The Power of the Press Release

By Mark Evans | Published: August 31, 2009

Last week, Jeff Wiener decided to write a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice to support the proposed deal between Avaya and Nortel. He wanted to write the DOJ after reading a Wall St. Journal story about how the DOJ had received verbal and written complaints citing competitive concerns if the deal is allowed to happen.

Wiener, the president of Toronto-based Digitcom and an Avaya reseller, asked me how he could get the word out, so I suggested he contact a number of bloggers and telecom reporters.

When he asked about issuing a press release, I told him it probably wasn’t worth the money given no one reads press releases any more.

Fortunately, Jeff didn’t take my advice, and he issued a press release through the CNW Group that generated a flurry of media and blog coverage.

My hat’s off to Jeff, who has taught me an important lesson about how old school communications tool can be effective as long as you’ve got an interesting story to tell.


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  • Moose_Chaser

    ” old school communications tool ” ?

    Blogs are not the be-all and end-all.

    MC

  • GoProto

    MC-

    I think Mark was referring to a “press release” as being an old school communications tool, not the blogs.

    GP

  • Moose_Chaser

    Uhhh…do ya think ?

    MC

  • qcboris

    Some little guy in Ontario wants to self promote by writing a letter to the DOJ and issuing a press release. Who cares. Must be a slow news day

  • amandalaird

    Aptly titled post, Mark — a news release can be a very powerful tool. The secret to media coverage is, was and always will be an interesting story.

    I would hardly call a news release “old school communication”, however. In addition to the wire, Jeff's news release was posted to http://www.newswire.ca which is consistently ranked as one of the top 1,000 websites visited by Canadians. It was sent to subscribers via Portfolio E-mail, distributed via RSS, and tweeted by one or more of CNW Group's 129 Twitter accounts. And, to top that, anyone who visited the site had the option to Digg the release, tag it with Delicious, submit it to Technorati or Newsvine.

    A news release, while a veritable institution in the PR industry, is anything but old school.

  • GoProto

    Sorry, I misunderstood.

  • http://dannybrown.me Danny Brown

    Mark,

    Kudos to you for your humility, and kudos to Jeff for showing that no matter what the tool or medium used is, it has (and continues to be) about the story.

    Cheers!

  • AnotherSlave

    I'll go by the comments the customers are making.

  • protosphere

    During the days of print media, press releases were a cost effective tool and good measuring stick to research product demand before spending vast amounts of money on expensive advertising. Many readers at that time were anxious to learn what was upcoming and new in the industry where press releases generated an even greater awareness than advertising in many cases.

    Instead of spending a fortune on ads, the press releases were free too! (a secret marketing tool) Just fax your story on letterhead to the editor, if it is new, unique or of reader interest, presto, this very powerful advertising was free.

    The companies back then would also not harlot editorial for advertising dollars and I admired their integrity. Today, I am horrified to see advertisers get the editorial, contrary to when times were good in the mid 1980's.

    I have been out of the loop since on-line advertising took over print media which is no longer an effective tool for ads or press releases. Depending on the product or service, I would be hard pressed to see what vehicle works now days. I may be wrong but I don't see any online ads taking over the niche markets we addressed in the high tech industry way back and those in print today are the big brand manufactures with all the little resellers long, long gone.

  • protosphere

    Mark, if you are interested in starting a high tech publication (in print and online) now that ITWorld bought Laurentian creating a significant void, I can not underemphasize just how easily we can fill this.

    Let me know =)

    There are few ultra honest fellas like yourself I would be delighted to introduce you to that owned these publications if you like. I would prefer to remain in the background doing what I do best, generating revenue and you guys can manage it again =)

    It would be refreshing to see a Canadian publication resurface and lead once again. I still have all of my old contacts and plenty of fresh ideas we can brainstorm with past titans in this arena if you are interested. =) Think about it =)

  • less

    Somewhat OT, but heres an example of the power the Internet press can wield:

    http://www.michaeljacksonhoaxdeath.com/

    Despite the glut of (mis)information readily available online, Believers still abound everywhere, and they still tend to hear and see what they choose.

  • protosphere

    Here is some interesting NEWS … talk about power of the press that allows us to to research

    …deja vous or what… some things never change I guess…

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/pr…

    Premier sacks Ontario Lottery board and CEO

    The entire board of directors of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. has abruptly resigned and chief executive officer Kelly McDougald has also stepped down as the McGuinty government takes sweeping, pre-emptive action to stop a potential spending scandal before it even begins.

    The first action of a new interim board was to end Ms. McDougald's employment as CEO, a position she held for the past two years.

    “The expenses are a symptom of a much larger problem.”“Today we are taking another step to protect taxpayer's money,” Dwight Duncan (Finance Minister) said at the news conference.

    The Ontario Tory caucus submitted a freedom-of-information request last January for the travel expenses of senior executives of the lottery corporation. The deadline for receiving those documents was Monday.

    ____________________________________________________________________

    http://tourismhamilton.com/pagedetail.cfm?id=123

    Kelly(McDougald) was in the telecommunications industry for over 25 years, serving in senior executive positions at Nortel Network and Bell Canada.

    http://www.lotteryinsider.com/people/bios/mcdou…

    Kelly McDougald has held a variety of senior leadership roles at Bell Canada – most recently as Senior Vice President, Enterprise Customers and Government – and at Nortel Networks.

    http://www.thestar.com/article/253954

    Ex-Nortel executive to run Lotto 6/49
    Sep 06, 2007

    Former CEO Duncan Brown resigned in March just before the province's ombudsman alleged that retailers and “insiders” had won a disproportionate number of lottery prizes. Three other OLG vice-presidents and Michael Sharland, the head of security, followed Brown out the door.

    Among McDougald's immediate priorities, the board says she will lead the organization towards achieving the “highest standards of integrity, transparency, accountability and responsiveness,” as well as attracting and retaining a senior management team.

    AGAIN: lead the organization towards achieving the “highest standards of integrity, transparency, accountability and responsiveness,” as well as attracting and retaining a senior management team.” (where have we heard this before?)

  • less

    lol – meanwhile the Tennessee Lottery has taken over NT's building in Nashville. Ya cant make this stuff up.
    Its all cosmic as Nortel a few insiders, too, had been winning a disproportionate number of prizes over the last 12-18 months in the form of bonuses….

  • zeroman

    I would not ever look at a resume from any Nortel exec. Some of them may be good but overall they went up the chain during the boom days. I have seen several profiles and if the outcomes were believable, Nortel would be rocking as a 100 billion dollar company today.

    There was a big documentary by CBC that exposed OLGC. Its a very simple step that they have to take.

    All OLGC retailers selling lottery tickets and their immediate families should be barred from claiming any winnings. They get a percentage if the winning ticket came from their store.

    How complicated is this to put into legislation.

  • zeroman

    Digitcom being an Avaya reseller will definitely say its a good thig. Don't they get all the opportunities to replace Nortel with Avaya and make reseller margins. Its like Christmas for the next 2 or 3 years.

    Come on … get some serious debtates going instead of bogus propositions with selfish intentions.

  • Moose_Chaser

    >>> NEWS FLASH <<<

    Before OLGC, Kelly McDougald was an EVP at…..Nortel !

    Karma ?

    MC

  • zeroman

    no. past performance is a guarantee of future performance. six sigma guaranteed. after all the BS on integrity and ethics (theme that all execs seem to speak about with no substance), people were able to expense credit card fees, babysitting costs …

    wow. at least that would not happen at Nortel. maybe at the exec level who knows.

    also read the news on eHealth Ontario. What cronyism. $5 million in contract handouts with no contracting process.

    who is on that gravy train one would ask?

  • Moose_Chaser

    >>> NEWS FLASH <<<

    Before OLGC, Kelly McDougald was an EVP at…..Nortel !

    Karma ?

    MC

  • zeroman

    no. past performance is a guarantee of future performance. six sigma guaranteed. after all the BS on integrity and ethics (theme that all execs seem to speak about with no substance), people were able to expense credit card fees, babysitting costs …

    wow. at least that would not happen at Nortel. maybe at the exec level who knows.

    also read the news on eHealth Ontario. What cronyism. $5 million in contract handouts with no contracting process. who is on that gravy train one would ask?

    any McGuinty voters here. next time keep all this in mind when voting.

    health care tax
    HST added
    no nortel pensions topup
    olgc scandal
    eHealth Ontario contract handouts
    ontario needs handouts now

    And we have the moral gaul to point to other countries for rights, corruption.

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