Tag Archives: multivu

Content We Love: Empire State Building’s Visual Storytelling

Posted on December 14, 2012 by | Leave a comment

ContentWeLove“Content We Love” is a weekly feature written by a team of our content specialists.  We’re showcasing some of the great content distributed through our channels, and our content specialists are up for the task: they spend a lot of time with the press releases and other content our customers create, proof reading and formatting it, suggesting targeted distribution strategy and offering SEO advice.  In Content We Love, we’re going to shine the spotlight on the press releases and other messages that stood out to us, and we’ll tell you why. We hope you find the releases enjoyable and the insights gained from discussing them enlightening.

 

Are you a storyteller?

Stories shape us, mold us, and impact us. It has brought us around campfires, grandparents, and friends who weave a delicate tale into our minds. Every message is a story! Finding the way to tell your story can be beyond difficult in this modern age.  Add the pressure of being the “World’s Most Famous Office Building” in the wake of Hurricane Sandy along with the incredible Alicia Keys… all eyes are on you!

empire gawkerThe Empire State Building put out a press release unlike any other– taking our visual world and telling a visual story! When I first read the release, I couldn’t help sharing it with friends and colleagues, exclaiming, “this is awesome!”

Because it is. Seriously awesome!

Not only are the LED lights impressive (especially in tandem with Alicia Keys singing), but the streaming video, the pictures, and the story compiled in a manner that is clear and visual bring me to a mental campfire to listen and pay attention.

Adding multimedia components to tell your story automatically boost its visibility.  It is often said, “pictures are worth a thousand words.”  Seeing images across the world of different events, disasters, elections, victories all fuel this as being true. Imagery is important!

Empire huffpoThis multimedia news release** not only had a panoply of great images that showcases the message, but also a video (!!) which perfectly captivates you in the moment, in the hype, in the excitement for the Empire State Building.

 

Wrapping up the beauty of this release is my adoration for all things social. Not only are we supplied with a compelling message, but we can take the next step! Empire State Building on Facebook? Check.  iHeartRadio’s social aspects? Check. More pictures on Flickr? Yes.YouTube? You bet.  Twitter?! YES!

empire mashableAre you a storyteller? Never forget the power of multimedia when you distribute your news– it can leave a lasting impression that is seriously awesome!

In case you missed it, a couple weeks ago we release the results of a study of press release formats, and the results  they generate.  In a nutshell, our findings revealed that more multimedia within a message increases that press release’s results.

**Want a Multimedia news release like this? Contact our Multimedia Team, MultiVu, and they can help! And you can see the original multimedia press release here:  http://www.multivu.com/mnr/59258-empire-state-building-first-ever-led-tower-light-show

Author Emily Nelson is a Customer Content Specialist for PR Newswire. Follow her adventures on www.bellesandawhistle.wordpress.com or on twitter www.twitter.com/emilyannnelson.

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Socially active videos and how curation drives visibility

Posted on March 9, 2012 by | 1 Comment

Notes from the “Man vs. Algorithm: Online Video Curation Face-off” discussion at SXSW, featuring Marc Husvedt of Chill and Neetzan Zimmerman of The Daily What:

Sixty hours of videos are being uploaded to YouTube every minute. Thinking about it differently, a century of video is uploaded every ten days.  The sheer volume of video available online is why we rely on some forms of curation – simply put, people don’t have the time or ability to winnow through all that content.

There are three types of curation:

- Editorial – such as the Huffington Post or Daily What
- Algorithmic, as you see on YouTube or search engines
- Social, specifically, your own personal social graph

As an example, most of the algorithms used by YouTube (which is, at its core, a search engine, and employees numerous algos) fall under the categories of search and recommendation. YouTube are trying to help answer the “unarticulated wants” of site visitors, who want to be entertained, but don’t necessarily know what they want.

Neetzan Zimmerman of The Daily What (who, incidentally, is the guy who first posted the Rebecca Black “Friday” video, which is the most-watched online video ever), noted that while algorithms are great at crunching data, they are terrible at predicting what is universally funny. They don’t understand humor.

YouTube curates video for users a variety of ways, but one method – the “recommended videos” – but it accounts for 60 % of all views. The recommended videos are 200% more often clicked than top rated or most viewed videos.

Not surprisingly, NZ is pitched constantly, and in his advice to PR agents on pitching him is also some great advice on making a standout video.

Simply put, the video has to offer something unique. It must be amusing in a way that’s not pandering to the audience (e.g. trying to mimic Old Spice videos.) Good curators can see right through those tactics – and your audiences are curators (see “types of curation, above.) His advice: If you are trying to get a message across do it on your own terms, not in a way that you think would “work” for a site like the Daily What on purpose. It’s fairly easy to see through that.

Some other notes on pitching him:
- If a video is pitched directly by a PR agent, he immediately deletes it.
- If they try a bit harder by get creative in copy or the approach, he may look at if it introduces the content in a way that would be interesting to the Daily What reader.

Conclusion: when it comes to curation, we need both the human and machine elements.

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Media Gobble Up State Farm’s Turkey Fryer Safety Campaign Starring William Shatner

Posted on November 21, 2011 by | 2 Comments

William Shatner stars in State Farm's turkey fryer safety campaign, produced by PR Newswire's MultiVu division. (Click this image to see the MNR and the video!)

What do turkey fryers, car insurance and William Shatner all have in common?  Oh, nothing really, unless you’re one of the thousands of journalists and bloggers who have read about  State Farm’s latest campaign and contacted the company for more information.  That’s what happened last week immediately after we distributed two Multimedia News Releases (MNRs) for State Farm.

Content marketing pros have long been saying that content is key when it comes to capturing your target audience, and this is yet another great example that when you have creative and informative content, you will garner those highly desired eyeballs.

Some background: The State Farm communications team consists of several Star Trek fans.  After reading an article about William Shatner getting burned by a turkey fryer on Thanksgiving one year, they decided to approach the actor about working on a viral safety video.  Since Shatner has such an established fan base already, they felt that his involvement would help raise awareness surrounding the dangers of turkey season.  A few calls were made, and Shatner ended up shooting the video with State Farm’s production team and utilizing PR Newswire to distribute it to the masses.

Both MNRs launched the same day with a goal of having one emphasize the viral safety video and the other MNR focuses a bit more on the harder hitting news stats around holiday safety.

A separate MNR detailing turkey fryer fire stats accompanied the safety video from State Farm. (Click this image to see the MNR and the video.)

Within a couple of hours of distribution, State Farm reported back to us that they could barely keep up with the media inquiries about the Shatner campaign.  Both the Huffington Post and Washington Post put the story on the front page of each of their sites for the day and video views on the State Farm YouTube channel were well into the thousands.  CNN and other big media called in to get more information on the story, and the page hits on both releases continue to grow.  The best part?  State Farm didn’t even pitch!  They simply allowed their MNRs to tell the story.

Judging by the number of views on State Farm’s YouTube channel and the page views on both MNR pages, good content can always be found!

Author Gena Sabin is MultiVu’s online services product manager.  The Multimedia News Release is one of the stars of her product portfolio.

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