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Stunts and gimmicks work, especially when they are creative and well done. They do however need to be well thought-out
A Publicity Stunt Gone Bad: WKRP In Cincinnati Turkey Drop
"It's a helicopter, and it's coming this way. It's flying something behind it, I can't quite make it out, it's a large banner and it says, uh - Happy... Thaaaaanksss... giving! ... From ... W ... K ... R... P!! No parachutes yet. Can't be skydivers... I can't tell just yet what they are, but - Oh my God, Johnny, they're turkeys!! Johnny, can you get this? Oh, they're plunging to the earth right in front of our eyes! One just went through the windshield of a parked car! Oh, the humanity! The turkeys are hitting the ground like sacks of wet cement! Not since the Hindenberg tragedy has there been anything like this!"
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly!!!"
-- Arthur Carlson, WKRP in Cincinnati
The above quote is from the famous "WKRP in Cincinnati" episode where Station Manager, Arthur Carlson arranged to have live turkeys dropped from a helicopter as an advertising stunt. Unfortunately, this turned out to be a serious miscalculation. The poor birds plunged to earth, never even having a chance, but by thinking ahead, your next promotional effort does not have to lead to tragic consequences.
Whether it’s a huge gorilla chasing a banana through the streets of a major city, a cattle drive across the George Washington Bridge, or a giant smile running around and hugging every donor at a major high-end fundraising gala, pulling stunts are just one of the many creative ways marketers use to attract the attention and and get publicity they need. Media stunts will always be with us, and if your serious about building your business, you might as well start thinking about doing this. If you do, make sure you do it right. By inviting or
leaking your event to the press, your project is given a bit more credibility and a bit more prolonged exposure to the community at large. What ever your idea is, work it for all its worth.
Publicity stunts are intended to lift a marketer’s message above and beyond the noise and clutter. It is part of the advertising business. Maybe it is time to make it part of yours. The
Web is so saturated with banner and ads, and it all looks sometimes so horribly average. Stunts can bring oodles of traffic to your site because at least they are something different, and they have the capacity to entertain. Sometimes they don't go as planned. For example, a Chevrolet billboard that used real pennies was stripped clean within 30 minutes of installation. You have to think your stunts through.
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It's All About Ideas
In an age when all your prospects and customers are constantly bombarded by advertising, a good stunt can look unusual, get attention, and help your message cut through marketing clutter. Even better, stunts often get media coverage. You come off looking creative and energetic in front of thousands of prospects.
Some years ago the Cartoon Network was promoting the "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" movie, based on the series that airs on Adult Swim. They placed Lite-Brites featuring the characters under overpasses and other visible high-traffic areas in the Boston area. People called the police thinking they were suspicious devices. So bomb squads were spread around the city, shutting down highways and creating a panic. You do want to create a buzz, but you don't want to get the authorities upset at you.
The Golden Palace casino website once hired streakers with the Golden Palace logo strategically placed on them to run around the stadium at the 2004 and 2006 Olympic games. In 2005 they won an Ebay auction to choose the name of a child. They chose the "Goldenpalacedotcom Silverman." I guess that could be effective, no?
Stunts Are Best When They Are Funny
"Coffees Of Hawaii" earned a global reputation for doing some very clever stunts when they provided an “on the water” cafe stop for the Ironman World Championships in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. Of course, the uniqueness of a floating cafe just happened to capture more than its fair share of media attention, and that is always the trick. It is all about the idea.
When they heard that La-Z-Boy was looking for a new ad agency, executives at the RPA agency bought one of the company's recliners, trained a Web camera on it and took turns sitting in it, declaring that they wouldn't leave it empty until they got a meeting with La-Z-Boy executives. They spent Super Bowl weekend in the gold-colored chenille chair and won the $35-million La-Z-Boy advertising account.
The chief executive of Moses Anshell advertising agency in Phoenix, bought dozens of summer sausages with the idea of sending them to potential clients with cards saying, "This is the last baloney you'll ever receive from us,"
If you run a retail store you might try this old gag. Go and get a classic going out of business sign. Make sure it is a big one, then modify it so that it reads: "Going Out For Business!" This is guaranteed to create a stir in the community. iPrint sends actors dressed as ancient Roman soldiers into downtown San Francisco to get attention and hype the company's latest offer. Can you do this?
The definition of guerrilla marketing is “an approach to advertising that relies on innovative methods of getting a message across to the market. Often highly targeted, guerrilla marketing works its way through large networks of people via word of mouth and electronic communications. It relies heavily on sparking the imagination of the market through intelligent and stimulating messages. It is also a much less expensive approach compared to traditional television advertising campaigns”. Call the news desk in your city and ask who covers your kind of story. Give the reporter a quick rundown of the most interesting facts about your event (be sure to give them the juicy stuff first). Then follow up with a press release. Include your phone number and email so the reporter can quickly get back to you with questions.
Once you have a great stunt in place, it doesn't take much copy writing to get television, newspapers, and magazines to cover you. Most good events and stunts are little more than street theater. All you need are some energetic participants, some props, and maybe some simple costumes. Find a location where your target audience will be. Whatever you do, don't destroy property, stay within the bounds of public taste, and get permission from land owners or local government before staging an event. Having your employees arrested or
getting bad press may do more harm than good to your cause.
About The Author:
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This article
was written by J. Mark Soveign who writes for |
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