October 10, 2002

Publicity Stunts: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

"I don't believe in duping the public, but I believe in first attracting them and then pleasing them." - P.T. Barnum

The origin of publicity stunts is often traced to P.T. Barnum, the master showman who gave us the three-ring circus and the ringmaster. Others argue that credit should be given to Samuel Adams, who staged events such as the Boston Tea party and created activist organizations such as the Sons of Liberty to protest against the British crown.

Edward Bernays, the self-proclaimed "father of public relations" perfected publicity stunts. Bernays carried out an elaborate plan to promote the color green amongst women on behalf of American Tobacco's Lucky Strike brand, whose packaging was dark green. The Green Ball, held in New York City's Waldorf Astoria in the 1930s, was a massive success - establishing green as a fashionable color and converting thousands of female smokers to Lucky Strike. (To learn more about Bernays, who died in 1995 at the age of 104, and the myriad of stunts he carried out over an incredibly productive 75 year career, I highly recommend Larry Tye's The Father of Spin).

Publicity stunts can indeed be highly effective influencers, changing public opinion and driving sales. Unfortunately, publicity stunts have acquired a bad rap in the past few years. Dot-com companies, in particular, have been among the worst transgressors - making noise for noise's sake. Some examples include:

* Austin Powers' Mini-Me, dressed in a BigWords.com orange jumpsuit, handing out mini-basketballs (BigWords.com sold textbooks not basketballs).

* Outpost.com's TV commercial, shooting gerbils from a cannon (What did Outpost.com sell again?)

* DotComGuy, a gentleman who locked himself in his house for a year, living solely off the Internet in an attempt to win corporate sponsorships. (Many of his sponsors went bankrupt during his year "in captivity").

Big ideas, not cheap stunts, are what change minds and get people to buy your product or service. Despite these highly publicized flameouts, publicity stunts can still work if you follow a few basic rules:

1) Tie into a special event, such as a grand opening, a milestone anniversary, or a holiday. If the event has a clever angle, it may even warrant broad media coverage.

2) Tread carefully with humor. What you think is funny may be offensive to others.

3) Talk about the product - after all, that's what you want people to buy.

4) Don't spend a lot of money. Chances are, the more money you throw at a publicity stunt, the less relevant it becomes.

Recently, I was speaking with Stan Heimowitz who runs a talent booking and public relations company in Castro Valley. He told me about a publicity stunt that he did for a company called IntraLinux that was highly successful.

When Microsoft launched Windows 2000 at Moscone Center in San Francisco, Heimowitz hired a group of actors, including a Bill Gates look-alike, to portray a boxing match in front of Moscone Center. A man dressed up as a giant penguin, the animal used in the Intralinux logo, climbed into the ring with the faux Gates. Repeatedly, the penguin knocked Gates out. While this was going on, a group of Penguinettes passed out information about IntraLinux to convention goers, pedestrians, and the assembled media.

For the cost of only $3,700 to stage the event, Heimowitz garnered public exposure and national media attention that would have cost at least twenty-five times what was spent on the event. Even better, the event communicated exactly what IntraLinux wanted: Microsoft has a new scrappy challenger that can beat it.

If you have a great idea for a winning publicity stunt for your company, just share the idea with us and we'll be happy to give you some feedback.

Best wishes,
Patrick Galvin