INDUSTRY RELATED: The Declaration of Independence is one hell of a press release
What communications professionals can learn from the OG media bulletin.
Industry Related is a weekly newsletter to unmask and straight-talk brand comms, from an award-winning team that has worked with Airbnb, The Eames Institute, Harry’s, Huntsman, iF Design, Kartell, Triennale Milano, and Savile Row, to name just a few.
Amy reporting here today from London where it is currently 61F/16C on its way up to a glorious 78F/26C and sunny. We’ve been given a momentary reprieve from the insane heat, which is a good thing all around, but especially as England plays again this evening in the World Cup - an occurrence that already is prone to drive the locals a little crazy. We certainly don’t need the heat exasperating the legions of fans spilling out of pubs across the country, still holding on to the belief that their team will one day “bring it home”. I do love seeing the wild hope and displays of emotion the game brings out in a country that prides itself on a stiff upper lip and routinely says ‘excuse me’ to the person who has clearly been the perpetrator of the offense. Combine football, extreme heat, and an amount of booze that surely is keeping the global alcohol industry afloat at present, and all those years of pent up emotions burst through the surface in a way that would give Mt. Vesuvius pause. It’ll be babies or brawls over here.
In honour of the other side of the pond from whence I write, my mother country, which this weekend will be celebrating 250 years (one could say, a mere teenager as countries go), today I bring you a missive that was born last summer whilst participating in the Aspen Institute’s Executive Seminar. As part of our text-based explorations, we read the Declaration of Independence in its entirety and in that exercise, a thought occurred to me…. essentially, this is one BANGER of a press release. Beyond being beautifully written, it holds up as exemplar of how we as professionals should present our client announcements - not to mention includes one of my favourite low-key burns in the line “we hold these truths to be self-evident”. Think about it…
I do declare!
I don’t think many of us in the industry have ever written a press release with the thought that the document itself would stand the test of time. They’re almost written with a read and burn mentality, and for some journalists, perhaps just simply burn immediately. Perhaps if we approached our written outputs with the same rigour of a small wannabe nation tiptoeing the line of I love you, but let me go (and don’t hang me 🤗), we would have more pervasively successful press coverage - and one might argue, inherently more interesting content.
For those of you who have never read the Declaration of Independence in its entirety, I invite you to do a quick dive - it’s shorter than you might have imagined, for starts. You’ll then also be gifted with a bubbling of the smug satisfaction of being something of an academician, because, history. For those you who can’t be arsed, here’s a play-by-play on how to improve the work horse of public relations in a few easy steps ripped from a 250 year old document.
