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You might have seen the buzz in technology articles today all about Intel’s latest announcement of their smallest processor, designed for ultra mobile devices. In the tech world, this is causing a big buzz because of the new possibilities for portable devices that the chip promises. Even if your business has nothing to do with the technology industry, Intel’s announcement is one you should pay attention to as a communications professional because of the interesting method they chose for this announcement.

Several days before the launch, in a blog post on their new mobility blog, Intel leaked that the announcement for their smallest processor would be coming this past Sunday. The post, from Bryan Rhoads featured a countdown clock running the numbers down to the big announcement of the new brand name, which would also first be announced on the mobility blog. He also challenged people to guess on the name for the new brand before the announcement. On Sunday afternooon, the new brand name was announced: Atom (named after the smallest form of matter). While this is certainly not the first time that a large brand has announced big news on a blog, it does offer two powerful lessons about why blogs can be much better than press releases for big announcements like this:

1. A press release is just a tool. A blog is an ongoing platform.
2. Blogs can foster a conversation around the announcement and build anticipation.

Blogs may not be right for every business, but when it comes to generating conversation around a big launch and creating a platform to host future announcements - blogs can offer a clear advantage.

Full Disclaimer: Intel is an Ogilvy PR client and we have worked with them on a number of their product launches, including Atom.