A new report by Burson-Marsteller Australia has found Australian brands are failing to tell their stories.

The study found Australia’s top 20 brands (based on Interbrand’s ‘Australia’s Best Brands Report‘ of March 2009) are inhibiting their stories by under-resourcing their online newsrooms. 60% of these brands provide direct access to their newsrooms via a homepage link, yet only 15% offer image downloads and 10% video content. Just 20% made sharing easy by providing an RSS link or sharing tags. Only one made news content searchable.

“An effective online newsroom can automate many aspects of media relations. The simple act of making background information available via the newsroom saves time for corporate communication teams, journalists and bloggers. In my experience, journalists can get very irritated having to spend valuable time chasing photography, biographies and the like,” said director of Burson-Marsteller Australia Daniel Young.

“It’s surprising that organisations aren’t investing in news as this is among the most compelling and dynamic content that they have at their disposal. Online newsrooms are poor and corporate blogging is almost non-existing in Australia.  For one reason or another, Australian brands are missing out on the opportunity to engage and tell their stories online,” continued Young.

The report can be accessed here.