Eight pitches that caught reporters’ attention

No matter how long you’ve been in the PR game—and no matter how many pitches you’ve cranked out on deadline—you’re never too much of an old hand to learn some new pitch writing tricks. Here’s some inspiration from PR pros who worked hard to elevate their pitch leads beyond the ho-hum.

A doggone great lead: “Call it a display of Howly Muttrimony sealed with a sniff,” wrote Kyle Henley, senior account executive at Denver’s Cohn Marketing, about a dog wedding at a local shopping center (staged as a benefit for an animal rescue group).

Says Henley, “I had one radio producer tell me, ‘I hate covering dog stuff, but your release was so well-written and snappy that I had to call for an interview.'” The pitch helped win coverage in the local Denver media, and after it was picked up by The Associated Press, in newspapers and on TV stations nationwide.