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Thinking Outside the Press Release
By: Marijean Jaggers | 09/25/2007
Ah, the press release. A staple of modern PR. Necessary, useful, does the job. But sometimes, don't you want to do something that makes people wake up, sit up and then maybe even get up and pursue your product or idea?
I laughed out loud while watching a recent rerun of the Colbert Report on Comedy Central. Virgin America named one of their planes in honor of Stephen Colbert, emblazoning the side of a jet with “AIR COLBERT” after a traditional craft-christening ceremony by owner Richard Branson. Stephen Colbert wore a pilot's uniform in honor of the event; he showed photographs and video clips featuring the newly launched Virgin America airline and then conducted an interview with Branson. When the segment ended, I realized I had been completely sucked in.
The PR professional behind that idea deserves a nice little bonus, both for getting the message out there and doing so in such a way that I didn't resent the blatant pitch. A relatively cheap stunt requiring only vinyl decals, a few digital pictures and a sense of humor probably resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of advertising. Not only that, but they've successfully positioned their airline as fun, innovative, humorous, hip and accessible.
And that elusive word of mouth? I guess I'm doing that for them now. I'm the public, and they, well, related to me. I'll sign up, but after I finish drafting this press release.
Posted in Strategic Public Relations, Public Relations
Justin says:
Tue, September 25, 2007 at 4:19:pm
And if you saw this on a rerun, that’s even more publicity. However, you have to be careful when going for stunts. If Colbert didn’t bite on the story, they’d be stuck with the Air Colbert plane and zero publicity. That’s a lot of so-called “eggs” in one basket. Luckily, his shtick is being an ego maniac, so their target was a good one.
I can recall several stunt publicity pitches that crossed my desk during my journalism years. Being a cynic, I usually would push them aside and then laugh through the inevitable follow-up call/pathetic plea from a PR flackie. (“No, I’m not going to cover your lame event. Call me when you have some real news.”)
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