Even the name of Alibaba’s media site is innovative

Alizila, the online newsroom for Alibaba Group, serves far more functions than simply archiving news releases. Alibaba Group, the world’s largest retail commerce company (with more than 700 million consumers) is Chinese, making it important for the organization to help western investors and media understand the complex company—one of the newsroom’s key goals. Its success has won first place in the “Online Newsroom” category of Ragan’s 2018 PR Daily Awards.

Named Alizila (conveying the idea that it provides the A-to-Z of information about the company), the newsroom serves three goals: being the authoritative source of what’s happening in the company, informing and driving accurate media coverage and supporting business development and growth.

The team of journalists assigned to the newsroom treat it like a beat; they’re embedded in the company’s news center with direct access to company newsmakers. One use for the site is supporting announcements. When the company signed a partnership with Starbucks, for example, Alizila posted the details of the deal along with a research piece about Chinese coffee consumption, an interview with Starbucks’ CEO, a video tour of a Starbucks roastery in Shanghai and visual assets for media to run in their stories.

The company also uses the site to reach audiences directly. The AliViews feature lets executives share their perspectives on issues and opportunities. The site also provides industry insights and shares original research.

The site makes media outreach easier when Alizila produced assets can bring a story to life. One example: When the company launched a new grocery concept, the team produced a video explainer that helped drive media coverage, resulting in 4.7 million organic views on Facebook. The newsroom team also knows to go to executives for responses to issues or crises.

The results are impressive, both in terms of media pickup and organic views.

Congratulations to the Alibaba International Corporate Affairs Team, especially Erica Matthews, Tom Brennan, Julie Huang Tsang, Adam Najberg, Jenny Hsu, Christine Chou, Woody Wu, Megan Tung and Jing Wang.