As we approach the tail end of the year, the calendar fills with major retail moments, from Black Friday and Singles' Day to Christmas and year-end sales. Beyond driving revenue, these events have become significant opportunities for e-commerce brands to communicate, manage risk, and connect with consumers.
Behind every sign boasting slashed prices or viral shopping trend lies a coordinated PR and communications effort that shapes narratives, fuels demand, and protects brand reputation when the pressure is on.
To get insight from a PR and communications perspective, Telum Media spoke with Kate Kwan, Managing Director of TEAM LEWIS Greater China Region, and Alice Smith, APAC Communications Lead at Shopify. They shared how strategic communications power these mega-sale moments and what best practice looks like when things don't go to plan.
What role has PR and communications played in transforming cultural shopping events like Black Friday and Singles’ Day into global e-commerce phenomena adopted across new markets?
Kate Kwan, Managing Director, TEAM LEWIS
PR and communications have always played a huge role in shaping the narrative and value of seasonal campaigns. What's unique about shopping events like Black Friday and Singles' Day is the need to ensure messaging highlights marketing incentives while reinforcing brand values during the sales period.
The success of these marketing campaigns has been fundamental in turning these sales into global e-commerce events. From creating media gift guides, marketing discounts, and launching new campaigns and products, these moments have become critical fixtures on the calendar of marketers and consumers alike.
However, similar to festive shopping sprees, consumer fatigue can occur, leading to diminishing campaign impact. Unlike traditional festivals such as New Year and Christmas - which have a long legacy and history across different cultures - the longevity of newer shopping events may be a challenge, particularly when economies aren't doing so well. This makes it difficult for marketers to fight for a share of voice and attention during such a competitive environment.
Brands in unsaturated or less digital-savvy markets may still be able to capitalise on the shopping spree, but more established brands will need to find other ways to engage with consumers and create greater impact with lower investment.
Alice Smith, APAC Communications Lead, Shopify
PR, communications, and journalism play a critical role in shaping and amplifying cultural shopping events, as these disciplines are inherently tied to trends - whether by capitalising on existing momentum (trendjacking) or uncovering emerging consumer behaviours.
Trends act as powerful catalysts in retail and commerce, and strategic communications amplify these trends to create a sense of urgency and excitement among both consumers and retailers. This drives rapid adoption, creating a self-fulfilling cycle where consumer demand spurs retailers to invest in promotions, which in turn encourages greater consumer participation. Storytelling, media coverage, influencer partnerships, and targeted campaigns help embed these events into the retail calendar of diverse markets.
Looking at market adoption, at Shopify we've seen Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) evolve from Western retail traditions into significant dates on the calendars of countries across APAC and beyond. For instance, in Japan, BFCM has quietly become a significant retail holiday, with a 54 per cent increase in consumers buying from Shopify merchants last year, and an increased anticipated spend by 16 per cent this year.
Major sales events bring equal parts opportunity and reputational risk for e-commerce brands - from website crashes to delivery delays to public backlash. What does effective communications coordination, crisis readiness, and response look like in these moments?
Kate Kwan
Peak sales seasons have always presented reputational risk for e-commerce brands. As with any crisis, preparedness is the key to avoiding issues and minimising backlash.
Typically, the risks lie in elements such as stock availability, website crashes, and delivery issues, making it critical for brands to prepare for a crisis beforehand. This can be done through clearly listed roles and responsibilities across all business functions - from operations and legal to communications. The comms team should ensure that not only are things like reactive statements in place, but that rigorous monitoring is set up, and that teams are able to pause or adapt to campaigns quickly, should anything occur.
Speed is essential during these times, so anything that can reduce response time is critical and must be planned well in advance - whether that's pre-approved statements, alignment on compensation approaches, or a dedicated spokesperson if needed.
Alice Smith
Peak retail seasons, especially BFCM, serve as a critical pressure test for retailers. While technical and operational preparations are essential to minimise issues, some challenges are unavoidable. And when these issues do hit, effective crisis communication hinges on transparency and trust at the core.
Proactive monitoring and real-time social listening are crucial to detect issues early before they escalate to the public domain. When problems arise, timely and honest communication is key - quickly acknowledging the issue, providing clear updates, and avoiding jargon helps maintain credibility.
It's also important to demonstrate empathy: customers respond well to humanised brands that recognise customer frustrations and offer practical solutions, rather than robots. When done well, this can even turn a challenging situation into an opportunity to build relationships and reinforce trust.
At peak moments like BFCM, brands that balance preparedness with an authentic, transparent crisis communication approach will maintain trust and protect long-term loyalty, even when issues arise.
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Every few years, someone declares the death of the media release.
Today, the arguments sound familiar. Journalists don't read them anymore. Everything is social-first. AI is replacing traditional media outreach. It's all about the pitch. Press releases are becoming little more than AI-generated filler.
And yet, when we speak with journalists across Asia Pacific and the Middle East, a different picture emerges.
Media releases aren't dead, but expectations around them have changed significantly.
We've analysed more than 10,000 Journalist Interest Survey responses in the Telum Media platform collected over the past five years, alongside insights gathered from conversations with editors, reporters, and producers across the region.
Key takeaways:
- Journalists still value useful PR content
- Relevance matters more than reach
- The pitch and the release serve different roles
- The best releases reduce friction for journalists
- Modern releases need to support multiple platforms
The conclusion is clear: journalists still value media releases, but they value them for different reasons than they once did.
The media release has evolved from a distribution tool into something far more strategic.
The media release is no longer the story
For decades, many PR professionals treated the media release as the centrepiece of media relations activity.
Write the release. Send it widely. Hope for coverage - “spray and pray”.
That approach was far from perfect, but you could get away with it in an era when newsrooms were larger, competition for attention was lower, and journalists had more time to evaluate incoming information.
Today's reality is very different.
Journalists are producing content across multiple platforms, often with smaller teams and tighter deadlines. Their inboxes are flooded with pitches, announcements, thought leadership submissions, and increasingly, AI-generated content.
As a result, journalists have become far more selective about what earns their attention.
The modern media release is no longer just about news stories. It has become a source-of-truth asset, a newsroom resource, and a content hub that supports broader communications activity.
The best PR teams understand this shift.
“The strongest message from journalists can be summarised in a single phrase: ‘Understand what I cover’. Relevance remains the most important factor in successful media engagement.”
What journalists are actually rejecting
One of the most revealing findings from our analysis is that journalists are not rejecting PR content altogether.
What they're rejecting is low-value outreach.
Across thousands of responses, the same frustrations appeared repeatedly:
- Irrelevant pitches
- Generic outreach
- Mass distribution
- Weak story angles
- Excessive follow-ups
In other words, this is less a rejection of media releases and more a rejection of poor media relations practice.
The strongest message from journalists can be summarised in a single phrase:
"Understand what I cover."
Relevance remains the most important factor in successful media engagement. In fact, our journalist surveys over the past two years have seen a sharp increase in a desire for both relevance and personalisation in pitches.
Journalists increasingly assess pitches within seconds. If the connection to their beat, audience, or current priorities isn't immediately obvious, the opportunity is often lost before the email is even opened.
The pitch and the release have different jobs
One of the biggest misconceptions in modern media relations is treating the pitch and the release as the same thing.
They are not.
The pitch exists to earn attention; the release exists to support the story.
The best pitches are:
- Brief
- Human
- Relevant
- Contextual
- Conversational
The best releases are:
- Structured
- Factual
- Complete
- Reusable
- Easy to reference
At a recent Telum Media event, a senior journalist described the fastest way to kill a pitch with a single word: “Respect”. Or a lack thereof.
A generic greeting. A story unrelated to their beat. A mass-produced email that demonstrates no understanding of their audience.
All signal a lack of respect for the journalist's time and expertise.
High-performing PR teams increasingly write pitches and releases for different audiences. The pitch is written for the journalist. The release is written for the journalist's audience.
That distinction matters.
Why journalists still value media releases
Despite predictions of their demise, journalists continue to actively request media releases.
But they want releases that help them work more efficiently.
The most common requests include concise writing, clear headlines, strong news angles, supporting data (with downloadable images and assets), spokesperson access, and easy-to-use formats.
These preferences reveal the modern role of the release: it functions as a workflow tool.
A strong release helps journalists:
- Understand the story quickly
- Verify information
- Access supporting materials
- Build content efficiently
The best releases reduce friction. And in today's newsroom environment, reducing friction is often more valuable than generating hype.
Think beyond media coverage
Another major shift is that media releases are increasingly serving multiple audiences.
A modern release doesn’t just support journalists; it might also support clients and prospects, employees, investors and analysts, partners, and search visibility.
Rather than creating a single-use document, leading communications teams are building content ecosystems.
The release becomes the foundation for:
- Media outreach
- Newsroom content
- Executive communications
- Social media content
- Email campaigns
- Sales collateral
- Thought leadership activity
This approach not only improves consistency but also increases the return on investment from every announcement.
The role of the modern media release
Not every story needs a release
Perhaps one of the most important lessons is recognising when a media release is the wrong tool.
Releases tend to perform best when there is:
- Genuine news value
- Multiple stakeholder audiences
- A need for factual consistency
- Strong supporting assets
- Broader business significance
They are often less effective for internal milestones framed as major news (or self-congratulatory announcements), generic thought leadership, and untargeted mass outreach.
In some situations, a targeted pitch, LinkedIn strategy, executive commentary programme, or direct relationship-based outreach may be more effective.
Good communications strategy isn't about defaulting to a media release; it's about choosing the right tool for the objective.
A framework for modern media releases
If there is one word that captures what journalists are asking for today, it is respect.
At Telum Media, we summarise this through the RESPECT framework:
R – Relevance
Make it relevant to the journalist, their audience and the moment.
E – Efficiency
Help journalists work faster through clear, concise, and usable content.
S – Substance
Provide genuine value through expertise, data, insight, or access.
P – Personalisation
Demonstrate that you've done your homework.
E – Ecosystem
Think beyond the release and consider how it supports broader communications goals.
C – Clarity
Make the key message immediately obvious.
T – Timing
Reach out at the right time, not simply any time.
What journalists are asking for in a pitch / media release: RESPECT
The future of the media release
The debate over whether media releases are dead misses the point.
The more useful question is how do we make releases work better in today’s media environment?
Journalists still value relevant information, credible sources, strong story angles, and efficient communication. Media releases continue to play an important role in delivering those things.
But success today depends less on the existence of the release itself and more on how strategically it is used.
The media release remains a valuable communications tool.
Just not in the way many of us were taught to use it.
FAQs
Are media releases still useful in 2026?
Yes. Journalists still value media releases, but these days want targeted outreach, relevance to their beat, alignment with their audience, and contextual pitching.
What makes a media release useful to journalists?
Journalists are looking for releases in a format that helps them work efficiently. Which means releases that are concise, factual, with a clear angle, contain usable quotes, and come with downloadable assets and supporting data.
What is the difference between a pitch and a media release?
A pitch earns the journalist’s attention in their cluttered Inbox. A media release supports the story by providing structured, factual, and reusable information relevant to their audience.
With more than 30 years’ experience spanning journalism, corporate communications and media intelligence, Reuben Aitchison is Telum Media’s Head of Insights and Communications.
Explore Telum Media tools that help PR teams pitch with precision.
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