Category: Marketing

The Art of Writing a Press Release

On February 8, 2019

The next in my informal series of posts on marketing a play or musical covers how to write the proper press release. This one is a particular area of expertise for me; as part of the small staff of Richard Haase’s Two Per Cent Solution, one of my primary responsibilities involves the handling of publicity and public relations. The key to writing a good press release is understanding what a press release is and is not, the purpose it serves, the different types of press releases (and which to deploy at what point), what information to include and not to include, and where to direct the release when sending it out.

(Note: This will be specifically focused on crafting a press release for a theatrical event, such as a play or musical, and one taking place in the U.S. in particular, but most of the information in this post is clear and common sense enough to adapt to your specific needs, and many of the web sources I list as potential recipients of a press release have international interests as well.)

The Main Purpose

In technical terms, a press release is a written communication reporting specific, but brief, information about an event, circumstance, or other happening, released to the media through a variety of means. In addition to the standard opening and closing announcements, generally, a press release is used to promote something specific about your show, such as an accomplishment or other significant change/happening.

In marketing and promotional terms, a press release serves a single basic key purpose: to let the media know about an event, in hopes that they’ll pass the information along and promote it, be it through a reporter seeing a story in your press release and writing an actual news article about it or through direct readership publicity.

(“The media” here, for reference, includes blogs, websites, social media, etc. A press release is not a guaranteed marketing tool, in that just putting it out doesn’t guarantee mainstream sources pick it up and pass it along anymore, but bloggers/Tweeters/others may read it and find it worthy of promotion within their circles, so don’t neglect the important ones in your field when it comes time to send it out.)

Less is More

There is a difference between “news” and “press releases.” Although the differences are not as clear-cut as they once were in pre-Internet days, media professionals understand the difference, and more importantly, they give enough of a shit for you to learn it. What do I mean exactly? A press release is not a fact-filled news article. Press releases should not be written as any type of news article or feature; leave that to the people who cover your show as a result. This is — and should be — just a teaser with the necessary info about your show, designed to elicit interest from other sources in addition to providing the basics.

The Elements of Style (with apologies to Strunk & White)

When it comes to writing a press release and submitting it to media sources, there are a few rules of thumb worth following:

Timing is everything. If you deliver a release on too short of notice, no one will know your show has opened until it has already done so. Some sites have requirements for listing requests. For example, Talkin’ Broadway will only consider posting information about your production if there are a minimum of five public performances, and the request is received at least three work days before the first public performance. Bear that in mind as a general rule of thumb. (And, honestly, consider carefully whether or not your event needs a formal press release if it’s below those numbers. This may seem counterproductive advice in a post about writing one, but a shorter-lived show might only need grass-roots marketing, which may employ other faster methods, usually involving social media.)
Assess the level of importance beforehand, and choose wisely. The nature of a press campaign dictates that you’re not always releasing info to the media for instant distribution. (There are such things as exclusives, after all.) You may well design all press releases for “immediate release,” e.g. anyone can repeat the information as soon as it is made public; on the other hand, you may sometimes opt for time limits that allow only certain media sources to repeat the info immediately, and at a later time, said release is offered to other news services or websites, blogs, etc., for publication. This isn’t rocket science — in most cases, the nature of your particular campaign will dictate how and when press releases are deployed — but it still requires careful thought.
Press releases should always be written in the third person, with no exceptions. Anything requiring a personal position (“I,” “we,” et al., anything first person) is a statement — a different form of media, though often submitted to the same sources to which you’ll send your press release.
In all press releases and listing requests, the minimum required information that must be included is: the complete title of the production, the venue name and complete venue address, the box office hours (if the venue has a box office which will be opened during the week), the date of the first public performance (if the production will be playing previews, this means you include the date of the first public preview performance and the date of the official opening performance), the closing date (or a statement that the production is an open-ended run), the ticket broker for the venue (or a phone number, email address, etc., for reservations and ticket sales), a running time for the production (if it is known or can be estimated) and whether or not an intermission is scheduled, a weekly performance schedule with days and times of all performances, and information on standing room or rush ticket availability (if applicable). Minus the opening or preview dates if the show is still running (they are included again only in the closing notice, in the past tense, post-opening), this information will appear at the end of every press release.
When submitting via email (unless otherwise requested): write your release in plain ASCII text in the body of the email, do not include any PDF, text, photo, or graphic attachments, and do not include any photographs or graphics in the email’s body, do not use any elaborate or multi-column formatting. No frills or filigree, just get the info out; each publication or website will have a different way of presenting it anyway. But if production photos or graphics for the production are available, give a URL link to them or an email address where they may be requested; just because attachments are generally not considered necessary, doesn’t mean they don’t want what you have! (Note: this is adapted specifically from Talkin’ Broadway’s submission protocol. It only applies to one of many publications or websites to which you may submit. However, I find it easy to follow, so I use it as a “one size fits all” kind of deal, with the exception that I do write ahead of the release to ask if a publication or website other than Talkin’ Broadway minds attachments, which saves me part of the job.)

Who You Gonna Call?

(You just resisted the urge to scream “GHOSTBUSTERS!” Don’t lie.)

In the theater world, many submissions are electronic in this day and age. To that end, you don’t call anyone, per se; you send an email. But how do you know who to write to? Well, I’ve got the answer! Here is as comprehensive a list as possible of publications and websites to whom you should direct your press releases.

(This list is only accurate and complete as of February 8, 2019. This info may be periodically updated. I’ll see how much things change over time. Also, I’m based in the U.S., so any European readers will note this list is U.S. website- and publication-centric; if you have any contributions, please feel free to pop them in the comments section below!)

Playbill Online: Any press releases may be sent to Editor-in-Chief Mark Peikert at mpeikert@playbill.com. If you wish to advertise your show through Playbill, ad-mag@playbill.com will connect you with Magazine Advertising and ad-online@playbill.com will connect you with Online Advertising, Marketing, and Business Development. To get your show included in listings, broadway@playbill.com (Broadway), offbroadway@playbill.com (Off-Broadway), listings@playbill.com (U.S. regional), and tours@playbill.com (national tours) are the places you want to write.
BroadwayWorld: Send to newsdesk@broadwayworld.com. (Or post it on their forum; it’s an open secret they get much of their breaking news from there anyway.)
Broadway.com: If you wish to advertise your show through them, advertising@broadway.com is where to drop a line, and info@broadway.com will connect you with their Marketing, Media and Public Relations, who, if they don’t handle press releases, will at least direct you where to send them.
New York Times: Contact the culture section directly at thearts@nytimes.com.
Associated Press: Check out the AP bureaus list, with particular attention to the New York (or another major city in your locality) listing.
Reuters: The alternative to the AP. Mainly covers financial publications, but even the Wall Street Journal has a theater section, so it’s worth a shot. For time-sensitive and other material, PR Newswire, Business Wire, GlobeNewswire, or MarketWire are the best ways to land it in one of their publications.
Talkin’ Broadway: Their submission protocol, from which much of this entry is adapted, can be found here.
There are many free online press release services, such as PRWeb, that may be of use. However puny in comparison it may be to the rest of the press drop, a good share on Facebook or any other number of social media could cause the calls to pour into the contact blurb of such a release. Every little bit helps!

This info merely scratches the surface, but hopefully, you’ll have a better idea of how some of this works!

(Note: The above info was originally posted at gdelgiproducer on November 2, 2013. It has been modified for its present audience.)

Marketing: “The Peter Pan Syndrome”

By performingartsadvice

On February 6, 2019

In Marketing

Continuing with the notion of de-tangling mysterious aspects of theater, this will be the first in what will likely become an informal series of posts on how to market a play or musical. You raised the money, you assembled the cast (and musicians, in the event of a musical), you booked the venue, and your show is ready to go… now all you need to do is inform the public!

I feel that much of modern marketing, for good or ill, is determined in part by past practices. Further, I believe that some people or companies were ahead of the curve for their day, as evidenced by the fact that the larger players eventually adopted many of their practices, causing what used to be radical techniques to become commonplace in today’s entertainment industry, techniques that Broadway has adopted as well. Such is the case with “The Peter Pan Syndrome.”

“The Peter Pan Syndrome” was the brainchild of a studio called American International Pictures (AIP). Formed in April 1956 by James H. Nicholson, former Sales Manager of Realart Pictures, and Samuel Z. Arkoff, an entertainment lawyer, AIP was dedicated to releasing independently produced, low-budget films packaged as double features, primarily of interest to the teenagers of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Stuff like Invasion of the Star Creatures, It Conquered the World, Zontar, The Thing from Venus, and all those cheesy B-movies that you love because you grew up laughing at that type of entertainment on MST3K.

Among how AIP foresaw many of today’s entertainment industry techniques, they were the first company to use focus groups, polling American teenagers about what they would like to see and using their responses to determine titles, stars, and story content. As a result of their attempts at early market research, they narrowed down their audience as follows. (Think about current marketing, and you’ll realize this became the barometer by which many advertising campaigns in the entertainment industry today have been measured.)

The AIP publicity department discovered that a younger child will generally watch anything an older child will watch. On the other hand, an older child will generally not watch anything a younger child will watch. On a similar note, a girl will — theoretically, mind you, and this was in a less enlightened time — watch anything a boy will watch, while a boy will not watch anything a girl will watch.

From this data, they concluded that the demographic to which their advertising (poster art, tagline, etc.) most needed to appeal was the 19-year-old male audience, thus the label “The Peter Pan Syndrome.” You can argue with the logic, especially whether or not it still applies to audiences today, but AIP made a bundle during its decades of operation, and once Hollywood saw their success, it more or less adopted that attitude to marketing full-stop (as can be seen by the annoying sameness that taints today’s product and the way it is advertised).

On this matter, I turn to my reading audience and open the floor for discussion. Do you think “The Peter Pan Syndrome” is the only way to successfully market a play or musical? What plays or musicals do you think are using the techniques of “The Peter Pan Syndrome” in their marketing today? How successful do you think they are? Is there room for improvement?

(Note: The above info was originally posted at gdelgiproducer on June 21, 2013. It has been modified for its present audience.)