What is a PR Stunt?
PR stunts, often referred to as ‘publicity stunts’, are events that have been precisely designed to capture the interest of an intended public audience and direct that attention towards the brand, company or person who is the ‘face’ of the stunt.
Public Relations – professionally dealing with the way a business or individual is portrayed in the public eye and pushing forward a positive image of them for the general population to see. When executed successfully, PR campaigns vastly improve the B2C (business-to-consumer) relationship.
Now that the definitions are out the way, let’s sink our teeth into some examples of innovative and successful PR stunts that have already grasped the public’s attention and catapulted brand popularity! (examples below)
The Corona Wave of Waste
Huawei iPhone Charger Prank
The Fearless Girl Statue
Hopefully, after having read this sector of the article, you’re familiar with what a PR stunt should look and feel like. They attract the eyes, ears and souls of those that they reach and build deeper connections between all involved, creating a better interacting environment for both businesses and consumers.
Why Are PR Stunts so Effective?
Well-executed PR stunts in the modern era (that is now largely influenced by the internet) can have a massive impact in both the tangible and online realms. The way that social media and online articles can be used to perpetuate the buzz of a publicity stunt is mind-boggling, especially when you look at the facts and figures. Data can be found to show numbers in the billions and beyond when it comes to the quantity of total impressions the best viral PR stunts can generate.
But what is it that makes the stunt resonate so much with the people experiencing it that they choose to share that experience with others? That is the million-dollar question, but the answer to this subtitle lies within it…
PR stunts, when thoughtfully organised and accurately implemented, resonate with the intended audience and cause them to feel some type of way. It’s not just a passing comment or a standard image. These stunts engage an audience on a deeper, more personal level. Whether it makes them laugh, smile, cry or cringe, they are experiencing an emotion that is the product of your stunt. For this reason, it’ll be infinitely more memorable to them and maybe even prompt them into action, whether it’s sharing, buying, changing a habit; whatever your intentions were with the publicity stunt, an emotional connection between it and the audience will see it prevail.
How do I Arrange a PR Stunt?
There are many processes when it comes to pulling off the perfect publicity stunt; from idea conception to execution and all the steps in-between. A lot of research, sourcing, planning, trialling and labour goes into achieving the end goal, but experience will always prevail and give you that cutting-edge.
If you don’t have any experience, getting a specialist agency on board is always a great idea. The thing with PR stunts is that there are so many different factors involved in its success, so trial and error really is the quickest and most effective way to work on getting things right. Taking knowledge, learned from previously successful and unsuccessful PR stunts, and applying it to current projects really maximises the chance of prosperity and that’s what an agency like ourselves can bring to the table.
As well as experience, Sketch Events have a broad catalogue of contacts and suppliers with whom we can get in touch, thus enabling us to pull off almost any kind of stunt from bespoke, ecologically-aware sculptures to red carpet pranks… just check out our track record! Being one of the most renowned agencies in the UK we’ve worked with plenty of big-name brands and large corporations, so we’re always working at a tremendously high standard.
If you’d like to get in touch with us about organising and implementing your own PR stunt campaign, please visit our contact page and either send an e-mail fill out our contact form. Alternatively, you can give us a call on 01273 749000. We look forward to hearing from you!
