Was Obama on Military Time?

As we discuss our plans to announce HarperStudio’s first list of books, I’ve been thinking a lot about the role of the traditional press release, and whether or not it will go the way of the milkman or the cassette tape.

Ten years ago, when a company had news to share, (and when media cycles were a lot longer), a publicist would send a carefully crafted document to a short list of newspapers and trade publications, and call it a day. But the rules of the publicity game have changed – nowadays the means by which a high profile figure chooses to share news is often news itself. On the political front, I wasn’t at all surprised to hear Barack Obama is using SMS text messaging to share up-to-the-moment campaign information since he has the likes of Chris Hughes working for him. But to learn that Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt no longer use a full time publicist?!? This I could not believe.

Is disintermediation the new black? Do people want information directly from the horse’s mouth?

And, if so, maybe HarperStudio should forgo the traditional press release and simply share information about our books online in real time with anyone who cares to read it. Why add another layer? I mean, if you were trying to sell someone your home, would you invite them in for a personal tour, or would you allow a stranger to snap low res photos to pass along?

Depends on the house, I guess.I’m not quite sure who will show up to HarperStudio’s virtual open house in a few weeks when we go live, but our doors are most definitely wide open.

Julia