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8 crazy publicity stunts that worked wonders

A look at publicity stunts that were a huge hit

Updated on: Jan 30, 2024, 20:19:23 IST
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From launching cars into space to an ice water challenge, some publicity stunts captured public awareness, generated chatter and earned massive media coverage as well. Here's a list of publicity stunts that were a huge hit:

Red Bull hosted a New Moon Party- a publicity stunt that worked wonders for the company.
Red Bull hosted a New Moon Party- a publicity stunt that worked wonders for the company.
  1. When Oral-B decided toothbrushes is what the world needs, but with a twist- Amid the Covid pandemic in the world, Oral-B thought outside the “isolation” box when they decided to use special delivery drones and robots to deliver their brand-new high-tech Oral-B iO toothbrushes to the press and influencers. In UK, these brushes were delivered without any human contact and Oral-B had the biggest laugh as they were able to find a perfect mix of tech and innovative thinking while maintaining social distancing guidelines.
  2. A party with wingsuits and no it's not the Met Gala- In 2018, Red Bull hosted a New Moon Party where guests donned wingsuits and jumped out of helicopters above the tallest building in Los Angeles as if UFOs had arrived in the city. And it grabbed eyeballs, of course because no one ever saw this thrilling publicity stunt coming.
  3. A Freudian slip but not an error in judgement- Visible Mobile released an advertisement which could easily be missed but if anyone looked closely they would read that the company was offering providers unlimited massages and not messages. Turning the typo into a win, Visible Mobile began offering free massages to customers which created a lot of intrigue around their products.
  4. Liberty bell must be rung- In 1996, Taco Bell decided to inform the media that they were purchasing the Liberty Bell- the symbol of American freedom. And voila! There was outrage over how a Mexican-themed fast food restaurant could do that but… they managed to be in the news and that was enough for them to make money- as much as $25 million.
  5. Let's talk about disease with some ice- Basically, you pour a bucket of ice water over your head to promote awareness of the disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and through that encourage donations to research. This was the ALS Ice Bucket challenge which no one had thought would work but this strange way to talk about a disease went viral and created worldwide awareness for a barely-known disease.
  6. No daring list can be without Elon Musk- Nothing about Tesla is traditional, not even its boss. So in 2018, Tesla launched one of its Roadster models into space via a SpaceX rocket ship. There was a huge risk because there was a chance of 50% failure but Elon Musk is not one to shy away from “out of the world” ideas. The stunt worked and Tesla had some real street cred, even in space.
  7. Light shines brightest in the dark- During the Super Bowl in 2013, Oreo put out a tweet after the lights at the stadium suddenly and unexpectedly went out. The tweet from Oreo read: “Power out? You can still dunk in the dark” and they had their big marketing moment.
  8. When the world realised you can find your match on Tinder- Dozens of men came to Union Square in New York City in 2018 when a woman called them. Little did they know, they were all called by the same woman to prove that dating on Tinder is indeed super easy.
  • HT News Desk
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    HT News Desk

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