This presentation was given to a university class in November 2014 including group working examples. Looking at, in brief, how a company might make the news and how it might react to news that they'd rather not be reacting to!

1. News Making &
News Reaction
Darren Ingram
November 2014

2. News Making &
News Reaction
Darren Ingram
November 2014
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram

3. Wordpress.com At first there
was a paper
mountain
chinadailyshow.com
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram

4. Many Names
Press Releases
News Releases
Releases
Press Statement
Press Announcement
Press Notice
etc etc..
Plus in many languages!
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram

5. “Traditional” Releases
• Slow (often sent in the mail, latterly by fax)
• Costly (printing, postage, labour-intensive)
• Heavy (especially if at a trade fair)
• Pain to handle (open, circulate, track)
• Difficult to store/archive
• Mountains of waste
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram

6. Slow Change
• Slowly some electronic distribution occurred,
mostly over “private wire” - expensive & restrictive
• Extended to satellite & other private networks in
1970s, financial systems & databases in the 1980s
• Online and latterly Internet services from the 1990s
• “Big bang” from the late 1990s/early 2000s
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram

7. Times Change
Smartdisplayguide.com
Hurrah!
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram

8. Make Your Own Press
Release!
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram

9. Need?
• Do you have any news to tell? Are you sure?
• Who wants to know your news? What might they do
with it?
• Are you aiming at the media or just looking for
content for your website/newsletter/marketing?
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram

10. Remember at
least the 5 W’s*
Who is it about?
What happened?
When did it take place?
Where did it take place?
Why did it happen?
How did it happen?
!
*Tenses can vary! Wordpress.com
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram

11. A Good Way To Start?
• Discover what you want to say and “who” you want
to say it to
• Define your objectives
• Leave a lot of time to complete the task if possible
• Start to form your story in note form using the 5 W’s
& 1H format
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram

12. • Start to shape your release
• The first sentence/paragraph must contain the key
message
• Keep sentences short, factual, jargon-free
• Imagine you are telling the story to someone on a
bus, who doesn’t know your sector/business
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram

13. • Factual tone
• Concise style
• Do not slate competitors
• Do not lie, mislead or conceal
• Size is not everything
• Background information “to the end”
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram

14. Considerations
• You might even have several versions of the same
release for different markets (national press,
specialist trade titles, etc.)
• A modular approach allows content reuse now and
later on
• Think how a newspaper or similar might write about
your company - try to take the same line
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram

15. Key Elements
• Headline
• Date of release (or embargo date/time)
• Spacing (if printed, double spaced)
• Visual appearance (don’t use every font and colour
that your computer has)
• Paragraph structure / ordered flow of material
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram

16. • Quotation?
• Avoid cliches: thrilled to be here, privileged to be
attending, taking the market by storm…
• Hype, the removal of: let the news speak for itself
• Figures and accurate information (prices, dates,
times where relevant)
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram

17. • Mark “end” of release
• Background information about your company (part
of a modular communications design)
• Contact information: specific contact? PR person?
(make sure whoever is listed WILL answer)
• Email addresses, links to online information
• Multimedia (pictures, video, animations)
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram

18. Check…
• Does it make sense to an outsider?
• Have you remembered to use the spill chucker &
look at your grandma?
• If you can, “sleep on it”; get it reviewed; read the
text on a different screen
• Corporate sign-off?
• Final check and final final check!
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram

19. Distribution
Thought normally would need to be given to the
distribution of your press release (on your website, to
the media, trade show, partners, social media,
etcetera) but it is outside of the scope of this
presentation.
Distribution of press materials can be a science or an
art in its own right. It is not as easy as you think!
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram

20. Remember
• Professionals can spend weeks on a release/
campaign
• Professionals can still (and do) make mistakes
• Not every press release will take the media by
storm (and get coverage)
• It is an art form and the use of language can be
important; but the structure and facts are key
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram

21. Wakey-Wakey Time!
TASKS
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram

22. Task #1
Three Groups*
1: Those who had an involvement with the recent
student fair
2: Those who will be involved with the
Köpmannamässa fair
3: Anyone else
*Split the groups to be roughly equal in size
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram

23. Task #1
Group 1: Press release for the student fair, to attract
coverage from non-local media, to promote a fashion
show for up-and-coming future designers.
Group 2: A new company in the city will be offering
various healthcare/massage services including some
that are new to the region/country (exhibiting at the fair).
Group 3: A new company has been formed to deliver
coffee beans and other drinks to workplaces & the
home by subscription.
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram

24. 15 Minutes…
• Discuss and draft your press release’s structure
• Get your first sentence/paragraph ready to “sell it”
to a sceptical journalist
• Get one quotation ready
• Consider (if time) positives, problems, how to
attract media interest
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram

25. After 15 Minutes…
A brief group presentation of the core structure, first
sentence/paragraph, quotation and other comments.
After all three groups have presented, wrap-up,
lessons learned and on to task 2…
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram

26. Task #2
• Same groups as before
• Reacting to changing news/“crisis
communications” - a different ball game
• If you don’t know what to say to the media, don’t
say anything until you do. Yet something must be
said in due course. No head in the sand treatment!
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram

27. Task #2
• Your company is at its industry’s biggest fair
• Massive stand & marcomms budget stretched
• Lots of “eggs in one basket”
• Confident of some great publicity, media coverage,
customer engagement, new customers, maybe
even an award or two!
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram

28. Task #2
Two hours before the start of the fair. All senior
directors/key players/marcomms team are here.
Head office just called. News is emerging that there
is a major chemical leak at your company’s factory in
a “less developed” country.
Initial reports suggest major environmental damage,
possibly even deaths and injuries to workers and
nearby residents.
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram

29. Your company makes great play about its “green
credentials”, how it is a “responsible corporate
citizen” and how its processes are top-quality.
The initial reports suggest that the fault might be of
your company’s making, perhaps skimping on the
maintenance or poor training.
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram

30. Task #2
• The company is getting calls from the media. The
story will not go away. Online news has already
broke the story.
• Information is scarce. Head office investigating.
Local resources coordinating.
• Company ignored previously a recommendation to
create a crisis communications plan.
• A press statement/update promised within the hour.
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram

31. Staff Tasks
• All employees have been told to refer all inquiries
to the press office.
• Stand staff obviously can’t comment but equally
can’t say “phone the press office” to visitors.
• Some “brief lines to take…” will be needed for the
stand staff as well as instructions not to enter into a
debate.
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram

32. Interim Statement
XYZ Company is investigating reports of a major
chemical leak at its factory in TOWN, COUNTRY.
Further information will be released as soon as it is
confirmed. The next scheduled update will be
provided at 10am local time.
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram

33. Task #2
• Prepare a press release for the promised update.
Remember a modular design will allow rapidly
changing information to be included.
• For the task, consider six or more points that you
would need to possibly include within the update
and/or within the communications handling plan.
Write them down to present (you do not need to
write a full press release).
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram

34. Task #2 Remember
• What you say will enter the public record
• Think about your company’s reputation
• Think about possible legal and regulatory issues
• Think about your company’s ethical position
• Remember where you are (at a trade fair)
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram

35. 15 minutes to “save”
your company…
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram

36. Group Presentations
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram

37. Conclusions
• Media/PR is more than just “Absolutely Fabulous”
and sitting in nice restaurants talking with
journalists
• Problems can happen anywhere and everywhere,
to companies of every shape or size
• Mistakes can be made by everyone, especially the
more experienced who can be complacent
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram

38. Questions?
Disagreements?
Darren Ingram
!
darren@ingram.fi
linkedin.com/in/DarrenPIngram
about.me/DarrenPIngram
© 2014 Darren Ingram. All links are correct at the time of publication. No endorsement or specific recommendation is made unless clearly stated. DarrenIngram.com About.me/DarrenPIngram