Spotlight: January's 5 Most Popular Press Releases
2025 started with a strong interest in consumer news, including collectibles and more business-y announcements that could impact the average person.
These five press releases generated the most interest on prnewswire.com in January, based on release views. Discover which content best practices these brands implemented to maximize visibility and engagement with their stories.
1. Rare High End Michael Jordan Basketball Cards Discovered in Arizona Shoe Boxes After Two Decades
An unexpected find of 500+ playing cards featuring arguably the greatest NBA player of all time led our stories in January.
What Works
Let’s start with the headline: Auction Monthly goes for a “breaking news”-type headline, which is appropriate and works very well here. Focusing on the excitement of this unexpected discovery draws readers in far better than a snoozer like “ABC Company Announces New Trading Cards.” Drumming up enthusiasm and interest in the headline and subheadline is the key objective here – target audiences will click based on that, not who’s selling the cards.
Auction Monthly wisely keeps the release succinct with bulleted highlights, a link guiding readers directly to the site to purchase and, of course, a dominating photo of the stash.
Bonus points for strategically sending on an off-minute outside of typically busy distribution times, giving this content an extra opportunity to stand out.
2. Henry Repeating Arms Levels Up the Lever Action with the New Lever Action Supreme Rifle
A new sporting rifle release came in at No. 2 last month.
What Works
Henry Repeating Arms keeps its headline within the recommended ~100-120 character length and incorporates “New” into the first ~60 characters, giving it an advantage in online search results. We always counsel on including the “so what” in the headline through the first paragraph (the #1 piece of feedback we receive from journalists), and Henry Repeating Arms does that here. Its line in the first paragraph about setting new standards is visible in the “summary” section of search results, encouraging its target audience to click and learn more.
Once readers are in the release, they’re immediately greeted with a link leading them directly to the new rifle, two photos – including a perfect environmental image that helps them make a personal connection to the news – and a bulleted list with strategic bolding. And, like the story above, the company sent on a strategic off-minute to set the news apart from hundreds of other releases going out right on the hour.
3. OREO and Post Malone Team Up to Bring Fans What Posty Calls "the Best OREO Ever!"
Checking in at No. 3 in the new year: a Posty/OREO collab.
What Works
Honestly, a headline leading with “OREO and Post Malone” is enough. And once readers click into the release, they immediately find what they’re looking for: lots of multimedia, including a short video and image of what the new cookie looks like.
This is a perfect example of knowing what your target audience wants in a release and highlighting it.
4. Flowers Foods, Inc. to Acquire Simple Mills
A major food deal caught consumers’ eyes on our site last month.
What Works
This is your typical headline for a public company announcing an acquisition. What’s not typical is how Flowers Foods lays out the “so what” in bulleted subheads and textbook bolded section headers and bullets in the body. Often, if we see that at all, it’s crammed into long paragraphs that all look the same and are written in legalese.
Flowers Foods makes it easy for each of its audiences – investors, journalists and the average consumer – to easily digest the key points of the deal and why it matters. Something as simple as this sets a “we’re legally required to send this” release apart.
5. Frontier Airlines Confirms Compelling Proposal to Combine With Spirit Airlines
Airline drama will never not be interesting to readers, and Frontier’s ongoing bid to merge with Spirit rounds out our Top 5 for January.
What Works
The headline is … compelling, although the release itself is your standard business play in progress / text of a letter. Readers were curious where things stand with a potential low-fare power play that could offer them more competitive airfare pricing, and Frontier’s release helped confirm key details. Stay tuned.
Want to learn more about crafting a press release for optimal success? Ensure your story isn't overlooked by those who matter most with PR Newswire’s Definitive Guide to Crafting an Engaging Press Release.
About the Author
Sarah Roberts is Director of Customer Content Services. In a previous life, she was a newspaper reporter in the Midwest before permanently retiring her snow shovel and moving to the Land of Enchantment. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, exploring the craft beer scene and petting all the dogs.