From the "how to end on a lame note department," we bring you the boilerplate. We first wrote about this infinitesimal but iconic news release ending back in 2006.
Bill Sledzik, Associate Professor at Kent State University's School of Journalism and Mass Communication, reminded us of the need to revisit this old gem. We complied because Bill practices what he teaches and he buttered us up by noting: "Bad Pitch is a primary read in our Media Relations class. Message: You don’t wanna wind up here!"
"What about a focus on the very worst in news release boilerplate? What triggered this was something sent to me by a former student. This is a classic, and I plan to feature it in my Media Relations & Publicity class. Not sure I’ve ever seen one this bad."
We changed the names of the innocent. Edits are in ALL CAPS.
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About ACME: ACME offers some of the most innovative, highly advanced and superior quality products on the market today.
ACME is developing innovative products every day. We focus on taking an idea and engineering it into an innovative product design. We will manufacture a prototype and test it across many demographics and target markets. ACME patents all the products we produce with knowledgeable patent attorneys. We send the final prototype overseas for cost effective manufacturing. We also implement sales and marketing to ensure the products reach their target marketplace. We specialize in taking a creative idea, and turning it into an innovative product.
All ACME products are produced under strict ISO 9001 guidelines. ACME has recently moved. The company’s new address is STREET, SUITE, CITY, STATE, ZIP.
Call NUMBER or visit URL.
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Bill wasn't kidding. This one sucks enough to have a class study its level of suckness. Especially when you consider that boilerplates are arguably useless. From our original article on the topic, entitled Much Ado About Nothing:
The Bulldog Reporter defines boilerplate as “text that is reused, as at the end of a news release or in a legal document. The fascinating origin of the word is discussed in "The Skinny" book.”
Legal document? That alone should raise a red flag.
The boilerplate means well. It’s provided as background information, a few sentences to quickly define the main subject of the release.
As news releases are written in inverted pyramid style, the boilerplate is always placed at the end. No one is reading your boilerplate, unless you’re Apple Computer perhaps.
What should be the most general, least important information tends to be the most important based on how much time is spent on this throw away copy. The boilerplate tends to look less like a concise description and more like a piece of copy that emerged from a gauntlet of approvals by people focused more on specific words than overall meaning.
So what’s the magic formula for boilerplates? No magic, just brevity. Describe your company in one or two sentences and throw in its URL for more information. Done.
What's your take on this tiny detail that causes so much agita?
"What about a focus on the very worst in news release boilerplate? What triggered this was something sent to me by a former student. This is a classic, and I plan to feature it in my Media Relations & Publicity class. Not sure I’ve ever seen one this bad."
We changed the names of the innocent. Edits are in ALL CAPS.
---
About ACME: ACME offers some of the most innovative, highly advanced and superior quality products on the market today.
ACME is developing innovative products every day. We focus on taking an idea and engineering it into an innovative product design. We will manufacture a prototype and test it across many demographics and target markets. ACME patents all the products we produce with knowledgeable patent attorneys. We send the final prototype overseas for cost effective manufacturing. We also implement sales and marketing to ensure the products reach their target marketplace. We specialize in taking a creative idea, and turning it into an innovative product.
All ACME products are produced under strict ISO 9001 guidelines. ACME has recently moved. The company’s new address is STREET, SUITE, CITY, STATE, ZIP.
Call NUMBER or visit URL.
---
Bill wasn't kidding. This one sucks enough to have a class study its level of suckness. Especially when you consider that boilerplates are arguably useless. From our original article on the topic, entitled Much Ado About Nothing:
The Bulldog Reporter defines boilerplate as “text that is reused, as at the end of a news release or in a legal document. The fascinating origin of the word is discussed in "The Skinny" book.”
Legal document? That alone should raise a red flag.
The boilerplate means well. It’s provided as background information, a few sentences to quickly define the main subject of the release.
As news releases are written in inverted pyramid style, the boilerplate is always placed at the end. No one is reading your boilerplate, unless you’re Apple Computer perhaps.
What should be the most general, least important information tends to be the most important based on how much time is spent on this throw away copy. The boilerplate tends to look less like a concise description and more like a piece of copy that emerged from a gauntlet of approvals by people focused more on specific words than overall meaning.
So what’s the magic formula for boilerplates? No magic, just brevity. Describe your company in one or two sentences and throw in its URL for more information. Done.
What's your take on this tiny detail that causes so much agita?
You can change the name, but a Google search quickly reveals the guilty company.
ReplyDeleteGluing a light to a glove: innovative and highly advanced?
Hey Kevin - good article on a boring subject. Boilerplate is typically wasted space full of bloviating platitudes laced with words drained of all meaning. My first introduction to a corporate boilerplate was 320 words - I inherited it from the previous PR administration. I'm sure George Bush could be blamed for it -- but I haven't been able to connect the dots. I tried water-boarding the previous PR guy but he had quit and went surfing on the Ohio River. And he liked to be water-boarded. I have the corporate boilerplate down to 24 words now. And I think that's too many. But, more importantly, I'm quite sure the future is in having 2 boiler-plates. One that is full of corporate crap, the other the "real one." I practice what I preach. http://www.writingriffs.com/about/
ReplyDeleteFirst time commenting on your blog but I read your stuff off my Alltop feed. Best - Steve Kayser
I appreciate the shout-out, Kevin.
ReplyDeleteWhile the "Acme" BP is really bad, we seem to agree that boilerplate can work if it's concise and simple. Often, especially in the B2B world, readers/gatekeepers don't know much about the companies that generate these news releases. A well-written and concise paragraph will aid understanding and offer a link to more helpful info.
I may have inspired this post, Kevin, but you, in turn, have inspired a research topic. Today, I plan to work on a methodology to measure "suckness." Or should it be "suckiness"? Now that's a project I can get my arms around!
Can we at least agree that a good boiler plate is preferable to the ever-vacuous dependent clause in press release leads, e.g., "ACME, a leading provider of some of the most innovative, highly advanced and superior quality products on the market, today announced ..." Though my guess is “ACME” does that too.
ReplyDeleteI've had to write several boilerplates for clients (including some from scratch), and it's probably the single most enthusiasm-draining writing task in PR.
ReplyDeleteWhile I'm not a fan of press releases in general, I concur that there are situations (especially B2B, where I do the most work) where a well-crafted, traditional release can be effective. A concise boilerplate is a key component of that traditional release.
@m_dunn
I think boilerplates often suffer from "too many cooks in the kitchen" syndrome. For some reason, everyone in an organization that hears a boilerplate is being written wants to put their stamp on it, and the result is a Frankenstein hodge-podge that sounds like it was written by a second grader.
ReplyDeleteYou're right - if PR pros argue that in today's climate it *must* be kept to one or two sentences, this can help contain the nonsense.
Who invented the boilerplate? That would be a good part of your "suckiness" exploration. I have struggled with these in and for several companies. The shorter, the better, I say.
ReplyDelete