Reaching a million people with one press release

A press release that reached a very large audience, and the mechanics that made it travel.

What made it work

The story had a specific, checkable claim rather than a general announcement, it arrived with assets journalists could use immediately, and the underlying subject was one a broad audience already had an opinion about.

The mechanics, in order of importance

• One specific claim, stated in the headline
• Assets ready before the pitch: quotes, images, a demo
• A subject people already argue about, so it travels without explanation
• A named spokesperson available at short notice
• A landing page ready to receive the traffic on the day

What most press releases get wrong

They announce a company rather than a change. Journalists are not short of companies to write about; they are short of things that are new and verifiable. If the story cannot be summarised in one sentence a general reader would repeat to someone else, it will not travel.

The part that is preparation, not luck

The coverage was earned over months of relationships and a subject the team had been publicly working on. The release was the trigger, not the cause. See out-teaching your competitor for the longer version of that argument.