It's important to understand that a news segment isn't a press release. A company has complete control over a press release. In a news segment, it has control of one thing only: What comes out of its representative's mouth. And even that can sometimes be messed with through editing and the like.

Media is free publicity, but it comes with a risk. Like some fool of a mother talking about her daughter's 'marijuana addiction.' But it comes with a positive, too: It 'declares' that the company is of sufficient interest to merit media attention. It implicitly bestows bona fides. It credentializes.

Press releases are that reality turned on its head. The company has complete control, and control is good! But so is third-party validation (even if it's only implied validation), and you don't get that with a press release.

I don't think that interview hurt us. At this point, the game is all about 'creating impressions,' about getting the brand name(s) out there. The interview did that. It got the ball rolling, and that's the name of the game at this point.