By Douglas Simon, President and CEO,

The politics of VNRs have made savvy PR professionals re-think a tool that has been a critical part of almost all successful broadcast campaigns during the last 20 years. Those unaware of the changed landscape still expect instant gratification and significant results for stories with more commercial than news value. Others fear PR video should be avoided for even the most compelling stories. Not surprisingly, the truth is somewhere in between.

What we do know is it has become harder for everyone, not just VNR producers, to get their story on television. Yet the demand for that airtime is greater than ever. VNR 2.0 takes a customized, more intelligent approach to the production, media relations, targeted placement and Web opportunities of PR video. It puts much more emphasis on developing a strategy that can be executed over time. It's based on significant research and analysis of the current media marketplace.

The average length of a television news story continues to shrink and that change is more dramatic when looking at PR video.

In 2005:

• One-third of PR video segments that aired were longer than 45 seconds.
• Another third were between 20 and 45 seconds long.

In 2007:

• 80 percent of the placements are less than 20 seconds in length.

This has significant implications for producing and placing PR video content.

For traditional VNRs (VNR 1.0), a tremendous effort was focused on creating a compelling script and "word-smithing" the perfect sound bites. But our analysis of the media tells us stations are less likely to air sound bites than video or even still images that we can provide to them. VNR 2.0 puts the focus and effort on pre-production and creating the most compelling video that stations are most likely to use.

This includes a first look at new products, manufacturing footage (especially for healthcare), behind-the-scenes footage, celebrity content and stunt video. It's critical to provide stations with footage and images they cannot easily shoot themselves. Sound bites are often provided to help the media better understand the story and prepare a more accurate news segment but are less likely to be used.

VNR 2.0 is increasingly focused on "pre-distribution" to increase your chance of earned media success. It includes a "media pre-probe" to assess interest in the story and create a media relations plan that matches the needs of broadcasters. It also uses demographic research to target stations whose audience matches those you are trying to reach. Critical to success is identifying local opportunities in key markets offering stations the chance to shoot footage themselves or interview an expert in-studio with video support. You also want to be able to offer video with locally produced content for producers at the network affiliate news feeds which often can generate significant results.

Incorporating ground tours into VNR 2.0 generated placements in New York, Philadelphia, Dallas and San Francisco for a health care association. A fashion website was featured twice on a nationally syndicated show and on stations in San Diego, Seattle, Tampa and Orlando. Publishers Clearing House completed a low cost B-Roll with targeted distribution to Tennessee—the home state of its ten million dollar winner—and generated significant placement.

Demographics also play a big role in determining whether you want to feature the story on targeted distribution outlets including health clubs, airlines, cell phones, television station websites and through other online distribution channels. These can be done as add-on services to a VNR 2.0 campaign or as stand-alone project if you don't have a story that resonates with the news media. Remember, you don't have to be locked into the traditional VNR production format for these placements—but you will have to budget accordingly.

These same tactics can add significant earned media to satellite media tours. SMT 2.0 can include B-Roll, local market placement, radio and online services.

While this analogy may be a stretch, VNR 2.0 is more like fine wine than Red Bull. It needs time to reach its full potential—especially from the media relations side. For many stories, only ten to 15 percent of the placements will happen during the first week of release. Success will require the patience, understanding and commitment to actively work the story for a minimum of six to eight weeks. It is necessary to work with an in-house media team that can pitch the story over the entire timeline rather than working with freelancers for a shorter period.

If you remain committed to earning television coverage, VNR 1.0 doesn't deliver the way it once did. That being said, if you fail to explore the opportunities of VNR 2.0, you could be doing yourself and your clients a disservice.