Are you parked . . . or are you driving?

9 INCH AXIOM – opportunity knocks

‘The time to hit the gas pedal in marketing is not when everyone else is speeding, but when your competitors are downshifting or sitting on the curb’

I spent a great deal of time thinking about this visual.  I wanted it to sum up three things:

1.   Brands are sitting on their wallets.  It seems like everything needs to immediately drive ROI.
2.  Brands are staying well inside the box.  Conservative behavior and doing ‘what you know’ is winning the day.
3.  Brands are thinking and waiting and then doing some more thinking and waiting.

[Sidebar - I tell people all the time that I used to be indecisive . . . but now I'm not too sure]

Opportunity Knocks

There is a real opportunity to try to cut through the clutter and make some noise.  The majority of brands are sitting on the sidelines.  It’s difficult to stand out when everyone is cruising along at 70 miles per hour.  You would have to speed at nearly 100 to try to separate yourself from the pack, traveling a long distance to gain any measurable ground.  But when the rest of pack is throttling back or parked on the side of the road, there comes an opportunity to move the needle.

PR Stunts 

One of the ways to make an impact is by staging a stunt or large scale launch.  Here is a great blog post from the PR Firm Taylor Herring which chronicles the Top 50 publicity stunts.  It’s a wonderful list containing some great thought starters.So – what are the ‘must have’ elements when considering a PR Stunt.  Here are my thoughts on the Top 5:

1. Concept – What’s the big idea?  It needs to unique, different or an interesting new twist.
2. Sticky – Does it move the needle? It needs to capture the attention of the public and media.
3. Relevant – Why now?  It needs to be meaningful from both a time and place perspective.  It also needs to be relevant to the product or service.
4. Authentic – Are you giving back? It can’t just be about generating media.  Charity, Kids, Education?
5. Eye-catching – What’s that signature image from the stunt?  Begin with the end in mind.  What is that key visual from the stunt and how do you weave the brand into the fabric of the shot?

Are you willing to push the needle?  It comes down to whether you are parked . . . or are you driving?

Today’s Lagniappe - I’ve had the privilege of being a part of some very cool ‘stunts’ in my role at Synergy.  One of the most interesting programs was called ‘Face from Space’.  The program helped launch KFC’s newest logo.  The concept was to build the world’s largest logo.  The logo was viewable from space and was photographed by the Google satellite.

Here is a great timelapse video of the build [Pay attention to the last few seconds.   A near cautionary tale when dealing with shooting b-roll with a helicopter]

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