In online marketing, you are only successful when you stand out from the rest. This is why the majority of the businesses perform publicity stunts to get the attention of the audience.
However, there are examples when a publicity stunt became so successful that it uplifted the image of the brand. In case, you are planning any such publicity stunts for your new marketing campaign, you can take lessons from these famous publicity stunts:
1. Proshade Stunt To Put Logo Visor On Heads Of Mount Rushmore Presidents
Year: 2006
ProShade is a company that makes a 3-in-1 gadget that makes the use of sunglasses, a visor, and a lanyard. The lanyard is like a strap necklace that allows you to carry something with it like keys or a pocketknife.
ProShade had made a valuable offer to National Park Service when they proposed to pay $4 million to Mount Rushmore in exchange for putting logo visor on each of the President’s head. Sounds silly, doesn’t it?
Much to our surprise, the whole stunt actually got a fair amount of publicity in spite of NPS rejecting the offer.
2. Ellen’s Oscar Selfie
Year: 2014
It was an electrical night at the 2014 Oscars when the host Ellen DeGeneres’ selfie went viral. Who had even the slightest idea that this one simple snap could generate so much buzz? It was reported that Samsung paid about $20 million to have Ellen clicked this selfie.
Bradly Cooper took the picture, which featured the Hollywood stars that include the likes of Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Kevin Spacey, and Brad Pitt. The picture made a record of 2 million of retweets.
3. Whitney Wolfe Launches Tinder With a Bang
Year: 2012
It’s pretty tough to get someone’s attention with something new. But Whitney Wolfe, the co- founder of Tinder, took a different approach to launch her new app. She visited plenty of college sororities and their fraternities on campus.
She would do presentations and ask all the girls to install the app. She would then go to the fraternities and the boys install the app after they saw all the girls they knew and liked.
Tinder had about 5,000 users before this stunt she managed to convert that figure into 15000 in just a matter of few days. How thoughtful of her!
4. HBO displays big Game of Thrones artwork to promote DVD launch
Year: 2016
In order to promote the release of the fifth season of ‘Game of Thrones’ on DVD and Blu-ray, the creative team had to come up with something out-of-the-box. After much discussion, it was decided that a 6mx 4m be installed at Central Saint Martins’ Crossing Gallery in London’s King’s Cross for a weekend.
The press release stated that the artwork depicted one of the most intense battle scenes in TV history, which was the massacre of character Hardhome. It took approximately 30,000 hours to complete.
However, their efforts paid off as the marketing campaign successfully take off within a week.
5. Taylor Herring Uses the Animatronic Polar Bear
Year: 2015
Ever wondered what it would be like if a polar bear appears out of the blue on a subway station and starts staring at you? Of course, you will want to flee the scene as soon as possible.
Taylor Herring did this as a publicity stunt to attract the attention of the bystanders with an animatronic bear to promote the release of Sky Atlantic’s new show Fortitude.
This novel marketing stunt actually worked for the promotion of the show. Hats off to their creative team!
6. Purina’s Pop-Up Cat Café
Year: 2014
Welcome to the world’s first ever cat café. This is where you get to snuggle the adorable pelts of adoptable felines and lounge around eating pastries and sipping some coffee. The leading media outlets like Eater and CNN barged into the cafe to celebrate its inaugural opening.
It followed a long queue of the people after the news of the café got viral and it witnessed a sudden increase in its sales.
7. ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
Year: 2014
2014 was probably the year for the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. It went viral on social media during July/August, 2014. The activity involves dumping cold water on your head to promote the awareness for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). A majority of US citizens filmed themselves as they attempted the challenge.
The purpose of the act was to prompt the viewers to donate to the cause for the ALS Association. It managed to generate substantial funding for the noble cause.
These are some of the most successful publicity stunts in recent times. Each of these stunts was successful because the creator of the campaign was able to do something new and different. It was their quest for creativity that enables them to catch the attention of the viewers.
Author Bio: Jessica Barden works as a marketing strategist for an Essay Writing Help. She diligently follows the latest advertising trends and marketing practices. She communicates her knowledge and insights into the subject with blogging. Follow her on Facebook | Twitter | Google+