When celebrities do something
outrageous or a company makes the news for something
charitable, there is a PR professional waving a wand to make a
PR stunt appear.
But what is this magic?
media update's Alrika Möller explains the art of the publicity stunt below: The concept is built on two approaches:
1. Any press is good press
The idea that any press is good press basically means it's important that people
know who you are and what they are
saying about you. Some
PR stunts are
subtle while others are big and flashy,
like sawing a man in half.
In 2015, National Geographic had a truck drive through London with what looked like an injured dinosaur on the back. Naturally, the amount of Google searches for dinosaurs skyrocketed, making its new documentary very popular.
2. Make people talk about something else
This one is the most common. When a celebrity or company is in trouble, they often create a
diversion to make people talk about something else.
The
diversion technique is like a magician doing something
cool to distract from the assistant climbing out of the box during a vanishing trick:
Look here, while things are actually happening over there.