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‘Staged leaks’ revealed as most effective PR stunt

Forget the cliché of ‘floating giant things down the Thames’; staged company leaks are the most effective PR stunt. That’s according to the Wildfire labs’ team of PR ‘scientists’, which has found that staged leaks achieve more than 600 coverage hits and around 10,000 social media mentions, on average. That’s three times the coverage and five times the social traction compared to the mean results of all the stunts analysed.

Launching ‘fake’ products and viral videos are second and third respectively in the analysis of successful PR stunts.

As part of its mission to explore the science of PR, the latest Wildfire labs ‘experiment’ sought to work out the types of stunts that actually deliver the best bang for a brand’s buck. Using an independent list of the best PR stunts from 2015 and 2016*, the labs team analysed each stunt for total global coverage, social mentions and social likes**. This data was then used to give each category of stunt an overall effectiveness score.

Debby Penton, managing director of Wildfire, commented: “In the age of fake news it seems fitting that the best stunts also involve some sort of fakery. More interestingly, the data also highlights that while ‘established’ stunts, such as experiential events or pop-up shops, can still deliver solid results, the best cut-through was more often than not achieved with exceptionally basic ideas.

“The labs experiment shows that just because you can do a stunt it doesn’t mean you should. Ultimately, PR is about making connections with your audiences – even if that means doing something a bit unexpected – and it’s only when used in service of that goal that stunts deliver the biggest impact.”

For more information about Wildfire labs and to see the full results of the experiment please visit: www.wildfirepr.com/labs

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Robyn Mawn .