Take a look at this screen shot. Click here. This could be the first ever Canadian issued social news release and it was issued today by Weblo, a client of iStudio’s sister agency, High Road Communications.
*UPDATE* Rob Clark points us to the actual first Canadian SMNR that his client put out back in July. Thanks and congratualtions Rob!
The iStudio team was privileged to be asked to design and produce this thing of beauty (we’re very proud of it!) and Brandy has a fantastic post over at our coporate blog where she talks about why we’re so proud of this great initiative.
The new era of PR is about creating rich experiences (online and offline) for customers. As a PR company, High Road’s customers include both their clients and the media. I believe that we’ve created something that a client would be proud of sending to a colleague, friend or family member (as opposed to this randomly selected news release from today).
We’ve also, in my mind, created an incredibly rich experience for journalists. Weblo hasn’t penetrated the consciousness in the same way that Second Life has, so there are fewer “shorthands” a PR company could use when pitching the media. This page puts the story in context – additional media coverage, video interviews and commentary and trackbacks from the community.
What do you think? (answers on Brandy’s post please!)
*UPDATE* – Just noticed that this didn’t explicitly say that I had nothing to do with this initiative. It was Brandy who lead the charge and coordinated the hard work of the technical and creative teams.
Ed Lee's Blogging Me Blogging You | @edlee 
[…] iStudio’s Brandy Fleming and Ed Lee have both blogged about their experiences working on the project. […]
[…] – High Road Communications in Toronto recently launched a prototype of what some are calling a “social news release.” It’s for their client Weblo, the virtual world where you can buy virtual versions of real places, and it includes links to save the release on delicious, to submit it to Digg, to subscribe to a feed, and some additional links to related video clips and other info. Brandy Fleming from High Road’s iStudio division wrote about it here and Ed Lee wrote about it here. […]
[…] [h/t – Strumpette & Ed Lee] […]
Actually, back on July 19th, Water Works Canada, a client of mine, issued a release about their low-flow toilet rebate offer using the SHIFT communications template.
http://www.waterworkscanada.com/articles/the-water-works-plumbing-inc-will-better-the-city-of-torontos-65-rebate-for-toilets/
Unfortunately the release coincided with a dispute with the site’s original graphic designer, resulting in the stripped-down, bare-bones look of the site. This caused us to reel back a little the push on the web aspect of the site until a new graphic design could be settled upon and the site spruced up again. A long and arduous road that’s been but a new design should be up before the week’s end.
[…] Fleishman Hillard’s Ed Lee blogs about Canada’s first social media news release […]
[…] some PR types have been tossing around for awhile. I think the idea, which my PR friend Ed Lee has written about before is essentially to update the traditional press release with social-media links and […]
[…] some PR types have been tossing around for awhile. I think the idea, which my PR friend Ed Lee has written about before is essentially to update the traditional press release with social-media links and […]
[…] iStudio, in partnership with our sister agency High Road Communications, issued Canada’s second ever ONR. It was very much a preliminary effort but one that we were, and still are, extremely proud […]
[…] finally, old client Weblo (remember this?) just raised another $3m in venture financing. Venturebeat calls it a “pyramid scheme” […]
[…] Hillard iStudio’s blog post about the Weblo release Fleishman Hillard’s Ed Lee blogs about Canada’s first social media news release Edelman’s announcement of the debut of StoryCrafter Edelman’s Phil Gomes offers blog […]