Creative truth

PR companies will do anything to drum up business and sometimes it involves being creative with the truth. This afternoon I was delivering my thoughts on the power of word of mouth at a Marketing Week gig in leafy Kensington. My attention was drawn to the promotional flyer of a young hungry PR hot shop that excitably blathered about its portfolio of guerrilla work. The creds included a stunt they had instigated for a well-known mobile phone operator. I was surprised to learn that the event they hijacked was the launch of the Vodafone live event that we staged – very successfully.

The true facts surrounding the stunt is that the gobo projected on the building was revolving and spiraling in all its glory whilst everyone was inside listening to Jonathon Ross stand up. When the security threatened to smash up the projector, the lily livered team headed for the hills. They did indeed return with branded taxis for a second action as hopeless as the first.

The branded cabs failed to pick up a single guest as they were positioned at the wrong exit and by the time the clueless PR had realized the error, the assembled hordes had left. Fantastic ROI and cut through. More sorry tales of PR incompetence tomorrow.