• Apathy Interrupted: How Smart Marketing Wins

    Once upon a time, a movie camera was invented. What would follow were silent movies, movies in black and white, movies in color, movies with sound, special effects and eventually even 3D movies. There would be cult classics, box office biggies, busts, rom coms and everything in-between, and there would be public relations efforts for each one. These days there seems to be a new multi-million dollar movie, hitting the box office every weekend. We see articles, reviews, advertisements, and blog posts discussing both the good and bad points to the movie.

    The novelty has worn off. What used to be so special has seemingly become mundane. Today, it seems like movies’ life cycles fly by at the speed of light, hitting the box office, making millions (or not), heading straight for DVD, and becoming quickly forgotten. So how can they stand out, is PR the answer?

    Innovative and creative PR – break the normal consumer experience. Disrupt the pattern. Use different methods than the overused techniques of: online, on TV, on Facebook and all of the places we expect to see them. Do something different, generate awareness in a unique way.

    Recently two movies have done just that. Carrie and The Book Thief have interrupted my world, with their witty and thoughtful integration from the big screen into real life.

     

    Carrie

    If you haven’t seen the viral video check it out here.

    The video brings the movie to life, literally embedding the movie into the lives of those in the vicinity, in this case some seriously bewildered New Yorkers. Interacting with these people not only interrupted their typical consumer experience, but also completely shattered their sense of normality, and gained unique awareness for the movie. Watch the video and note the shocked and confused, startled and freaked out faces of those in the coffee shop. By directly involving those specific New Yorkers, and those watching the video later at home, Carrie was able to directly impact their reality by bringing the plot of the movie to life, and to create an unforgettable experience.

    As is often the case with these types of viral PR, the initial exposure is far amplified by traditional media, and social media sharing. The video has been seen by over 45 million people on Youtube, and the prank has been written about in publications from The LA Times, CBS News, and The Huffington Post, to Express in the UK and more.

     

    The Book Thief

    On Wednesday October 23rd the readers of The New York Times flipped a few pages and stared in disbelief. Blank. Pages. In the middle of section A. What in the world could be going on?

    Picture Courtesy of BuzzFeed

    The answer: The Book Thief.

    By leaving two pages of The New York Times blank, but including a URL for the movie’s website, The Book Thief interrupted the typical consumer experience. Not only did they use a non-typical channel for raising movie awareness, but they also did it in an innovative way that sparked curiosity, conversation, and created an experience. This is especially brilliant public relations because of the movie’s premise. The Book Thief is based on Markus Zusak’s novel of the same name, which follows a girl in Nazi Germany stealing books to share with others because of their scarcity. These two blank pages in The New York Times allowed the readers to experience the world inside The Book Thief.

    The blank pages immediately generated conversation. It was instantaneously discussed on BuzzFeed, Deadline New York, The Huffington Post, Business Insider and more. The Book Thief was a hot topic on Twitter, with readers of The New York Times, and those who had just heard about it, discussing what they thought about the blank pages.

    Imagine a world without books, imagine The New York Times without words – can’t do it? Then you didn’t read Wednesday’s paper. But I bet you have heard about it.

     

    Takeaway

    What can other brands learn from these examples? Doing something unusual is a great way to jumpstart coverage and awareness while giving you the opportunity to make your brand unique. Use innovative and creative PR to break the normal consumer experience.

    Here are five steps to help you find that perfect PR innovation

    1. Brainstorm – list ideas that do not follow your industry norms
    2. Use a different channel – think of where consumers see your brand, now put it somewhere different
    3. Create a unique experience for your brand – an experience that involves people immediately and that can be experienced by others after the fact
    4. Stay relevant – make sure that the experience you are creating is meaningfully connected to the brand
    5. Craft materials that are easily sharable – and that people will want to share. Ask yourself – Would I share this?

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  • PR People: We Know Enough to be Dangerous

    PR People: We Know Enough to be Dangerous

    Public Relations was not my first career choice, or so I thought. I thought that I wanted to be a lawyer, in fact I took the LSAT not once but twice, but the universe it seems had different plans. Now I find myself in a career where I represent my client’s best interest in the court of public opinion – sound familiar?  I often find that when I tell people what I do, they scoff and dismiss me as yet another liberal communications person, who was too lazy to develop the skill set of say an engineer or physicist or… a lawyer. It might not help that I live right next to Harvard and MIT, some of the most renowned academic institutions on the planet.

    I think there is a major disconnect between what people think that PR practitioners do and what we actually do. People seem to either think that PR people are slackers or not academically inclined, or my favorite – “Your work sounds like that show Mad Men.” Well let me tell you that we work very hard, and the only thing that I have in common with Don Draper and the misogynists at Sterling Cooper is an affinity for good scotch and a catchy tag line.

    Like any profession slackers make their way into PR, but they never last long and are usually weeded out early in their would-be-careers. Real PR pros – the great ones – are experts in dozens of disciplines, or at least they can convince other experts of their superior knowledge. Today I may be trying to convince a producer at NBC of why a consumer product that shines shoes is superior to all other shoe cleaning options, and tomorrow I may be talking best practices for ensuring healthcare IT security compliance with an editor at the Wall Street Journal.

    In PR you learn quickly that editors, producers and journalists have no problem telling you that you clearly have no idea what you are talking about, so you have to get a clue and get it quickly. Learn enough to be dangerous in a number of arenas and present that knowledge intelligently and confidently in a way that convinces the real expert that you just might know something more than he does – that is what it takes to be successful in PR.

    The business savvy that PR practitioners must possess, even at a young age, is something else that I think that many outside of the profession do not recognize. The opportunity to work with C-suite executives on major accounts provides a level of access that most twenty something’s can’t even dream of. You have to believe that if you are writing the CEO’s byline for Forbes you are getting a high level of attention. You also can be sure that you have instilled a high level of trust in your skill set.

    Also, as PR agency people become more seasoned, we get to witness acquisitions, mergers, hirings, firings, product launches… you get the idea – another level of access that not many people are privy to. Throughout the course of all these business moves we also get to see what works and what doesn’t. Not that PR people are or should be business advisors, but I have met some senior people who are certainly capable.

    PR requires a constant personal evolution, whether it is to keep up with new or social media or simply to learn about a new client’s industry. Good PR people aren’t just master communicators they are master formulators, planners, organizers, managers, writers, technologists, sociologists, psychologists and whatever else they might need on that day to get the job done.

    Ryan Lilly

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  • Be prepared: not just a good motto for Boy Scouts…

    As a former Boy Scout (okay, full disclosure: I lasted maybe one year…), the importance of “being prepared” was hammered into my head quite a bit when I was growing up. Honestly, it’s still probably one of the best pieces of advice anyone’s ever given me in life. Especially in PR, preparation is everything. (more…)

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  • Meeting in person

    Last week, I was reminded of how much I value in-person meetings. My team and I met with long-standing client Lexar for the purpose of planning our program for the year ahead. While we’ve been working as an extension of Lexar’s dynamite marketing team for some time – and we’ve been informed and aligned throughout the relationship – the opportunity to collaborate first-hand and overcome planning challenges together during a working session was the key to a successful process. (more…)

    Scott Signore

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