Chapter 8b: Effective Press Releases and Public-Private-Partnerships for Multisolving in Sustainable Business Communication
“I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.”
-Mother Teresa
Objectives
By the end of this chapter, students will be able to:
- Explain the importance of effective press releases in maintaining business reputation and stakeholder relationships.
- Identify the key elements of an effective press release in a business context.
- Analyze case studies to distinguish when to issue a press release.
- Apply the press release formula to create structured and impactful business press releases.
- Critically examine real-world examples of corporate press releases in the food or agriculture sector to understand best practices and common pitfalls.
Introduction
Companies need to communicate important information to the public, stakeholders, or the media. This is especially true for organizations in the food and agriculture sector, where operations and decisions can significantly impact public health, the environment, and consumer trust. An effective press release can help a company maintain its reputation, manage crises, and keep stakeholders informed. This chapter presents a press release formula to create components of a public announcement about a public-private partnership.
Private-Public Partnerships
A Private-Public Partnership, also called P3 or 3P, is a long-term partnership between a private enterprise and the national or local government. Since the 1980s, public-private partnerships have grown in popularity worldwide as governments seek advantages from the private sector without privatization. Private corporations provide government tasks under PPPs. Public-private partnerships use private sector innovation and efficiency to improve public services.
The above image has a circle with “public-private partnership” in the middle. Two boxes point toward the circle and two point away from it. “Public investment”, in blue, points toward it, and “private investment”, in red, points toward it. “Public return,” in blue, points away from it, and “private return,” in red, point away from it.
Below is a visual on partnership opportunities between businesses and development. The first example of a business outcome is “increase access to sufficiently qualified and skilled talent,” which points to the partnership opportunity “education and workforce development,” which is pointed at by the development outcome “increase employment rate and increase individual income.”
Private companies deliver government services via legally binding PPPs. The government maintains responsibility for service delivery, but a PPP contract distributes essential risks including design, funding, building, and operation to the private sector. In exchange for compensation based on service quality and performance criteria and penalties or liquidated damages for not reaching contractual obligations. In PPP agreements, the government becomes a supervisor and regulator rather than an asset owner and operator.
Below is a visual of key benefits of public private partnerships, all overlapping in circles. The benefits are as follows: consumer less time and improve monitoring, promotes infrastructure development and local development, increase technical and technological cooperation, provide elastic services reducing service costs, build cooperative growth through private sector integration, risk sharing with private partners, help to lessen public sector budget constraints, and promote innovation and creativity.
One example of a public-private partnership is The World Bank and United Nations’ Invest4Climate. They helped city and national governments identify barriers to investment and potential projects preventing coastal erosion in West Africa. This offered risk insurance to the Philippines. They were also able to finance more sustainable cocoa production in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. [4]
Another example is the Green Climate Fund, established in 2010 as a partnership between over 190 countries that seek to help developing countries respond to climate change, using public investment to catalyze private finance. This helped build resilience for an estimated 350 million people worldwide. Grants are available from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Seed Systems and Varietal Improvement (SSAVI) program helps smallholder farmers diversify their crop types and establish more resilient agricultural ecosystems to boost agricultural production during harsh droughts and floods.
The Rockefeller Foundation created a new Climate and Resilience project to concentrate on market-changing potential to expand climate and resilience capital flows, building on the 100 Resilient Cities effort, half of which are in poor countries. [5]
Why Explore Public-Private-Partnerships and Press Releases after the Food and Agriculture Chapter?
Press releases are essential tools for communicating the goals and achievements of public-private partnerships. These releases inform stakeholders about collaborative efforts between government agencies and private companies to tackle issues such as food security, sustainable agriculture, and market development. For example, the USDA frequently uses press releases to announce partnerships and initiatives aimed at strengthening the food supply chain and supporting sustainable practices. [6]
Businesses and nonprofits partnering with each other is an example of multisolving. Multisolving involves sector-wide collaboration to solve many issues with one policy or investment. Dr. Elizabeth Sawin, Climate Interactive’s co-founder and advisory board member, coined multisolving in 2015 to define her and colleagues’ global research efforts. These initiatives were diverse in most aspects, yet they all utilized one investment of time, money, or effort to solve several issues. Walk-to-school programs, urban orchards, solar microgrids, and residential energy renovations demonstrated individuals collaborating across sectors and silos to enhance health, equality, well-being, biodiversity, and climate while conserving the climate. [7] Multisolving for climate change involves improving lives while safeguarding the environment.
Press releases serve as a primary communication tool for announcing critical updates such as new product launches, safety recalls, regulatory changes, or sustainability initiatives for the public, similar to an announcement and a news story. This ensures that stakeholders, including consumers, investors, and regulators, are promptly informed about significant developments.
Effective crisis communication is essential in maintaining trust and credibility, especially in industries as sensitive as food and agriculture, where public confidence is crucial. Press releases are used to highlight new programs and investments that benefit the agricultural sector. For example, the USDA’s press releases about their investments in organic transition initiatives and urban agriculture projects aim to inform and engage stakeholders about their efforts to create more resilient and sustainable food systems. [8]
Announcing new products or market expansions through press releases can boost visibility and drive sales. They help generate media coverage and consumer interest, which is particularly important in the competitive food and agriculture markets. Clear and compelling press releases can position a company as an industry leader and attract potential business opportunities. For example, the USDA’s detailed press releases about their efforts to improve food security and worker conditions demonstrate their commitment to transparency and social responsibility. [9]
Overall, the ability to write effective press releases is indispensable for the food and agriculture industries as it helps in managing communication, enhancing reputation, promoting initiatives, and building trust with the public.
Press Release Components
Below is a sample press release with information annotating a press release example.
The opening paragraph should summarize the entire story and present the most newsworthy information first. Give the who, what, where, when, why, and how of the story. Succeeding paragraphs should supply background facts in the order of most important to least important. [11]
Sometimes, press releases are composed by combining various prewritten paragraphs, called boilerplates. Below is an example of a paragraph that Apple could use anytime it publishes a story in the news to describe itself:
“Apply revolutionized personal technology with the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. Today, Apple leads the world in innovation with iPhone, iPad, Mac, apple Watch, and Apply TV. Apple’s four software platforms—iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS—provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices and empower people with breakthrough services including the App Store, Apple Music, Apply Pay, and iCloud. Apple’s more than 100,000 employees are dedicated to making the best products on earth, and leaving the world better than we found it.”
Below is an image of a press release. It has “PRESS RELEASE HEADING” on the top as the heading, then a subheading, date, then main content. Below the main content is the company boilerplate. Below the boilerplate is the contact information.
Press Release Template
Here is a sample structure for a business press release:
- Attention-grabbing headline
- . The title should contain the names of both companies involved.
- . Start with the bigger or more popular company to gain attention.
- Subheading: Provides additional information
- Dateline:Informs readers where you are located and the date of the release
- First paragraph:Who, What, When, Where, Why
- . The first sentence of the press release establishes what the partnership does
- . The first sentence can offer a blend of the “When”, “What,” and “Benefit” of the partnership
- . The second paragraph offers a more detailed explanation.
- Body copy:Short paragraphs of additional information
- Quotes:Quotes from key company leaders or satisfied customers
- Extras:Photos, graphics, videos, boilerplate
- Call to action: Where to go or whom to contact for more information
Contact Information:
- Name, title, email, phone number of the company representative. [12]
Conclusion
A well-executed press release can significantly improve relationships with customers, employees, and the public, leaving the company in a better position. Leaders in the food and agriculture sector must be particular about their communication, as their products and services are essential and any misstep can have far-reaching consequences. Partnering with a corporation can help fund a nonprofit’s efforts to provide food that would not have otherwise been financially possible, and businesses could prove that they value a community by partnering with nonprofits as well.
[1] Cruz, V. (2024, January 30). What is a public-private partnership? Definition and meaning. Market Business News. https://marketbusinessnews.com/financial-glossary/public-private-partnership-definition-meaning/
[2] https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/2698SDG_Partnership_Guidebook_1.01_web.pdf p 17 (last accessed March 2022 but could not access May 2024)
[3] Shadik, M. S. (2019). Promises and Pitfalls of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) Projects in Bangladesh: Whether this Dimension is to flourish or to be relinquished? https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Figure-Key-Benefits-of-Public-Private-Partnerships-Data-Collected-by-the-researcher_fig1_333015074
[4] Climate Change and the Developing World: A Disproportionate Impact – USGLC. (2023, November 29). USGLC. https://www.usglc.org/blog/climate-change-and-the-developing-world-a-disproportionate-impact
[5] Climate Change and the Developing World: A Disproportionate Impact – USGLC. (2023b, November 29). USGLC. https://www.usglc.org/blog/climate-change-and-the-developing-world-a-disproportionate-impact/
[6] USDA Announces Framework for Shoring Up the Food Supply Chain and Transforming the Food System to Be Fairer, More Competitive, More Resilient. (2022b, June 1). USDA. https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2022/06/01/usda-announces-framework-shoring-food-supply-chain-and-transforming
[7] Chikofsky, J. (n.d.). What is multisolving? Climate Interactive. https://support.climateinteractive.org/support/solutions/articles/47001159227-what-is-multisolving
[8] USDA Announces Framework for Shoring Up the Food Supply Chain and Transforming the Food System to Be Fairer, More Competitive, More Resilient. (2022, June 1). USDA. https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2022/06/01/usda-announces-framework-shoring-food-supply-chain-and-transforming
[9] The Importance of Agriculture to the United States Economy | Community West Bank. (n.d.). https://www.communitywestbank.com/blog/the-importance-of-agriculture-to-the-united-states-economy.php
[10 How to Guide: Sample Press Release. (2025). NetDay. From http://www.netday.org/howto_press_sample.htm
[11] Satterwhite, M., & Camp, S. (2019). College English and Business Communication (11th). McGraw Hill.
[12] Gerdes, S. (n.d.). How to Write a Great Partnership Press Release. All Business. https://www.allbusiness.com/a-good-partnership-press-release-part-1-3878942-1.html