Zagat’s Website reviews the deal with Google.
Press releases were created to break news, not make it.
But in an era when buttoned-up corporate culture is giving way to hoodie-clad executives and job titles like “chief happiness officer,” some companies are finding that nuts-and-bolts announcements with arcane financials and canned quotes don’t send the right message.
Increasingly, corporate releases about acquisitions or important hires are filled with puns, jokes and witticism — the best examples of which can be buzz-worthy items themselves.
When Google announced its acquisition of the restaurant ratings guide Zagat on Thursday, the Internet company posted a blog item that read, “Google Just Got Zagat-Rated!” Zagat told visitors to its Web site about the sale via a mock review of Google, assessing the search engine giant using its 30-point system and quote-heavy style. Google got high marks in all four categories.
“This ‘dynamic duo’ plans to optimize the potential of the Zagat brand while offering ‘new ways’ for consumers to ‘express their opinions’ and ‘make informed decisions,’ ” the review read.
Groupon, a daily deals site on the forefront of corporate wackiness, said in a press release earlier this year that it had raised “like, a billion dollars” in its latest financing round. The actual total was $950 million. Zynga, the maker of popular Internet games like FarmVille and CityVille, announced that it had appointed Jeffrey Katzenberg, the chief executive of DreamWorks Animation, to its board, with a release that began: “What do Shrek and FarmVille have in common (besides donkeys and onions)?”
The offbeat press release has its advantages. In some cases, it can help businesses cut through the clutter in reporters’ inboxes and earn plaudits for creativity.
”The old news release format died a couple of years ago, and business can now reach audiences directly, without babble or corporate-speak,” said Jeff Domansky, public relations consultant and editor of the PR Coach blog.
Marissa Mayer, Google’s top executive for local and location services, initially wrote a more traditional Twitter message and Google+ post about the Zagat acquisition, jotting it down after a flight from California to New York. But when she ran the ideas past Gabriel Stricker, a Google spokesman, they got panned as boring. He recommended a more poetic approach, like a haiku.
“We were slogged in traffic, so I had just enough time to write a rhyming haiku,” said Ms. Mayer, whose eventual Twitter post read:
Acquisition announcement haiku: Delightful deal done; Zagat and Google now one; foodies have more fun! http://t.co/T2gZ4yC #gogooglelocal
marissamayer
marissamayer
Clever corporate communications can also backfire. When HubSpot, a social media analytics company, bought its competitor OneForty in August, the company announced its acquisition in a series of 13 Twitter messages, each no more than 140 characters long. While the news got attention and praise among the social networking crowd, some Twitter users complained that the company didn’t have a longer, more standard release. One user wrote that it was the “most annoying press release format ever.”
So far, the trend of nonstandard press releases has been most concentrated among Silicon Valley start-ups and has not seeped into deals involving banks, utility companies or other industries where a more sober style prevails. For many companies, taking a chance on a nonstandard press release isn’t worth it.
“It’s nice if you can be irreverent and get away with wearing jeans and a vintage tee, but most companies should be measured and staid in their corporate announcements,” said Richard Dukas, chief executive of Dukas Public Relations. “Kind of like wearing a navy blazer. You can’t go wrong.”
Claire Cain Miller contributed reporting.
Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=e766df5543797205ac8c0045c15ef090