SIX ELEMENTS of NEWS-WORTHINESS

In 2012, Brad Dosland contributed a list of what he termed "Elements of Newsworthiness" to a Facebook discussion about press releases for dance events.

"A release that generates feature coverage needs to incorporate as many of the Elements of Newsworthiness as possible... These elements are:

• Impact (events which affect the reader's day-to-day life)
• Celebrity (events involving well-known people or institutions)
• Proximity (events which are geographically or emotionally close to the specific publication's readers)
• Timeliness (events which are immediately impending, current, or recent)
• Oddity (events that deviate from the usual; the classic man-bites-dog twist to the familiar story) and, perhaps most importantly...
• Conflict (events pitting two sides against one another)

I always find Brad's writing enlightening and this was no exception. However, I needed some cross-referencing with examples to make the list stick - and to verify it to myself. Since I was re-reading Sol Bloom's biography at the time (Sol Bloom, early 20th century promoter, music publisher, real estate speculator and Congressman), I decided to sort some of Mr. Bloom's marketing tales by Mr. Dosland's Elements. Sol was a very engaging writer, as well as very successful businessperson, so I am sharing my cross-references with those of you who enjoy a good laugh along with a good think.

Impact: "It was my advance knowledge of Macy's plans to move uptown, coupled with...well-founded rumors that Altman's was planning to build a new store only a block away.. that persuaded me to make my first investment in New York real estate...I bought one property on Thirty-fourth Street outright and took options on several others. I didn't see how I could miss, for I chose them all carefully on the South side of the street. Most shoppers instinctively pick the shady side to walk on. My only error was to ignore a more important factor than shade. When Altman's opened shoppers hurrying between there and Macy's took the slightly shorter and easier route...My attractive frontages in the shade turned out to be worth just about half as much as the ones I had so shrewdly avoided across the way."

Celebrity (with a touch of Conflict): "In 1899, or thereabout, following the great stage success of Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac, I published two Cyrano pieces, a waltz and a march-and-two-step. My pieces sold tremendously, for on the covers [of the sheet music] I reproduced not only the photograph of the great Coquelin, who had created the part of Cyrano in Paris, but the pictures of Henry Irving and Richard Mansfield, who were respectively the London and New York leads. I even had the good luck to be accused of using the three portraits illegally, and that provided the opportunity to reply in print. The letters of permission, which I published, had the effect of further boosting sales. "

Proximity: "Not long after I moved to Dearborn Street I decided to open an office in New York. The essential reason was that . . . I needed a permanent representative on the spot. A secondary purpose was to enhance my position in the eyes of Middle Westerners. All sorts of people had branch offices in Chicago, but relatively few Chicago houses had branches in New York. Sectional pride was a far more potent element than it is today, and the great market that centered in Chicago found satisfaction in any product which implied on its cover, however vaguely, that New York was provincial.

Timeliness: "One of the best pieces of publicity I ever got came in connection with the tragedy in Havana Harbor in February, 1898. Early in the morning the news came to me that the battlefield Marine had been blown up...Today it is the fashion (and with undeniable justice) to decry our war against Spain... but at the time few men doubted that the explosion had been caused by a Spanish mine or torpedo in a deliberate act of war...while riding downtown on the streetcar I jotted down the rough draft of a song of tribute to the several hundred victims of the disaster. By time my staff came to work I had completed the first stanza and chorus, and I announced that we were going to get to work on the music immediately and finish the job before the end of the day. The result was a song ... entitled The Heroes Who Sank With the Maine. It was sung that very night in the Haymarket Theatre...Next morning the papers gave the event prominent space, and all through the day customers came in to buy the newest patriotic music. We were ready for them, too, for the song had been set during the night and it was in print by the time we opened our business. The profits from this song (half of which I turned over to the fund that was established for families of the dead heroes) was very large for a few weeks."

Oddity: "One of the novelty exhibits was a boxing match between a man and a kangaroo. The bewildered beast was able to do very little with the gloves on his short forelegs; bored with the whole procedure after five minutes or so, he lazily tilted back on his tail, let fly with one of his powerful hind legs, and kicked his opponent through the ropes."

Conflict: "It occurred at the very beginning of the [Chicago World] fair, in connection with the much advertised appearance of the pianist Ignace Jan Paderewski. . . He had been engaged as soloist for the inaugural concert on May 2nd by Theodore Thomas, conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and musical director of the Exposition, and he planned, as usual, to play on a Steinway piano. Mr. Thomas was informed that it would be impossible for Paderewski to use a Steinway... the company was not an exhibitor at the fair and only the products of exhibitors were allowed on the fair grounds. Paderewski announced that he would play his own Steinway, which always accompanied him on the road; Thomas of course supported him. The opposition stated that if the Paderewski Steinway, by this time the most famous individual musical instrument in the country, should be brought inside it would be smashed to bits. It was all very silly, very undignified, and, incidentally, a tremendous advertisement for the Steinway company. It was also very effective publicity for the recital. The Music Hall was packed with swooning ladies and lovers of music. The Steinway was in perfect tune. Paderewski tossed his tawny mane in triumph. And Theodore Thomas beamed. Do you suppose they could have planned it that way?"