Burberry’s Multimedia Beguiles Mainstream Press
How Burberry’s multimedia press release controlled the news message of its exiting CEO — and why this poses a new danger to journalism
Any journalist worth their salt will say that the cornerstone of the Press is unbiased, critical reporting of factual events. While social media has been a game-changer in creating a two-way dialogue between brands and their users, traditional media outlets must be careful not to allow their own insatiable appetites for content to corrode journalistic integrity.
Burberry is a smart, shrewd luxury brand that takes digital seriously. By producing its own video to announce the resignation of its chief executive Angela Ahrendts as part of a multimedia press release, Burberry succeeded in more than simply controlling its news message, it achieved the Holy Grail of PR: a news package it created was disseminated by trusted mainstream news organizations.
The Daily Telegraph and Bloomberg.com carried an unedited version of the 5-minute press release video, in which Burberry’s chairman ‘interviews’ Ms Ahrendts, who leaves for Apple, and her successor Christopher Bailey. The in-house interview is inter-spliced with brand promotional content, such as advertisement footage, Burberry shop interiors and motion graphics.
Even as the Daily Telegraph pursued a ‘hard news’ angle — Burberry denies Christopher Bailey was about to leave as Angela Ahrendts quits for Apple — the listed company, valued at £6.3bn, still achieved an unfettered promotion of the Burberry brand because its self-made video was disseminated.
Publishers are drubbing Journalists in newsrooms across the UK with the Orwellian message: All news is equal; print is good, multimedia is better.
With 24/7 news cycle time pressures and limited training budgets to up-skill journalists,brands know that journalists have a demand for multimedia content and limited resources to repackage it.
This highlights the acute importance of journalists in their role as content curators — and the potential danger to the cornerstone of journalism if not taken seriously.
Sadly, too few (particularly print journalists) are given the time and tools to understand the implications of their evolved role.
A good example of the repackaged Burberry content, from the BBC, acknowledged that those in the video were not available for interview — no critical questions from an external, unbiased reporter would they face today.
Brands, be they companies or people, are using social media to side-step the traditional media gate-keepers. Political announcements made on YouTube achieve the same outcome as providing a multimedia press release and not permitting further access, limiting scrutiny.
But is this really any worse than a written quote in a staid press release? Is journalist treatment of that corporate-sanctioned information actually any different? Should it be? In this Brave New World, journalists need to at least ask themselves these questions.
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Anna Lawlor is a journalist, content creator and director of Social i Media. She loves to debate all things media. Get in touch via www.Social-i-Media.co.uk
