There is a time and place for publicity stunts, and some PR stunts you may not even realise are, in fact, stunts to get media coverage. For example the The Olympic Torch Relay is executed in the months before the Winter and Summer Games and generates massive publicity for the Olympics, athletes, and sponsors .
UK PR Agency Taylor Herring have complied their top 50 publicity stunts. Here are some of my favourite.
Dove’s Campaign For Real Beauty. Unilever’s toiletry brand Dove became a household name thanks to its highly PR’able ‘Campaign for Real Beauty’ which used real women in ads rather than the stick thin models favoured its by rivals. The campaign kicked off in 2003 with adverts featuring six ordinary women in their underwear, and boosted sales by 700%.
Earth Hour. Earth Hour started off in 2007 with 2.2 million people turning off all their non essential lights in Sydney, Australia. A year later and this event had captured a global audience with up to 50 million people across 35 countries participating. Famous landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and Rome’s Coliseum all plunged into darkness as the world joined together to raise awareness of climate change issues.
PETA. The animal rights campaign group are renowned for their highly visible, frequently controversial campaigns. From young women dressed in lettuce bikinis to the annual “Running of the Nudes” PR stunt which sees PETA activists run naked through Pamplona, Spain in a parody of the bull run tradition. The organisation has managed to win the celebrity vote – as such Christy Turlington, Eva Mendes and Naomi Campbell have posed naked on billboards supporting the slogan “I’d Rather Go Naked than Wear Fur.”
Sydney Public Relations Agency, CP Communications provides specialist media, traditional and online PR strategies that get amazing results. Contact us today. For more great tips visit our website www.cpcommunications.com.au.
