Totally agree with you Egusa. Perhaps the key thing is to know which publications/sites you are targeting and what counts as 'news' for them. Traditional news outlets (eg TechCrunch or InfoWorld) only want something that is substantive and new - the end result. Content campaigns are often more informal - about sharing the journey.

A content campaign aims to inform a much wider base of people. It's best done ahead of any specific traditional 'PR campaign' for a launch. An easy way to do this is to create two lists of contacts: for your content campaign you might target amateur bloggers, industry influencers and your existing advocates.