From The Editor’s Desk: April 2021 Press Release Highlights

With the end of the year’s first quarterly earnings season, the number of press releases on “Finance/Investment” declined in April, while the newly emerging topic of “Carbon Neutrality & ESG” continued to gain the audience attention.

Compared to the same period last year, the overall press release distribution volume in the APAC region has increased by 39%. Despite being severely impacted by COVID-19, the trade show industry is on track to recovery this year. The number of press releases on business events and exhibitions in APAC saw a huge year-on-year increase of 179%.

Top Press Release Topics 

In April, the most popular press release topics are Carbon Neutrality & ESG, AI and Trade Show News.

1. Trade Show News: The tradeshow industry made a full recovery – with a 179% year-on-year increase in the number of press releases. The recovery was more prominent in Mainland China, where major trade shows were held last month. They included Auto Shanghai 2021, one of the most talked-about trade shows in the automobile industry, followed by the Canton Fair, which was held online. The digital edition of HANNOVER MESSE was also held. Press releases on these trade shows mainly featured new products and solutions that were launched.

Examples: Trend-setting SUV HAVAL JOLION at Auto Shanghai 2021; The 129th Virtual Canton Fair Presents Cutting-Edge Vehicles and Parts, Leading Sustainable Development.

2. AI & New Gadgets/Apps: Topics related to new tech remain popular, with a surge of 31% in press release volume compared to March. These press releases covered topics like smart products, AI solutions and corporate digital transformation.

Examples: WiMi Hologram Announces Partnership with Electronic Subsidiary of Toyota Group; New TCL 20 Pro 5G Powered by AI-based Pixelworks Processor Disrupts Premium Smartphone Market with Affordable Flagship

3. Carbon Neutrality & ESG: Like in March, the number of releases distributed on this burgeoning topic saw a huge increase. There was a spike of more than 100% of press release volume as compared to in March.

Examples: Toshiba released a Multimedia News Release on how its lithium-ion batteries can drive the future of a decarbonized society; DB Schenker and Lufthansa Cargo launch regular CO2-neutral freight connection from Europe to China.

4. Survey & Research: April saw an 8% increase in the number of press releases on this topic. Most of the content focused on sustainable development, the green economy and digital transformation under COVID-19, and spanned industries from consumer, retail, travel to investment.

Examples: IBM Consumer Study Points to Potential Recovery of Retail and Travel Industries, as Consumers Receive the COVID-19 Vaccine; As Digital Gap Widens in Wake of Pandemic, ‘Masters of Change’ Will Define the Future, According to Accenture Technology Vision 2021

5. Holidays: April provided many events to celebrate causes such as environment awareness (Earth Day), quality healthcare (World Health Day) and workplace safety (World Day for Safety and Health). Get our series of 2021 Communications Calendar here.

Recommended Article: From the Editor’s Desk: March 2021 Press Release Highlights

Note-worthy Press Releases of the Month

1. Disney Shanghai’s news on its spectacular night-time show is both timely and entertaining. The news is appealing as more people in mainland China are looking forward to re-embarking on travel opportunities like in pre-Covid times. The release, which includes multiple visually appealing photos, enables travel media to spin off their own stories.

The release secured media coverage from several travel media such as Attractions Magazine, Thrill Geek, and Blooloop – on top of syndication to media outlets.

2. Linking a brand’s news to a major event makes it attractive for media outlets to pick up the news. Chinese tech giant Baidu announced that it would operate fully driverless robotaxi services to the public in Beijing from May 2. The service was launched in Beijing’s Shougang Park – one of the venues for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics Games and will be used to transport visitors at the games.

The press release has clear talking points and multimedia, which makes it easier for the media to develop stories on the same topic. The release received 121 direct media pick-ups in the U.S. market and secured coverage from leading automotive magazine Autoweek, automotive industry media motor1, and popular car news site TopGear.

3. Unified call recording service provider Dubber announced its collaboration with Zoom to enhance worldwide video calls with voice-enabled AI to deliver transcriptions, sentiment data, real-time search and more.

The press release breaks the information up into digestible content with bullet points, brief paragraphs, and demarcated quotes. The quotes allow journalists to build a story around the details, which can easily be summarized or paraphrased without a lot of extra work. The release garnered 195 media pick-ups after being distributed to the U.S., Australia and Europe circuits. The news also gained coverage from leading tech media, UC Today and voicebot.ai.