Enough with the PR crap

Natalie Hemengül

4.10.2018

Translation: machine translated

Pictures: Pia Seidel

Some press releases leave me with more question marks than I wanted to eliminate when I started reading them. Today, a little insight into the work of an editor.

When a brand launches a new product, it or its responsible press agency sends us journalists a media release. Ideally, we will then find all the information we need to be able to report on it if we are interested: What it is, what it can do and how much it costs. As a beauty editor, I have studied many a press release and have realised with horror that new is rarely new and not all that glitters is gold. What's left behind are highly promotional phrases, frowns and the occasional smile.

The ultimate guide

But how do you write the perfect press release for a new beauty product? In my experience, the following elements are needed:

1. adjectives are your best friends

No matter what you are launching on the market, you absolutely must include the following adjectives (preferably in the superlative): brand new, super, exceptional, remarkable and/or effective. The phrase "unprecedented" is also a hit.

2. play the mathematician

Numbers, percentage signs and statistics always go down well, preferably from a meaningless, dependent in-house survey.

3. exclusivity creates desire

Patented, new active ingredient complexes are your free ticket to hype city. Highlight them in bold in the text and don't even try to explain them. Nobody can question what nobody understands, can they?

4. the "you suck, but I can change it" trick

Address people's insecurities, rub a little salt in the wound and promise to conceal, reduce, eliminate or even better: conjure them away with the new product.

5. create paradise

Words create worlds. So make sure that the reader gets the feeling that the product will open the door to a world full of unicorns, waterfalls, rainbows and eternal youth. [[image:17009377]]

6th hot price

A horrendous price point at the end gallantly rounds off the media release, suggests an ambitious promise of quality and pushes the want-to-have effect to the limit.

An experiment

Here's an example from me for you. Let's call the product we want to sell the "Beauty Vitaliser 2000". An excerpt from the corresponding media release could then look something like this:

Dear members of the media,

This autumn we are revolutionising the global beauty market - again! With the super-vitamin E it contains, the new Beauty Vitaliser 2000 emphasises your playful femininity and effectively supports the body's own production of hyaluronic acid, water and air, while delicately melting shimmering pearls cling to your dermis like a second skin. Brilliant illuminating molecules also open up a whole new dimension of beauty. Enjoy the unprecedented olfactory territory you are entering and let yourself be enchanted by the highly concentrated anti-ageing complex and precious safflower seed oil. 99.8% of women confirm that they achieved flawless results in 12 out of 10 applications
.

The recommended retail price is an affordable CHF 786.-

We would be very pleased about a publication.

So, dear PR writers, what I'm trying to say is that sometimes less is more. After all, I can only be disappointed if I'm promised the world. Because I've never found it in a jar of cream.

P.S.: I have taken some expressions one-to-one from real press releases and integrated them. Only which ones?

Natalie Hemengül

Senior Editor

Natalie.Hemenguel@digitecgalaxus.ch

As a massive Disney fan, I see the world through rose-tinted glasses. I worship series from the 90s and consider mermaids a religion. When I’m not dancing in glitter rain, I’m either hanging out at pyjama parties or sitting at my make-up table. P.S. I love you, bacon, garlic and onions. more

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