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Expensive PR events - are they worth it?
By Editor on Jun 2, 2007 in event, filmPR, lifestylePR, mediarelations
I saw this post by Richard at the PR Place talking about expensive press stunts as a waste of money and made me think again about how we organise big media events here in India and do all of them really make sense.
Richard wrote that expensive press stunts are a waste of money which could be better spent on other PR activities. Whilst the quantity of coverage can be extensive, the type and quality of the coverage of poor.
His case study was a PR stunt organised by Motorola in which a PR pro was accompanying a mountaineer (Rod Baber) on his trip up Mount Everest to make the world’s highest mobile phone call. Even though Motorola invested a lot resources in the activity, some of the media didn’t mentioned Motorola at all and there were some negative coverage as well.
Back home, we organise all sorts of media events. Events can be simple, creative, and unique (without much expense) and the media can get interested in covering these. However, there are not many of such that we have heard of. These are particularly those few that are of mass appeal or of those subjects that are already topical and are being talked about among the masses at a particular time.
Then there are events for our clients’ product launches, VIP visits, office openings, anniversaries, etc. For such occasions, we help our clients invite celebrity movie or sport stars, and help organise fashion shows, stage skits, belly dance performance, musical performance, etc. in a bid to attract more audience and media. I even was part of a team once that organised a coyote ugly show for the launch of a bar. Let’s see the pros and cons of organising such media events.
Pros: Cons: Now consider this, if I have client who is opening a showroom or a restaurant in Delhi and wants to get some good media publicity from the opening event, what would I advise him? If we invite a celebrity, I’m sure that many media will turn up to cover the celebrity. The flow of the event is simple - celebrity comes, smiles, and say something nice - and I don’t have to wreak my brains for it. Post the event, so what if we we get just one-word mentions in he media stories - ‘ So and so at the opening of new …….. at Delhi’ - that’s enough to create the desired buzz. But hey, the big question is would my client be willing to shell out Rs. 3 lac for the celebrity fee. Would the results be a good ROI for him? Now if we don’t recommend inviting a celebrity or a fashion show, etc, what are the alternatives? Organising en event without these props, however creative it might be, might not interest the media much. After all, it is just a showroom/ retaurant launch. This is just one basic scenario that I have talked about where inviting a celebrity or organising a big fashion show, musical night, etc. might seem like the only way out. These also work more small companies. The scenario might be different for bigger brands and bigger companies. In the case of Motorola, they had an option of not doing the stunt also. Any feedback from anybody?
On Jun 3, 2007, Carmel Joseph said:
I agree that spending thousands of dollars on a publicity event could be a waste, however risks must be taken to get the desired outcome. Depending on the brand, promotions that are extravagant may not be wise. Most companies do turn to including celebrities in events because they feel it would maximize their exposure. Like you said, I believe having a creative approach would attract media in itself. I don’t know how the Motorola PR stunt was organized, but I think choosing such an expensive event may not have been the best idea if it did not have a positve result. Maybe it could have been more successful if they had more observable promotions within coverage such as the participants in the event wearing Motorola paraphernalia.
On Jun 4, 2007, hobbithob said:
hi carmel, thanks for the inputs. Can we say ‘calculated risks’?
Creativity sure attracts the media but how many are willing to slog their brains out, I wonder. Inviting a celebrity seems to some like a quick fix to some PR worries.
On Jun 7, 2007, mesmerized said:
I remember reading that Swift had done a pre launch showcase just for the media. So they basically showcased the car and invited the media to come and have a look at exactly what swift is like.
Im sure that got them better ROI than a post launch + celebrity fiasco.
PRiya Shah
a pr aspirant
On Jun 12, 2007, hobbithob said:
hi Priya, you are right. Exclusive media events are money savers than having extensive consumers plus media events. But well, we have too see that the media do attend these exclusive events also. Car launches might almost always interest the auto beat journos. Convert the product with a tyre or a auto component, then they might not be so interesting to the journos.
On Jun 27, 2007, reetesh said:
I appreciate the topic and the comments it received.
One’s strategy depends upon the products u wish to promote. How could be make same strategy to promote A380 and a life style magazine especially for women. This has to be different to maximize the visibility.
Sometime product plays a role of celebrity as well, like A380, it was completely new for whole world and each and everyone were keen to have a look of this Airbus, so its creates a lot of curiosity amongst all the target audience but we can not expect the same by any other products like bicycle. This product requires some celebrity to maximize the visibility.
This is why we need to understand the product carefully and then make a strategy to get the maximum media presence.
Here I would like to add on one more point, today you can not rely on the celebrity also. You need to have a very specific kind of celebrity and then you need to associate the person with your purpose. Like calling Nafisha Ali for a fashion show would not work or calling Udit Narayan for opening a showroom.
On Jun 27, 2007, hobbithob said:
I agree with you Reetesh. we need to create certain messaging with product launches that are in sync with the product USPs.