Tag Archive for: PR stunt

April Fools PR

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Believe only half of what you see and nothing that you hear.

These words are particularly significant today for two reasons. First, there are significantly more absurd and ridiculous “news” stories that generate attention in the media now compared to long ago, due to both the pressure to feed the 24-hr news cycle and the fight for page views. Second, today is April 1 and marketing people love this day.

But while many think about deploying an April Fools gag to generate talkability and get their brand noticed, only few actually take the liberty to. That’s because there are a few basic ingredients to crafting an April 1 stunt, but getting it wrong can be a recipe for disaster.

  • Plausible but not damaging – like most stunts, an April 1 gimmick must be founded on a good idea. It needs to be believable, otherwise no-one will bite, and something people would be genuinely interested in, yet not damaging to your brand if it were actually true.
  • Funny/ quirky – let’s face it, we all appreciate humour. A funny or clever stunt is what will create the talkability that measures success.
  • Activation – in today’s content heavy hi-tech communications world, activation needs to cut-through social, digital and traditional channels. Think about everything from leaked press releases through to digital ‘gamification’ (see Google Maps example below).

Australia gets first sunrise on April 1, so here are just some of the stunts we’ve spotted today already:

Vegemite iDrink 2.1 energy drink –

vegemite

Yes, you read this right. Following on from last year’s ‘Yankymite’ rebranding gimmick, Vegemite tried to convince us on Facebook today that they’d launched a new energy drink. Yuk.

However, we give them full points for a simple idea, inclusion of a product shot and simple activation through Facebook, which now has over 2,000 likes and 3,000 shares already.

Google Maps – Pokémon Challenge – 

pokemon

Only Google would team up with Pokémon to launch the Pokémon Challenge via their Android and iPhone Google Map apps. In this call-out for a fictional job, the “Pokémon Master” at Google, Google Maps is littered with Pokémon, and we’re invited to take the quest to catch ‘em all.

Nova’s Fitzy quits –

Love or hate them, they got in early and it was a corker. On Nova’s Fitzy and Wippa show yesterday, Fitzy resigned ‘live’ on air. The only thing was, it wasn’t live. Watch this video of management rushing to the studio.

Ignite PR works with Australia’s leading franchise brands to both increased brand awareness and improved franchise development. Contact us today. 

 

What goes into the perfect PR stunt?

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Mangogate

Source: couriermail.com.au

How do you raise awareness and drive trial of something as simple as a new mango and lime flavoured chicken? You nick a giant mango from the tropics of Queensland and days later, once the story has borne its fruit in the media, you bring it to Federation Square for the world to see, of course.

This is exactly what Nando’s Australia did recently, resulting in mass media exposure and the heist dubbed #mangogate spreading like wildfire across social channels.

Morning shows picked up a story on the theft of Bowen’s famous Big Mango first up on Monday, with news outlets across the globe catching wind of the fruity robbery over the coming days. Needless to say #mangogate was trending on twitter. By Thursday, the mango popped up in Melbourne’s Federation Square, along with Nando’s accepting culpability for the gimmick and promo staff handing out pieces of chicken. Introduce: round two media reports.

While media exposure continues to be calculated in the wake of mango madness at Nando’s HQ, and the video revealing the heist on their official Facebook page continues to soar past 270,000 views, we can be certain of one thing. Stolen fruit really is sweetest. This was a well-executed stunt.

So what goes into a PR stunt these days? In few words: good idea, #talkability and content.

1. Good stunts start with a good, memorable idea. Mangogate was built upon a very clear, simple and brilliant connection between highlighting the mango flavour of the new product and stealing Australia’s most famous mango.

2. Everyone could #engage with the drama. The hashtag #mangogate was quirky and gave people the ability to easily talk about the top story of the day. Memes were uploaded by people to Bowen’s Big Mango Facebook page, and one guy even posted an image of the Big Mango on Gumtree for sale.

3. The stunt included content that never expired. With Nando’s filming the entire heist for the ‘big reveal’ and posting photos of the product trials in Federation Square, the creation of the #mangogate hashtag and countless user-generated posts, and hundreds of news stories now seeded across the inter-webs, this stunt won’t be quickly forgotten.

Here are some other good stunts in recent years from Australian franchises:

McDonald’s Australia “Macca’s” – for Australia Day 2013, McDonald’s name-changed thirteen stores to “Macca’s”, all with new signage. The gimmick was part of an integrated campaign supported by ABT and BTL activities.

KFC goes green and gold – what better way to engage Australia in the fight for the Ashes Urn, and leverage your sponsorship of Cricket Australia, then to give five flagship stores a green and gold face-lift and put Aussie and English burgers on the menu.

Jim’s Mowing “MoAthon” – in November 2013, 150 Jim’s Mowing franchisees took part in “MoAthon” from Hobart to Brisbane as part of the franchise’s national Push for Change campaign. The year before they mowed the world’s biggest grass moustache. We love a world record attempt!

Ignite PR works with Australia’s leading franchise brands to both increased brand awareness and improved franchise development. Contact us today.