The fact that Extinction Rebellion is less than two years old is testament to the power of PR. Not since Greenpeace has an organisation used publicity stunts so effectively to raise awareness and gather support for their cause.
Masters of the publicity stunt
For decades publicity stunts have been used by corporations, celebrities, politicians and movements to reach bigger audiences than they could afford to target via advertising or other paid channels. The premise is simple – just come up with an activity that attracts the attention of the public and the press and then sit back while they share your story for free – but in practice it’s not that easy to pull off an event that is audacious, original, brave and relevant enough to earn the attention that a good publicity stunt gets.
Over the last eighteen months, however, Extinction Rebellion made it look easy. They started out blocking bridges over the Thames, progressed to disrupting Heathrow with drones and then staged protests that shut down central London. Each stunt earned them massive amounts of press coverage, saw them trending on social media and increased their number of followers.
How a campaign of publicity stunts can lead to PR fails
But the problem with a campaign of publicity stunts is that each stunt has to surpass the last in order to keep attracting attention. You have to keep upping the ante to get the same results, and, if you aren’t careful, you can get so carried away with making an impact that you lose sight of the campaign message. That’s how you end up with activists on top of trains, disrupting what is one of the most environmentally-friendly forms of transport available and alienating your supporters. While some argue that the tube protest was actually successful because it generated an enormous amount of publicity, most of the coverage had a negative sentiment and could actually undermine their public support.
The broadcast connection
You might be wondering what any of this has to do with broadcast tech, especially seeing as publicity stunts are so seldom used in this industry. But I can’t help seeing the similarities between XR’s overuse of publicity stunts and our sector’s obsession with new technology releases. In the same way that each publicity stunt has to outdo the last, broadcast tech manufacturers are under pressure to come up with new releases for each trade show to capture the attention of a crowded market. So, press releases are drafted, launches are organised and demos are carefully orchestrated to maximise impact, but ultimately, when customers discover the reality of products that are not yet ready for market, like Canning Town commuters, they’re left angry and disillusioned.
Whether you’re using publicity stunts or other public relations methods to increase your reach, any activity that isn’t improving your reputation amongst your customers or supporters isn’t doing you any good – no matter how much news coverage it generates.
Get in touch to talk about PR campaigns that won’t leave your customers disillusioned