Yesterday Google did something that most companies dream about doing — they stole the thunder away from its biggest competitor. Granted, the Google/Microsoft rivalry is a big one, and they are always at each other’s throats, but from a communications perspective, it’s a great example of how timing can be everything when it comes to news in the high tech world.
Pre-announcing vs. a live unveil is always a tricky decision in the world of communications. Pre-announcing a product can build incredible hype, as Google knew when it decided to talk about Wave yesterday. Or, it can also backfire, as it did for Microsoft Bing (why the name Bing, btw? All I think of is Mr. Crosby himself, or a bowl of cherries). If Google had not come forward with Wave yesterday perhaps the pre-announce of Bing would have been the talk of the Net, but as it was, Microsoft lost its opportunity, not just because of the power of Google Wave, but also because it could have made a much much bigger impact, despite the Google news, if it had launched the new “decision” engine yesterday.
People want instant gratification. It’s the same with editors and bloggers who are writing the stories. So when companies pre-announce (especially weeks or months in advance) in no way will it have the same impact. Sometimes anticipation will build, but you better have a stellar product coming out of the gate. Google Wave is impressive, but imagine the news and feedback and buzz that Microsoft would have had if Bing had been live yesterday. People would Twitter their feedback, bookmark it on Facebook, Digg the search engine finds. Microsoft would have had a much larger share of the news overall if the engine was up and running.
One of the other challenges that Microsoft had is that it was well known when they planned on announcing Bing this week. The news had been “leaked” (probably on purpose) that the new code-named Kumo engine would be released, which gave Google ample time to decide to pre-announce their big news (complete with flashy demos to make Google devotees drool) — on the same day.
Unfortunately, when it comes to deciding when to announce news, it’s often not the communications experts who get to make the decision. Time and time again I’ve seen mandates come down from the CEO (often as a result of pressure from board members) or from high-ranking ELT officers who feel desperate to get news out for some reason or another but don’t want to hear from communications about the pros and cons of the timing. Time and time again during my career I’ve watched as no news splash occurred, or minimal or greatly reduced coverage resulted from not listening to, or even asking, the PR team when it comes to that decision.
There are multiple factors involved when considering when and how to make an announcement. One of the most key things to consider is that you are announcing on a day where your news won’t be drowned out by a competitor. And when your competitor is someone like Google, who always has a trick up their sleeve, you need to be extra prepared. Either don’t pre-announce (which is hard as news of that nature is bound to be leaked) or be ready to deliver when the announcement finally comes. Otherwise, you’re setting yourself up for potential disaster.
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