Lindsey’s Daily Deal: Press Releases are Dead To Me, Look up…Way Up and Mobile Ads are a Turn-Off

By Lindsey Campbell, Captains of Industry

Hey Captains’ readers,

Here’s your Thursday Deal:

1. Press releases, you’re dead to me

I’m going to tell you something that I’ve never told anyone.

I absolutely hate writing press releases.

That’s right. I said it. In fact, on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the best), writing press releases ranks at about a -5 for me. Why do I hold hate in my heart for a mere piece of paper supposedly chockfull of newsworthy information? Because they’re so utterly boring, predictable and formulaic. Each one sounds the same, and there’s no room for any creative freedom whatsoever. Who the heck wants to read something like that?

You guessed it. No one. Not even journalists—who by the way, are as thirsty for news as mosquitoes are for their next meal. According to Todd Wasserman at BrandWeek, press releases are written so carefully and with so much industry jargon, that they’re almost incomprehensible to the average person. In fact, Wasserman picked out a press release at random, the announcing of AT&T’s new phone, the Pantech Ease, and pointed out a quote by Jeff Bradley, SVP of devices for AT&T, to show just how mind bogglingly convoluted these things can be. Bradley said, “Ease emphasizes our commitment to meeting the needs of all AT&T customers. The first quick messaging phone targeted for simplicity seekers, it fulfills our goal to create a highly functional device for everyone—from children to great-grandparents.”

Say what?  Why not just say, “This phone is super easy to use, so it’s great for young children and senior citizens?” Probably because Bradley didn’t want to alienate any other age group from buying the phone, so he mentions that it would be great for anyone, when in reality, the phone will only be marketed to two groups of consumers.

Wasserman explains that if anyone in real life ever spoke to you the way they speak to potential consumers and journalists through press releases, you’d “boot the weirdo out of your house.” No one speaks in stilted prose anymore. And since social media and the birth of blogging (God bless it) no one writes that way either. It might be time to dare to live dangerously and start relaxing our sentence structures and start speaking in a language a lawyer wouldn’t approve of. And not just for rebellion’s sake, but in the hope that maybe, just maybe, the press releases with creativity and honesty will get picked up by journalists and written about. A marketer can dream anyway.

What do you guys think about press releases? Do you love them? Do you hate them? Have you created a press release voodoo doll like me?

2. Look up…way up

If you were a young single guy looking for a place to live, what kind of ad would get your attention? A nice quarter pager in the real estate section of your local newspaper, or a billboard that asks you to look up a lady’s skirt?

Yeah, that’s what I thought.

A new condo complex that’s being developed by ProCura in Calgary, recently ran a billboard campaign that uses a photo of a woman in heels wearing a short skirt with the headline, “Look up…way up.” I think it’s hilarious, and totally suitable for a younger male demographic. The only thing is, ProCura isn’t directly targeting young single, males. In fact, they recently announced that they’re building a community centre on the property for women’s groups and a museum for the Famous 5—a group of Alberta women who fought against the status quo, on the property. Uh. Yeah. Maybe not the best campaign for a building housing a bunch of feminists. If the condos were meant to be a single man’s brothel, ProCura, you’d be holding a Lion by now. Better luck next time.

3. Ladies think mobile ads are a turn off

According to a study conducted by Ball State University, 40% of female students were annoyed by mobile ads. In fact, three in ten said that they were less likely to purchase a product after seeing a mobile ad for it. Dan Goldgeier of AdPulp thinks this might be a little dramatic, but I don’t. And I’m a marketer. Mobile ads make your phone go off constantly, and after a few hundred “bings” per hour, anyone might be tempted to make a vendetta against a product due to their personal pain and suffering. Marketers might have to face the facts—there aren’t many consumers that are willing to receive mobile ads. However, creating branded apps might be a better way to get your product seen on the device that people just can’t seem to live without. Just an idea.

Until tomorrow,

Captain Lindsey