McDonald’s media relations chief: ‘Why I hate press releases’
Danya Proud loves Big Macs and Shamrock Shakes, but she has little appetite for the PR industry’s oft-maligned medium—unless they’re well done.
The director of U.S. media relations for McDonald’s.
“The purpose of a press release is to announce news,” Danya Proud tells PR Daily, “but what’s news to you may not be news to me.”
Press releases, she says, make PR pros feel like they’re hounding reporters. Not to mention that they’re often poorly targeted at organizations that see them as having nothing to do with their business.
“I wouldn’t send a press release about, say, the Ronald McDonald House to The Wall Street Journal,” she said. “The Journal publishes news about businesses and what affects the bottom line.”
However, Proud says she knows the press release is a necessary evil. As a result, she offers advice for colleagues assigned to write one.
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