Tuesday 22 June – Central Brisbane Theatre Thursday 24 June – Perth State Audi Friday 25 June – Melbourne Palais Theatre Sunday 27 June – Sydney State Theatre About Michael Bolton Michael Bolton is an American singer who has till date sold more than 53 million records globally. He has won Grammys in the category of Best Male Vocalist many times. He has also won various other honours. He is also a songwriter and has written songs with Bob Dylan and more recently with Lady Gaga. For further information, please contact: John Smith + 66(0)38 377 666 J.smith@songrecording.com www.songrecording.com ############################################################### Rough media release draft for John Mayer tour John Mayer is back to Australia! Sydney, Australia, May 28, 2010 Every time Mayer performs in Australia, the audience keeps asking for more! The star is back again for another rocking tour, providing another opportunity to his Australian fans to hear the magical voice yet again. Mayer promises to electrify the surrounding again in July this year. The amazing musician would play some soulful numbers in Brisbane, Melbourne, Newcastle and Sydney during 22-27 July. Tickets for the concert would be available from June 25, 2010 at the concert venues. Tickets can also be booked through the website: www.johnmayerbackagain.au or calling up the hotline number 1800-120-120. The venue details for the concert are as follows: Thursday 22 July – Brisbane Entertainment Centre Friday 23 July – Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne Sunday 25 July – Sydney Entertainment Centre, Sydney Tuesday 27 July – Newcastle Entertainment Centre About John Mayer John Mayer is an American musician and Grammy winning singer, songwriter and guitarist. For further information, please contact: John Smith + 66(0)38 377 666 J.smith@songrecording.com www.songrecording.com ############################################################### Reference: Bartram, Peter (1999). Writing a Press Release: How to Get the Right Kind of Publicity and News Coverage. How to Books. Bivins, Thomas (1995). Handbook for public relations writing. NTC Business Books, 1-20. Cusic, Don (1996). Music in the market. Popular Press, 101. Mahoney, James (2008). Public Relations Writing in Australia. Oxford University Press Australia. Read More