Ivy Lee and the First Press Release

Ivy Lee is known for issu­ing the first press release.

Ivy Lee is con­sidered one of the founders of mod­ern pub­lic rela­tions. His innov­at­ive PR and cor­por­ate com­mu­nic­a­tions approaches have had a last­ing impact on the industry.

Here we go:

Ivy Lee and the First Press Release

In 1906, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, a ter­rible train acci­dent drowned 53 people. ¹1906 Atlantic City train wreck. (2023, December 24). In Wikipedia. https://​en​.wiki​pe​dia​.org/​w​i​k​i​/​1​9​0​6​_​A​t​l​a​n​t​i​c​_​C​i​t​y​_​t​r​a​i​n​_​w​r​eck

The acci­dent was a tragedy for every­one involved but poten­tially a dis­aster for the Pennsylvania Railroad. They retained one of the first pub­lic rela­tions agen­cies, Parker & Lee. ²Ivy Lee. (2024, January 1). In Wikipedia. https://​en​.wiki​pe​dia​.org/​w​i​k​i​/​I​v​y​_​Lee

The agency had been foun­ded only a year before the acci­dent in 1905 as the third PR agency in the US.

One of the founders, the legendary PR pro­fes­sion­al Ivy Ledbetter Lee, wanted to help the Pennsylvania Railroad, his first major cli­ent, get the right story out. Hence, Lee cre­ated the first-ever press release. ³The First Press Release. (2016, April 10). News Museum. https://​www​.news​mu​seum​.pt/​e​n​/​s​p​i​n​-​w​a​l​l​/​f​i​r​s​t​-​p​r​e​s​s​-​r​e​l​e​ase

Rather than try­ing to sup­press the story, which would’ve been stand­ard prac­tice then, he invited the press to the acci­dent scene. Despite the unfor­tu­nate acci­dent, the Pennsylvania Railroad got good press cov­er­age for man­aging the dis­aster well.

Keeping the press, and by exten­sion, the gen­er­al pub­lic, up to date with an offi­cial state­ment is still some­thing the PR industry strives to do. ⁴Morris, T. (2014, August 25). Ivy Lee and the ori­gins of the press release. PR Academy; PR Academy. https://​pracademy​.co​.uk/​i​n​s​i​g​h​t​s​/​i​v​y​-​l​e​e​-​a​n​d​-​t​h​e​-​o​r​i​g​i​n​s​-​o​f​-​t​h​e​-​p​r​e​s​s​-​r​e​l​e​a​se/

Learn more: Ivy Lee and the First Press Release

The Ivy Lee Method

The Ivy Lee Method for pro­ductiv­ity, known for its sim­pli­city and effect­ive­ness, centres around a daily routine designed to enhance effi­ciency and focus. ⁵Clear, J. (2015, July 7). The Ivy Lee Method: The Daily Routine Experts Recommend for Peak Productivity. James Clear. https://​jamesclear​.com/​i​v​y​-​lee

The story behind this meth­od dates back to 1918, when Ivy Ledbetter Lee, a pion­eer­ing pub­lic rela­tions con­sult­ant, pro­posed a straight­for­ward strategy to Charles M. Schwab, the pres­id­ent of Bethlehem Steel Corporation, one of the largest steel pro­du­cers and ship­build­ing com­pan­ies in the United States.

Seeking to improve his exec­ut­ives’ effi­ciency, Schwab invited Lee to offer his coun­sel. Lee’s sug­ges­tion was not to over­haul the com­pany’s oper­a­tions but to imple­ment a simple daily prac­tice for each exec­ut­ive. He asked Schwab to have his exec­ut­ives write down the six most import­ant tasks they needed to accom­plish the next day at the end of each work­day. These tasks were to be lis­ted in order of importance. 

The next day, the exec­ut­ives were to start work­ing on the tasks in the order they were lis­ted, com­plet­ing the first task before mov­ing on to the second, and so forth, con­tinu­ing this pro­cess through­out the day. If any tasks were left unfin­ished at the day’s end, they would be moved to the next day’s list of six tasks. This pro­cess was to be repeated every day.

Lee’s meth­od emphas­ized pri­or­it­iz­a­tion and focus, encour­aging indi­vidu­als to con­cen­trate on tasks with the most sig­ni­fic­ant impact first. He fam­ously told Schwab to try this meth­od for three months and then send him a check for whatever he thought it was worth. 

After three months, Schwab was so pleased with the pro­ductiv­ity improve­ment that he sent Lee a check for $25,000 — a con­sid­er­able sum at the time, equi­val­ent to hun­dreds of thou­sands of dol­lars today.

The Ivy Lee Method has endured for over a cen­tury, a test­a­ment to its effect­ive­ness and sim­pli­city. It under­scores the power of pri­or­it­iz­a­tion, focus, and the dis­cip­line of tack­ling tasks one at a time, prin­ciples that remain rel­ev­ant in today’s fast-paced world.

Learn more: Ivy Lee and the First Press Release

Controversial Clients, Transparency, and Legacy

Ivy Lee worked as a journ­al­ist before mak­ing his mark in pub­lic rela­tions. His exper­i­ence in journ­al­ism influ­enced his PR strategies, emphas­ising the import­ance of trans­par­ency and accur­ate inform­a­tion. ⁶Ivy Lee. (2024, January 1). In Wikipedia. https://​en​.wiki​pe​dia​.org/​w​i​k​i​/​I​v​y​_​Lee

Lee stud­ied at Princeton University, where he gradu­ated in 1898. His edu­ca­tion was cru­cial in shap­ing his intel­lec­tu­al approach to pub­lic relations.

In 1906, Lee issued a “Declaration of Principles” to news­pa­per journ­al­ists, which was revolu­tion­ary then. This doc­u­ment out­lined his approach to pub­lic rela­tions, emphas­iz­ing open­ness, accur­acy, and the pub­lic interest, mark­ing a sig­ni­fic­ant shift from the secret­ive prac­tices of the era. ⁷Morris, T. (2014, August 25). Ivy Lee and the ori­gins of the press release. PR Academy; PR Academy. https://​pracademy​.co​.uk/​i​n​s​i​g​h​t​s​/​i​v​y​-​l​e​e​-​a​n​d​-​t​h​e​-​o​r​i​g​i​n​s​-​o​f​-​t​h​e​-​p​r​e​s​s​-​r​e​l​e​a​se/

Lee’s work for the Rockefeller fam­ily, par­tic­u­larly dur­ing the Ludlow Massacre, was con­tro­ver­sial. He was hired to help man­age the pub­lic image of the Rockefellers and their coal min­ing oper­a­tions after the viol­ent strike. His strategies dur­ing this time have been both praised for their innov­a­tion and cri­ti­cized for attempt­ing to manip­u­late pub­lic opinion.

One of Lee’s first major cli­ents was the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1912. He was hired to man­age the rail­road’s pub­lic image, pion­eer­ing new prac­tices such as issu­ing press releases and con­duct­ing press conferences.

During World War I, Lee provided pub­lic rela­tions coun­sel to the German gov­ern­ment in the United States, which later drew cri­ti­cism and led to him testi­fy­ing before a Congressional com­mit­tee about his work.

During the war, Lee also advised the American Red Cross, show­cas­ing his abil­ity to man­age pub­lic rela­tions for diverse and some­times con­flict­ing organizations.

Lee’s prin­ciples and prac­tices influ­enced the early devel­op­ment of pub­lic rela­tions edu­ca­tion, lay­ing the ground­work for a sig­ni­fic­ant aca­dem­ic and pro­fes­sion­al field.

Ivy Lee’s leg­acy in PR is a mix­ture of pion­eer­ing achieve­ments and eth­ic­al debate. His com­mit­ment to trans­par­ency and provid­ing accur­ate inform­a­tion has been hailed as found­a­tion­al to mod­ern pub­lic rela­tions eth­ics. However, his work with con­tro­ver­sial cli­ents and using PR to man­age pub­lic opin­ion have sparked dis­cus­sions about the eth­ic­al bound­ar­ies of pub­lic rela­tions work.

Ivy Lee’s con­tri­bu­tions to pub­lic rela­tions have left a mark on the field, embody­ing both the poten­tial and the chal­lenges of shap­ing pub­lic per­cep­tion through stra­tegic communication.

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Notable PR Contributors

• Edward Bernays — The Father of PR
• Ivy Lee and the First Press Release
• P.T. Barnum: “There’s No Such Thing as Bad Publicity”
• Walter Lippmann: Public Opinion and Perception Management
• John Dewey and the ‘P’ in Public Relations
• Marshall McLuhan: “The Medium is the Message”
• Leon Festinger — The Psychologist Behind Cognitive Dissonance
• Shep Gordon: “Make Parents Angry”

It’s noted that the gender bias is appar­ent here. I’m cur­rently research­ing a more bal­anced list.

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