When you work in media, you receive a lot (a lot) of press releases. Like a mountaineer, we rappel down every day, from email to email. Each one tries to impress us as much as to lure us, from early morning, towards an "out of the ordinary" project: novelty, event, inauguration. It's no longer just an inbox but a kind of Ali Baba's cave whose treasure consists of poorly written unique and fantastic promises.
Few press releases live up to their expectations in both substance and form... That's why for the Press Release of the Month, I chose an ambitious one that tackles one of the most tedious and unsexy exercises in communication: selling dreams about a book festival.
A book festival is great. But rarely presented as such. That's why the one from L'école des loisirs, on the occasion of the Paris Book Festival, caught my eye. First, there's research and graphic quality, with this bright but pleasant pink, coherent choices of fonts, and precise categorization. It's clear and airy, colorful but not blinding. Just that makes you want to linger.
Immediately, the eye is drawn to the poster. We see a couple on an old Vespa, somewhere on the expressway leading to the Trocadéro. She sits side-saddle, clutching her book, while her friend drives her somewhere - she's already elsewhere, absorbed in the story. Where are they going? It doesn't matter. (We suspect they're going to the temporary Grand Palais, which is located facing the Military School and thus behind the Eiffel Tower, which is in the background of the illustration - but let's remain a little dreamy). Here's a completely romantic drawing - bordering on stereotype but not falling into it - which explains exactly why we would spend the weekend trampling through the furnace that is the Grand Palais Éphémère on a festival day: to let ourselves be carried away to elsewhere, to be surprised by whirlwinds of words and romantic stories.
Well yes, because such an event offers novelties! It's a risk in itself. Even if we have some authors in mind (the main ones are obviously listed under the poster), the books are not on the shelves or have just been placed there. So, it's necessary to go armed with a good dose of curiosity, comfortable glasses, and a water bottle. It's worth noting that the mentioned authors are not ranked by popularity but alphabetically, making the selection neutral and gender-balanced: 10 points for Gryffindor, as they would say at Gallimard.
Overall, this press release is very well constructed. The challenge, with such a broad range of topics, is to get to the essentials. It smoothly transitions from the general to the specific. All practical information is there, from image rights to conference schedules. We get a general idea of what's going to happen without killing our desire to go there and talk about it. Of course, I want to discover Chien Pourri's game wall, it looks so fun! This press release addresses everyone concisely and, most importantly, makes the task much easier for any resulting articles, and that's something we appreciate.
>>> To access the press release: click right here
Carla Peyrat
