Top Ten PR Stunts 2012
1. The Great Jump, 2012
Felix Baumgartner became the first person to break the sound barrier without the help of a machine by falling 23 miles from the earth’s stratosphere. The event was sponsored by Red Bull. The jump earned the world’s attention and accounted for one percent of all online conversations at the time.
2. Truth in Advertising, 2012
Richard Neill had no idea his Facebook post criticizing Bodyfrom’s misleading advertising of happy periods would get so much attention. He got 100,000 Facebook likes and a well-done response video called “The Truth” from Bodyform.
3. An Exciting Pothole App, 2012
TAXI, a multi-disciplinary Toronto studio launched an app called Pothole Season that allowed Canadians to report potholes. They stuck an actual car in a pothole in downtown Montreal to promote the app.
4. Free Wi-Fi comes at a High Cost, 2012
BBH Labs, organized a publicity stunt during Austin’s South By Southwest music festival where homeless people were paid (low wages) to cary around Wi-Fi signals. The homeless wore shirts that said “I am a 4G Hotspot”. The firm was criticized for exploiting Austin’s homeless.
5. Photoshopped, 2012
Tucker Max photoshopped screenshots of controversial ads on conservative websites, like glennbeck.com. Most of the ads never actually ran and the stunt didn’t grab as much attention as hoped
6. Offensive Tweets, 2012
To promote a book, Tucker Max paid celebrities to tweet really offensive things. Most Tweets got rejected, but the few that went through got the book some coverage. Forbes and a few blogs picked up on it and it was seen about 500,000 times.
7. Vandalize These Billboards, Please, 2012
To promote Tucker Max’s book, Ryan Holiday bought billboards in LA, NYC and Chicago with the aim of having people vandalizing these billboards. They put profane stickers on these billboards and then gave anonymous tips to bloggers about what happened. Bloggers ran the story and then a group of feminists in NYC vandalized the profane billboards. The Village Voice covered this effort and then a nationwide movement was started to vandalize those billboards.
8. Ben and Jerry Lock in the Flavor, 2012
Ben and Jerry’s ice cream is so good that some die hard fans feel their pints should be padlocked. The company started selling a ‘Euphori-Lock’ that states “I’m terribly sorry but there is no u in my pint”. While this stunt may not have increased sales for the company, it surely reaffirmed the desirability of their product.
9. Tropicana’s Bright Idea, 2012
Tropicana installed a large sun over Trafalgar Square on a dreary January morning in London. They handed out over 35,000 orange juice cartons that day too and allowed the commuters and tourists to sit and watch the sunrise with branded sunglasses and blankets. What a bright way to gain publicity.
10. A Beautiful Stunt, 2012
Dove decided to ‘spread to love’ with a campaign that targeted London commuters. Dove encouraged commuters to tweet and text answers to various questions they posed on an interactive screen located in London’s busy Victoria station. The questions included “what makes you feel beautiful” and streamed the answers real time on the screen. Not only did they engage the commuters in conversation, they also put smiles on people’s faces by giving them presents to give to their valentines.
