Press Release Trends: 'Sustainability' is the New 'ESG' and AI Dominates
A snapshot of how brands are sharing their stories with audiences via PR Newswire in 2023
By Glenn Frates | Published Dec. 7, 2023
Looking at the press releases distributed by PR Newswire in 2023 provides us with a nice snapshot of where brands are leaning when it comes to telling their story – whether it be to journalists, investors, analysts, or direct to consumers. Looking back gives us an idea of how brands are crafting their message to get the positive audience engagement they strive for every day.
IR & Multimedia
Let’s start with investor relations announcements. When comparing quarterly earnings announcements from 2022 to 2023, the inclusion of any type of multimedia was flat. However, we did see a considerable increase in the use of infographics by companies trying to connect with readers beyond the text + tables standard. Nice examples of this include: AT&T, Garmin and this example from McGraw-Hill that really embraces the infobite approach.
Looking even further back, for some additional perspective, we’ve seen a 39% increase in earnings announcements including multimedia in 2023 versus 2018.
Sustainability is the New ESG?
A clear trend we’re seeing on the wire is the use of “sustainability” rather than “ESG” in brand storytelling. In public company earnings releases, “sustainability” saw a 1% increase in usage; while “ESG” or “environmental social governance” saw a 10% drop in 2023 versus 2022.
Across the entire wire (all content, not just earnings announcements), the same trend is seen:
- The use of “ESG” or “environmental social governance” is down 7% in 2023 versus 2022
- The use of “carbon neutral” is down 18% in 2023 versus 2022
- The use of “circular economy” is down 5% in 2023 versus last year
The politicization of ESG was clear early in 2023, but brands still need to ensure their storytelling relays clear company actions on this front. Hence, we saw these trends when reviewing all content year-to-date:
- The use of “sustainability” is up 11% in 2023 versus 2022
- The use of “impact report” is up 37% in 2023 versus 2022
- The use of “green computing” is up 25% in 2023 versus last year
Here are a few brands that stand out for highlighting their sustainability messaging on the PR Newswire network:
- A lot of nice examples from United Airlines, including this standout personnel announcement in March
- Kellanova and its Better Days Promise campaign (And here’s another example, prior to the Kellogg Company split in Q3.)
- Emerson stands out, especially with this recent example.
Artificial Intelligence
The term “generative AI” basically didn’t exist in PR in 2022, based on a review of the press releases from last year. We’ve seen an 11,000% increase in that term’s usage in 2023 versus 2022. One of the more clear trends we’ve seen on the AI marketing front is brands answering the question “How will AI make your everyday lives better?” Two of the best at this are:
- Google Cloud’s consistent approach in highlighting partnerships month to month; this one in particular resulted in a lot of strong audience engagement.
- Throughout the year, IBM incorporated great AI storytelling in its releases – from the start with NASA, to this winning story in June that received great media coverage like this from CNN.
What do the numbers show on the AI front? The term “artificial intelligence” saw a 42% increase in usage in 2023 on wire versus 2022.
Spotlight: Digital Transformation, Supply Chain, and Top Multimedia
- Stories promoting “digital transformation,” like this one from Autodesk last year, saw a 6% drop in 2023 versus the prior year.
- “Supply chain” and the concerns around this topic was all the buzz in 2022, like this story from Keurig Dr Pepper demonstrated, but we saw use of this term drop 10% in 2023.
- Some of the best performing multimedia in 2023 were in these press releases (“best” being high numbers of views/clicks/downloads/shares):
Remember: Including multimedia in your release really does make a difference and creates more potential for audience engagement.
Learn more about our multimedia solutions.
What’s on the horizon?
Brand storytelling trends we expect to see (continue) in 2024 include:
- AI will hit the ground running at CES 2024 and won’t stop all year long
- FinTech content has been on the rise for three straight years and we don’t expect to see that slow down
- An increase in partnership announcements across all industries – showing the value of a brand’s product or service to both investors and consumers – will continue to make waves on the wire.
- We expect a continued increase in conversational marketing in press releases to help brands engage directly with consumers in hopes of improving their engagement and experience.
Stay In-the-Know
We cover trends and top-performing content examples month to month, insights you can read more about in our Resources Library and on our media-focused blog, Beyond Bylines.
About the Author
Glenn Frates is Regional Vice President of North America Distribution at Cision. Glenn’s 20+ years experience in content distribution and best practices, global marketing strategies and large-scale operations management has provided him a broad perspective on what does and doesn’t work well in the Marketing/PR arena.