A PR Tactic that really Sticks out!

 A few weeks ago my parents came back from an all expenses paid, group holiday to the Maldives. Upon their return, they showed me a memento that they were given from the trip and I was really astounded and inspired to find that unlike the conventional native delicacies or tacky souvenirs that one might naturally expect to find in a  “good-bye goodie bag”, they were given this medium sized, round, sterling-silver pendent instead. Now you might be thinking, isn’t this one of those tacky souvenirs you were just speaking about Bianca? Well let me tell you, looks can be deceiving. Inside this smooth silver pendant was something so small yet so significant, that it transformed this gift from something essentially tacky and common to a clever and creative testament to original thinking and Public Relations.  

 

 Want to know what it was? 

A USB memory stick.

 

Yes, that unappealing, little, silver piece of metal that so many of us take for granted in our everyday lives was dressed up and given as a fancy memento, full of photographs taken of the group on their trip. As soon as I pulled apart the pendent to find the USB stick hiding inside, I was instantly hit with a feeling of inspiration and admiration for the visionaries behind the creation of this gift.

Because sometimes, I think that a PR practitioner’s role to simply connect a corporation with its target publics can, like the unassuming USB stick, be taken for granted and underestimated in this day and age.  Sometimes even the most basic connection with a business or brand’s target audiences might tick the boxes and seem enough in order to satisfy the average PR practitioner, when what it really takes is creative and innovative thinking to truly establish a distinguished and lasting connection with people. This is what this USB pendant signifies for me.

PR practitioners really do have the power and potential to connect audiences with the honest and emotional being of a brand.  So when I see tactics like this that go beyond the norm and actually do try to facilitate this connection on another level, it inspires me to apply these lessons learnt in my own journey as well as strive to find a unique and meaningful point of difference in my own Public Relation's world.

German Brand Whites Out its competition with Social Media

There's no denying that as an aspiring PR practitioner, a need to know, understand and utilize Social Media is a 'must' in the 21st Century. Every day, corporations are finding new and innovative ways to reach out and connect with their target publics beyond previously conceived social media boundaries.
The German correction-fluid brand, Tipp-ex, is one of these companies and I wanted to commend them in my very first blog entry, for inspiring me to push the sides of the societal box in which we think and live, and make room for something that hadn't been considered before.

It's videos like this that, in my opinion, really work to carve a divide between simple social media use and the true potential of this global medium. Though Social media is certainly an essential PR/Marketing tool in this century, it can and does have its drawbacks if its not utilized in a way that harnesses its true potential.

Also, considering how many businesses actually use social media these days, sometimes a presence on these social networking sites is not enough. This is why brands like Tipp-ex do so well because they break the mould and give us a glimpse of what social media can actually do for a brand when you add a few other ingredients like creativity, innovation and inspiring originality into the mix.


Check it out!