Publicity stunt

A publicity stunt is a planned event designed to attract the public's attention to the event's organizers or their cause. Publicity stunts can be professionally organized, or set up by amateurs.[4] Such events are frequently utilized by advertisers, and by celebrities who notably include athletes and politicians.

Publicity stunt in Salt Lake City, 1910: "Little Hip" the elephant, advertising newspaper & theater.
Austin A40 Sports, circa 1951. To promote the A40 Sports, Leonard Lord, Chairman of Austin, bet Alan Hess of the company's publicity department that he could not drive round the world in 30 days in the car. In 1951, an A40 Sports driven by Hess[1] achieved the round-the-world feat in 21 days rather than the planned 30 (with assistance of a KLM cargo plane) — though the stunt had no eventual impact on sales.[2]
In 2013 in several large German cities Planet Earth Account Community Enterprise (PEACE) organized events where money was distributed to the public via a balloon (here Frankfurt 23 Aug 2014) [3]

Organizations sometimes seek publicity by staging newsworthy events that attract media coverage. They can be in the form of groundbreakings, world record attempts, dedications, press conferences or organized protests. By staging and managing the event, the organization attempts to gain some control over what is reported in the media. Successful publicity stunts have news value, offer photo, video and sound bite opportunities, and are arranged primarily for media coverage.[5]

It can be difficult for organizations to design successful publicity stunts that highlight the message instead of burying it. For example, it makes sense for a pizza company to bake the world's largest pizza but it would not make sense for the YMCA to sponsor that same event. The importance of publicity stunts is generating news interest and awareness for the concept, product or service being marketed.[6]

Notable instances
Boston Mooninite panic, 2007
  • Suspicious objects were reported around the city of Boston that were part of a guerrilla marketing event for an Aqua Teen Hunger Force film. LED light boards were placed throughout the city of Boston and authorities responded as though the guerrilla marketing tactic was a possible bomb threat.[7]
Abercrombie & Fitch & Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino, 2011
  • Michael Sorrentino received a notice to stop wearing Abercrombie & Fitch to protect the brand's integrity in 2011.
    Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino from MTV's Jersey Shore was formally asked to no longer wear Abercrombie & Fitch clothing in return for a sum of money. A&F explained (in a news release) that the reason was to protect the integrity of their brand image. Newspaper companies and entertainment media picked up the story and spread the news.[8]
Red Bull Stratos Jump, 2012
  • Garnering over 50 million views, the Red Bull Stratos jump would break five records, be shown across multiple streaming partners and eventually raise sales after six months of the event.[9]
TNT's "Push to add drama", 2012
  • Citizens were exposed to dramatic scenes after a button was placed in a public square as a way to market the launch of TNT in Belgium.[10]

See also

References
  1. "Austin A40 Sports". Austin Memories. Archived from the original on 2009-01-05.
  2. "Motoring Memories: Austin A40 Sports, 1951-1953". Canadian Driver, June 15, 2007, Bill Vance.
  3. "Money rain over Frankfurt am Main". www.cna.org. Archived from the original on 2015-01-01. Retrieved 2015-01-01.
  4. "Advertising". The Balance Careers. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  5. Cutlip, Scott; Center, Allen; Broom, Glen (1985). Effective Public Relations. Englewood Cliffs, new Jersey: Prentice Hall. pp. 8–9. ISBN 0-13-245077-1.
  6. Horton, James. "Publicity Stunts What Are They? Why Do Them?" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2008-10-15.
  7. "A look back at Boston's Cartoon Network bomb scare of 2007 | Boston.com | Boston.com". www.boston.com. Retrieved 2019-11-26.
  8. Kelleher, Tom (Tom A.) (2017-01-04). Public relations. New York. ISBN 978-0-19-020147-0. OCLC 954038118.
  9. "Red Bull's Stratos 'Space Jump' Wowed the World -- While Selling a Lot of Product". adage.com. 2013-09-02. Retrieved 2019-11-26.
  10. Nudd|April 11, Tim; 2012. "TNT Brings Drama to Belgium With Crazy Town-Square Stunt". www.adweek.com. Retrieved 2019-11-26.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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