The Death (and Birth) of the Press Release

Anyone who works in marketing knows that the press release is a somewhat outdated item. Often little more than a block of copy, they're often sadly linking in rich media content, rich is one of the great things about the Web.

Via Shel, we learn about a company which has designed a template for the NEW Press release, which leverages the power of the Web. The company, SHIFT Communications, makes use of the template here.

As I commented on Shel's blog, I'm thrilled with this new template. But while I think it's perfect for new media, I'm concerned about some of the more traditional outlets. Simply put, the new press release isn't quite as copy-and-paste friendly, and will require some honest journalism to turn it into a story. I'm curious whether time-strapped writers of b-to-b pubs will prefer the better, more interactive, but more labor-intensive format.

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