Please Release Me!

Sometimes, you don't want to let the cat completely out of the bag. You just want reporters and photographers and TV crews to come running, for the great "Cat Gets Out of Bag" unveiling.

No problem. Well, some problems, but none that are insurmountable.

There's a judgment call in how much to tell folks ahead of time, to get very stressed editors to send a very busy reporter to your event or place of business to watch the Special Feline Escape the Gunnysack.

The key is honesty. If you overplay a yawn of a giant check-passing ceremony as the biggest event since the Hindenburg went up in flames, you may never get those news organizations to darken your doorstep again, at least until you are out of the picture.

On the other hand, if you have something very visual that's going to be happening - say, a 300-pound Bengal tiger that's going to claw its way out of a sack suspended 1,000 feet over a scenic canyon - and you leave that little tidbit out of your media heads-up, don't be surprised if they are a wee bit cranky, when next you call.

So don't tell too little, but don't tell too much in a media advisory. And do make sure you know the difference between an advisory and press release - if you call something an "advisory" but make it three pages long, don't "embargo" it (set a release time in bold at the top of the item) and the like, there's a pretty darn good chance the reporters and/or editors will decide, "Why not just run the story NOW and be first? Make a few calls, let the other dweebs show up after my story makes print."

That will leave YOU sweating (and not just because of the sun) when no one, or perhaps just the Monthly Cat-Lovers Journal, shows up for your event. Reporters aren't required to be the first to tell folks things, but it sure helps. And being the last wins no one any brownie points.