The last time I blogged about press kits was back in February, 2010, “The Press Kit.” Reading back over it, not too much I would change. There is a good section toward the end with advice on working with a graphic designer. Worth a read.
In the years since that original post, we have created fewer traditional press kits but the ones we have done, I can say have definitely met the threshold of print-worthiness i.e., worth the cost of printing + postage. Our most recent press kit was for a UK based family lifestyle brand, Pink Lining. Their product line includes all things baby, kids and family. From a chic new weekender collection for adults to kids rucksacks and their iconic proud, new momma diaper bags that all stand out for their original print designs. This brand had some great visual product imagery as well as a super cute backstory of how they were formed. The designer and founder, Charlotte Pearl is a stylish, creative and photo friendly young mom with an authentic story of inspired design vision.
Since they already had sales books for each of their collections – we simply re-purposed those as their lookbooks and included the relevant season and collection book into each press kit, depending on the media source we were sending to i.e. travel, family, kids, women’s, pregnancy or design.
What are the essential elements to create? For Pink Lining we wanted to highlight and leverage the best assets: product images, original design textiles used on all their pieces, and the designer herself, Charlotte.
- Press Gift. Something that will not be tossed in the trash and represents the company in a meaningful way. In this case we included a small PL luggage tag that featured the navy bow from the upcoming spring 2013 collections. It was the strongest design, made a great gift and most importantly we could tie a little gross grain ribbon (matched to the color of the PL logo – natch) and we could package it nicely into the folder. Sometimes the smallest detail or logistic can ruin even the best plans…
- News Release. Put current news release on top. Let your audience know why they are getting this packet.
- Pitch Letter. Absent an official news release, create a tailored pitch letter that also communicates the same elements in a news release (Who, What, Why, When and Where)
- Designer Bio. We put this as the second most important piece because it was Charlotte that provided the “hook” of credibility for the entire design and founder story. Plus it was such a pretty piece; we had to show it off.
- Inspiration Board. For PL this was a design story. We created a Pinterest style board that pulled through the main design theme (In this case spring season 2013, PL’s strongest textile design from that season was based on a navy blue bow which we used to show the importance and evergreen nature of nautical for springtime)
- Some Bling. Most people that you mail a press kit to will not even get to the last page. But for those that do, we wanted to give them some good eye candy. Not mission critical to the story but still something bright and shiny to look at. PL had sponsored the Golden Globes and actually had some decent images of a few celebrities holding product against a PL step and repeat logo wall. The images were not super strong or even high res but we cut and pasted them into a cohesive branded design and included it as the last piece of the press kit.
And of course since it is a KSPR creative mailer, we looked at every detail of the packaging and delivery to ensure a thoughtful and enjoyable experience for the recipients. We did not have the time to have a custom branded folder designed and printed so we put the press kit pieces in a simple, super chic clear envelope with a color laser printed Pink Lining label affixed to front. Not bad.
Every company brings their own unique story to be told. When deciding if a press kit is the route to go, make sure you evaluate the project through the print-worthy test. In this day and age of digital communiqués, not every launch or news story makes the mark.
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