What’s Wrong With An Embargoed Release?

By Ben Haber

By Ben

Every once in a while, a reporter will break an embargo on a press release. Sometimes it’s a mistake, other times it doesn’t seem like an accident. In either case, when dealing with an embargoed release, I find myself being very clear with reporters that I haven’t worked with before.

Well, apparently not all reporters think that an embargoed release is a good thing. On BusinessWeek’s Blogspotting blog, Stephen Baker writes:

I just came across this post about embargoed news releases. Quick response. I’m not the least bit interested in “embargoed” news. A news embargo, by definition, means you’re getting played (in a conspicuous way). It’s an invitation to join a herd.

No doubt it works on occasion. A beat reporter covering Microsoft or Oracle can’t afford to follow the competition on a software release. But for me, an embargoed release screams out from my inbox: “Erase me.”

It would seem beneficial to give ‘embargoed stories’ an open mind. After all, the point of offering a reporter an embargoed release is to give them ample time to speak with the companies, other parties that are involved, and write the story (unrushed), and pass it through an editor, all before the news breaks. This way, they can publish their story the exact same time as the press release is made public, and can even have it set up automatically for that morning, eliminating the stress of beating their competitors – something that has become a constant in world of the internet.

Would reporters prefer to see a news-worthy press release cross on their Google alerts, and then rush to interview people (if they’re available), write a story, get it approved by an editor, and post it online, all while their competitors are trying to do the exact same thing, only quicker?

If reporters don’t like this scenario, the only other option is to give exclusivity to one reporter, which would make many, many, many other reports quite upset.

So what’s really wrong with an embargoed announcement? You might be joining a ‘herd’ of reporters, but it guarantees your getting the news with plenty time to prepare.

Add comment June 2nd, 2008

Racepoint Wins UN Award for OLPC Work

By George Snell

By George

The power of public relations can change perceptions and do a lot of good in the world. One of the accounts that Racepoint Group is extremely proud of is our work handling all of the external communications for One Laptop Per Child – a visionary organization that is dedicated to educating poor children in the developing world through technology.

The outstanding work Racepoint has conducted on behalf of OLPC has won us numerous industry awards – but last week came on of the greatest honors a public relations agency can receive. The United Nations awarded Racepoint Group the 2008 United Nations Grand Award for Excellence in Communications for issues of high importance to the UN. The award was to celebrate and acknowledge the global communications plan we conducted for OLPC for the last 18 months. It is a humbling experience to be praised by the UN. Here’s Racepoint Chairman Larry Weber’s reaction:

“The One Laptop per Child campaign is a great example of Racepoint Group’s ability to use both traditional and social media to deliver powerful messages that inspire both individual and governmental action. We are proud that our work for OLPC supports an organization whose mission is in line with the goals of the United Nation.”

The campaign Racepoint undertook for OLPC helped shape public opinion in favor of OLPC and the XO laptop the organization has developed. Racepoint secured more than 20,000 print and broadcast features and 60,000 blog posts (yes, you read that correctly!).

As a result, the campaign helped persuade governments such as Uruguay and Peru to commit to OLPC, and purchase hundreds of thousands of XO laptops for their school children. In addition, a giving campaign targeting North American consumers raised more than $35 million, enabling the delivery of more than 100,000 XO laptops to children in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Haiti, Ethiopia, Mongolia and Rwanda.

You can read more here: United Nations Press Release.

Add comment June 2nd, 2008