Recipes of good tidings for Christmas

Every year the approach of Christmas sees the successful recipe for press releases begin to take on a different flavour.

One of the themes that will always have special appeal as the season of goodwill grows closer are human interest stories and instances of commerce and charitable causes joining up to amplify their messages.

In the lead-up to Christmas one of our favourite instances of this kind of combined message amplification was between KitchenAid and Australia’s “first perishable food rescue organisation” Oz Harvest.

Their combined message, backed by research, ticked the box because it was about a problem everyone can identify with –having too much leftover food at Christmas time that ends up being chucked in the bin.

Turning a media release into an event

What made this collaboration different was the bright idea to hold a hands-on masterclass to inspire people to get creative with their Christmas leftovers using a purpose-built set of ready-to-eat recipes.

Medianet went along to the event – held at Sydney’s Camperdown Commons and came away with all the know-how we needed to turn a selection of leftovers into a stupendous pesto!

Image: KitchenAid

Making your own recipe

Building your release into both a media event and a community event that brings people together – in the way that KitchenAid and OzHarvest did – isn’t always possible.

But here are some other possible ingredients to either capture the upbeat spirit of Christmas in December, or for planning ahead for releases timed for the ‘quiet news window’ of the summer holiday break in the New Year:

• Perhaps you have reached a milestone that you can celebrate and mark with a release that is also a thank you to all your contributors – including quotes and your aspirations for 2017.

• You may have a photo or other visual material that serves to communicate a ‘Christmas highlight’ or ‘best of 2016’ for your organisation, and that you could consider releasing to media as a ready-to-use caption story they could easily use online.

• There will be interest in events that you may be hosting or sponsoring over the holidays, or in summer topics (travel, food, entertainment etc) that are popular with editors.

• For journalist contacts you have had calls from during the year now is a good time to round off the year with a friendly Christmas email – as well as to pass on any holiday contact details for your organisation, if needed.

• In their own planning time journalists working over Christmas-New Year would be more open to receiving backgrounders or explainers on issues that you have been working on in 2016, and expectations from you of what directions those issues might take in 2017.