Write a Launch-Ready Press Release From a Messy Internal Brief
Objective: Turn a messy internal announcement brief into a publication-ready press release that follows the inverted-pyramid structure, includes a genuinely quotable quote, and closes with proper boilerplate and contact details.
You're on the comms team at Chewy, the Nasdaq-listed pet products retailer known for its Autoship subscription model, and product has just handed you a rough internal brief for a same-day-delivery expansion.
Extract the actual news from the messy brief, structure it inverted-pyramid style, write a quote that sounds like a real executive said it, and add proper boilerplate.
Before you start
What you'll need
Free path (everything below is enough to finish)
Free tier supports rich text drafting and easy reordering of sections
Free, simple checklist to confirm nothing newsworthy got dropped
The process
2 steps
Step 01 of 02
The lesson's inverted-pyramid framework puts the single most newsworthy fact in the headline and first sentence, then narrows into supporting detail, context, and boilerplate in that order.
The internal brief buries the real news, same-day delivery going live in 15 new metro markets, inside three paragraphs of company strategy talk. What goes in the headline?
Procedure
- Read the full internal brief and circle every discrete fact
- Rank facts by how newsworthy and specific each one is
- Write a headline stating the single most newsworthy fact directly
- Write a first sentence that answers who, what, when, where in one line
- Move all strategy/positioning language to paragraph 3 or later
HEADLINE (before): Chewy Continues to Invest in Customer Experience Excellence HEADLINE (after): Chewy Launches Same-Day Delivery in 15 New Metro Markets FIRST SENTENCE (after): Chewy, Inc. (NYSE: CHWY) today announced same-day delivery is now available in 15 additional U.S. metro markets, expanding the service to a total of 40 markets nationwide.
Healthy
The headline and first sentence together tell the full story even if a journalist reads nothing else.
Unhealthy
A reader has to get to paragraph 3 or 4 before learning what actually happened.
What this means
If you can delete every paragraph after the first and still have a usable one-line news brief, the lede isn't buried.
So what do I do about it?
| Symptom | Action | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| The headline states a strategy or value statement instead of a fact | Rewrite the headline as a single newsworthy sentence with a number or date in it | 5 min |
Step 02 of 02
The lesson explains that a usable quote sounds like something a specific person would actually say out loud, with a concrete detail in it, not generic enthusiasm a journalist has to cut.
The brief includes this placeholder: 'quote from leadership TBD, something positive about customer experience.' What replaces it?
Procedure
- Identify which named executive should be quoted based on the announcement's subject
- Draft a quote containing one concrete detail from the brief, not generic praise
- Read the quote aloud to check it sounds like natural speech, not ad copy
- Attribute it with full name and exact title
BEFORE: "We are excited to continue delivering excellence to our customers," said a Chewy spokesperson. AFTER: "Same-day delivery started as a pilot in 5 cities last year, and pet parents told us clearly they wanted it everywhere," said Sumit Singh, CEO of Chewy. "Expanding to 40 markets means most of our Autoship customers now have it as an option."
Healthy
The quote contains a specific number or detail that couldn't apply to any other announcement.
Unhealthy
The quote is interchangeable with a quote from any other company's press release.
What this means
A quote a journalist would delete for being generic filler isn't earning its place in the release.
So what do I do about it?
| Symptom | Action | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| The quote reads like tagline copy instead of speech | Add one specific number, date, or detail pulled from the brief into the quote itself | 5 min |
Final deliverable
A complete, publication-ready press release (headline, dateline, lede, quote, supporting paragraph, boilerplate, contact info) built from the messy internal brief.
See a reference example
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DUOLINGO ADDS SPANISH LISTENING PRACTICE MODE FOR ALL LEARNERS PITTSBURGH, September 3, 2026 — Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ: DUOL) today announced a new listening practice mode for Spanish courses, available to all users starting this week. The feature uses native-speaker audio clips at three speeds, addressing the most requested feedback from Spanish course users over the past year. "Reading and listening are different skills, and our data showed learners were reading Spanish well but freezing up in real conversations," said [Name], Head of Learning at Duolingo. "This mode closes that gap directly." Duolingo is the world's leading language-learning platform, offering courses in over 40 languages to more than 500 million learners worldwide. Contact: press@duolingo.example
Success criteria
You're done when you can:
- Headline and first sentence contain the single most newsworthy fact with a concrete number or date
- Quote contains at least one specific detail and is attributed to a named person and title
- Release includes a boilerplate paragraph and contact information