Now that you've decided to make news where none exists, Vicky Elpers will help you decide whether the news is big enough for a ‘launch’ and offers all the tips and details to make your launch a success.

To launch or not to launch … that’s quite a question!

(Part of the series: "Making News Where None Exists")

by Vicky Elpers

You may be a PR person in an organisation that is ‘launch crazy’. That is to say, they love a good launch. The operative word being ‘good’ because if they fall flat … you fall flat! (For those readers who aren't familiar with PR terms, a 'launch' is a first public announcement of an event or program -- the unveiling of a new product, idea or service.)

Public Relations practitioners are trained to create measurable objectives, achieve them and produce measurable results. (Watch for the specifics of writing measurable objectives in a future issue.) Yet many organisations are simply thrilled if the local news channel shows up with a camera (everyone wants to be on the evening news). It’s your job to prep the spokesperson, review the facts, alert/invite the media and handle every niggly detail right down to reporting on the final outcome.

When the pressure is on, you have to ask yourself, “Is this worthy of a media launch?” Depending on your organisation and the pressure from above, you may have to ask, “How can I make this worthy of a media launch?”

Consider All the Angles

First, consider all the angles and how these angles affect the masses. The media are only interested in topics that have mass appeal. Just because your company is doing something really great doesn’t mean it’ll get any credit in the media even though it could be really good for business if the word got out. The media do not exist to drum up business for your company.

For example, suppose your company manufactures cars and has decided to install a 'deer whistle' on its new vehicles. The whistle would drive animals out of the path of oncoming cars, thus avoiding costly accidents. You need to let the public know that your company offers this unique safety feature. The media would tell you to pay advertising dollars if it's strictly a promotional launch. However, you could choose other angles that would create mass appeal; this would mean the media would be interested in covering your launch from a newsworthy angle.

Here are some points to consider when determining 'angle:'

-- Schedule the launch during animal-rights week, accident-prevention week, national safety week or any other relevant awareness promotion.

If you choose the 'animal' angle, you can announce the new safety feature by focusing on the fact that approximately XX,000 car accidents involve animals each year. You can announce that your new safety feature can prevent these accidents. The product not only prevents injury to animals, but to occupants of the vehicle, and prevents costly repairs and higher insurance rates. This angle promotes the company as caring for animals as well as for the customers who purchase the vehicle.

It's animal-rights week and the media will be looking for a good animal rights story. You've managed to make your story newsworthy and it is news that the mass audience will be interested in knowing. Congratulations -- you've created 'news' and 'connected' it to the masses; the media will be interested in reporting your 'news'. Here's the main point to consider: the 'news angle' is that the road can be a safer place for humans, vehicles and animals.

At the launch you can also announce that your company saw a problem and attempted to solve it. But do not for any reason attempt to use the media to sell your new cars. The fact that your company has a new car to sell is not news. Save that for the advertising budget. Any brochures or information distributed at this type of launch should focus on statistics about animal injuries and deaths, human injuries and deaths and possibly the costs of repairs to vehicles, as well as offering information about the 'deer whistle' itself.

Focus on What They Want to Know

Note that you're focusing on things the media and public would want to know -- such as who came up with the idea, why the company invested in it (the correct answer is, to save the lives of people and animals), exactly how it works and of course the fact that it is fully patented and available only on your company's new vehicles. But do not supply information about the vehicles. Absolutely no promotional brochures profiling the company itself or the new line of vehicles -- stick to strictly 'news information'.

Once you have determined a way to connect your ‘news’ to the masses and create mass appeal, you must decide whether you should create a few simple media releases or create the materials for a media launch.

The materials contained in a media/information kit vary according to the relevancy of the launch. This list is not exhaustive, nor is it inclusive – just meant to guide you as you determine exactly which materials to include in the kit for this specific launch.

All kits should include a letter identifying the contents of the kit and who to contact for further information. This person should be reachable around the clock throughout the duration of the launch. A journalist may need clarification at 3:00 AM.

Include as needed:

Fact sheets offering information about your organisation: what it is, what it does/makes.

Backgrounder offering historical information on the company: its milestones, its development. This should tell people something about the ‘character’ of the organisation.

Did you know…? sheet offering a selection of little known interesting facts about your cause, your company, your contribution to the community.

Relevant position papers your company may have prepared on current issues -- for example, the company policy on office recycling.

Informational brochures offering information only (not promotional brochures). This information should be factual and should not in any way attempt to 'promote' a product, service or company. Think in terms of a car owner's manual: it presents information only; it is not designed to 'sell' the car. How many times have you gone to look at a new car and the salesman excitedly showed you the owner's manual? Your informational brochures should be much more attractive an interesting than an owner's manual, but should remain factual, technical and informative.

Promotional brochures are designed to influence you into buying the product/service. Again, they are attractive but are written using language designed to 'sell'. These are the brochures your salesman shares with you. Not overly informative, they are designed to make you need to contact a salesman in order to gain more information. These are distributed to potential customers -- remember the media are not customers. The media will not sell your car for you.

Annual report

Decisions, decisions. Try to put yourself in the place of the newsperson you hope will cover your ‘news’. The media will use the kit to create headlines, articles, radio, television and even web-based news stories. For this reason, you may want to include a list of approved quotes from your CEO or spokesperson and a photograph or two.

Timing is everything. How often have you heard that? The trick is to keep your ears open. Telephone a few friends in the media -- ask if they have anything ‘major’ planned for the date you’ve chosen to launch. If something else ‘big’ is attracting media attention on your launch date, the media will be there, covering that … unless your story is bigger.

Next, the big tease. ‘Invitations’ to your media launch should go out via wire service whenever possible. If it’s in the budget, do it twice. First the teasers, announcing that you will be sending out some important news on a specific date (two to five days prior to the second wire). This way the media will be waiting and watching, and your connections in journalism may even start counting on you to provide a story for them. Then the announcement/invitation to the media launch, offering exact details about time, date, place of your scheduled launch. You should also include a brief attention-grabbing news release about the news item the launch will cover. Don’t give them the full story – they need to attend your launch in order to get the full story. (Be prepared to send your full media release out by wire in case launch attendance is low.)

Remember this: if the news channel shows up at your launch and spends 45 minutes of their day setting up cameras, listening and interviewing, then you will most likely make it on the evening news. Journalists are hired to get stories, not to waste time with an impending deadline leading up to airtime. What does this mean to you? You have to get them there!

If all else fails, remember this tip: If you feed them they will come. Schedule your launch as a ‘finger food brunch’ and include this info in the wired invitation. Journalists get hungry too. Chasing stories can often be so time-consuming that there is no time for food. This enables the journalist to get a meal and a story in the same time-block. Plus, as long as the food is good, it’s great for media relations!

The night before … pray for peace. Keep your fingers crossed that nothing big happens to steal your show. You can’t control world events but with a little forethought you should be able to avoid scheduling your launch in the middle of the season's worst hurricane.

Brief and brief again. Whoever is going before the camera needs to be fully briefed and questioned -- this may be your one-and-only chance to verbally harass your CEO. Play devil's advocate to be positive the spokesperson has indeed read all the notes you’ve provided. Don’t back down on this point, because if a journalist asks a question your spokesperson hasn’t been prepared to answer, the entire organisation suffers.

Pack the house. Nothing looks worse on television than a near empty room. In public relations, numbers are everything. Body count often signifies importance and support for what is about to take place. All visible bodies should be appropriately dressed. Don’t forget to hang the corporate banner in camera view. Logos should be plentiful.

Track the Coverage

Once it’s over, track the coverage. What did you achieve? How many radio stations aired your story how many times per day for how many days? How many television stations included it in the daily news? Was it one of the top five or ten news stories? How many minutes of airtime did you get? What other stories did you compete with for that airtime? How many newspapers ran your story? Did they use your prepared media releases and feature articles, or write their own? Did they get the facts straight? Did they include a photo (photos encourage readability)? Was it black and white or full color (full color attracts attention)? Was the photo one that you provided in your media kit?

Measure your objectives. Did you achieve what you set out to achieve? Were your objectives truly measurable so that you can prove your success? Success tends to be measured in dollars. It is difficult to measure goodwill in dollars. These dollars do not have to be clear ‘profit,’ but can be dollars saved through prevention. When budgets are reviewed, the public relations budget must also show some form of profitable benefit to the business.

-- VE
© 1998 Vicky Elpers

Reference: Newsom & Carrell, 1995. Public Relations Writing Form & Style 4th edition. Wadsworth publishing, p. 411.