Where Does Embarrassing Product Hype Come From?
It's well-understood how leery journalists are of hyperbole in new product publicity. So it's puzzling why many vendors continue to embarrass themselves via breathless product press releases where every other word ends in "-est" ... and the word "visionary" somehow makes it into the headline, the sub-head, the executive's quote and the boilerplate.
Where's the disconnect happening?
Clearly, publicity expectations tend to run pretty high when an organization (large or small) has a new product release. The engineering team has been jamming on it for months, the sales folks have been knocking on existing / prospect customers' doors, the CEO has been making promises and projections to the board -- and now it's PR's turn to step up and get this thing the attention it deserves out of the gates.
Of course, the reality is that the vast majority of the time, the publicity expectations are completely out of whack. Consider that the lion's share of the media's product news cycles is bet on the thoroughbreds:
1- Major product release from major vendor (i.e., anything new from the IBM, Microsoft, HP caliber)Whereas 99% of the other new product announcements out there actually fit into one of these two (pedestrian, from a "newsworthiness" perspective) also-ran categories:
2- Brand new category of product (something truly innovative and unique ... the first of its kind)
3- Category breaker product (i.e., a new approach to an existing product type that's going to threaten the big incumbent vendors)
4- New product release by a non-major vendorWhen you try to take a #4 or #5 and put lipstick on it to look like #'s 1-3, the net result tends to be some pretty hokey language that causes your organization more harm than good.
5- New version of existing product with a few interesting new features
When confronted with high expectations around the publicity of new launches, it's far better to present the product accurately and matter-of-factly than to spin something so contrived and absurd that even the most naive journalist feels like they're being fleeced. It's your job to cut through all the b.s. and figure out the most compelling factoids that ARE substantiated ... not to throw fuel on the fire and make an ass out of your company (not to mention confusing your target customers with all the hot air). IMO, you're always much better off confronting the reality of how newsworthy your product is (and setting those expectations) and erring towards credibility.
("Segway Dorks" image courtesy of capnsponge's photostream on Flickr creative commons)