A while ago there was a bit of brouhaha in the news about a Paris-based company that had (supposedly) doctored several pictures on their website and their publicity material to make a "very public" meeting between their founders and a former US Head of State appear to be as if it had taken place behind exclusively "closed doors" over at their headquarters in Paris instead.
When Reuters did their investigative journalism bit, they were first told that the "intent wasn't malicious". Later, as more details emerged, it became told that the articles (and pictures) were on the PR newswires because, well, whilst very, very important people had expressions of interest and/or invested, those plans about robotics and AI and healthcare were, you know, "in the pipeline" and therefore hadn't been presented properly to official news channels.
Disclaimer first:-
I do not know the company.
Neither do I know the founders.
However I do know that they weren't noobs to the game of PR- a piece about two of the founders- cousins, actually- in a major luxe luxury publication late last year had caught my eye.
And whilst I'm no expert to comment on whether their crisis comms was effective or s***, I, however, do have a little perspective on how one can get their name out in the press (without doctoring anything), make news, and get some coverage whilst the project is *still* under wraps or in the pipeline.
This young lady you see here is a character.
We shan't divulge her name, but we shall say that she is part of a group of young ladies who possess a certain set of superpowers, and who have- on our earth- various missions to fulfill.
She was commissioned- created- for a purpose- with a message- and a goal- to empower females to love themselves, to build up their self esteem, their self-confidence, and to be emotionally and mentally strong enough to take care of their bodies through clean, healthy lifestyles.
All this was tied to a brand.
A "new" brand.
A brand which had been revived and which was in the making to come into existence "some time in XXXX year".
We're not a company who doesn't know brand strategy.
We do.
But we're a company that chooses a technique we call Entertainment Marketing which can either lead traditional brand strategy, complement traditional brand strategy and/or replace the entire brand strategy campaign altogether.
Entertainment Marketing was what we proposed.
Entertainment Marketing coupled with brand development was what got approved.
And so this young lady (a breast cancer survivor by the way) and her sisters and the villains were brought into existence.
We won't go into the long, long story of the story.
But in short, what did get created- and got announced six months after project kickoff- in the home country of said "new" brand- was this.
"Oh, it's a comic", you say. Yes, it is a comic.
And why this is relevant to the brouhaha I wrote about earlier?
Because when this comic was announced stateside in the home country at an appropriate season, the (real) project- the project that would carry products to encourage clean, healthy living etc etc etc- was *still* somewhere in the pipeline.
Whether or not investors or partners needed to be placated (as with most PR battle campaigns are) at that time, I don't know.
I did not make the (final) decision to agree to let it go public.
But go public it did.
With these KPIs that the online article answered:-
1. Is your name there?
Yes.
2. Does it say what you do?
Yes
3. Is your mission there?
Yes
4. Does it appeal to your target consumers?
Yes
5. Are you ready to hit the shelves?
No
6. Will you be ready for the shelves?
You sincerely hope so.
At the time of release, the brand- very much in a similar situation like the aforesaid company above- too had their execution still "in the pipeline".
But what the agency did was to use the comic to angle its way out to the masses, getting the name of the brand, her mission, values, goals and all announced via an article (about the comic) that hit the indie press during the season of NYCC where readers and communities (within the age group of their target consumers) were consistently online for news and happenings at the Con.
In other words, the comic got their name out by shifting away from traditional corporate and brand announcements to approach the press with an alternate angle.
Entertainment Marketing is an oft-misunderstood approach.
Very often people seem to think that it is only about a bunch of comics or a slew of movies or this star, that star, an arsenal of dramas or mixtapes of music.
It isn't.
Entertainment Marketing isn't (only) about all of these- even though Netflix and CLOY and LOVE 020 and BATMAN and AGENTS OF SHIELD are *not* a waste of time and do wonders for our brain and soul.
In commercial speak, entertainment marketing works for two particular areas of product and brand development.
It works for OEMs to launch the (new) brand name out and develop a continued sense of interest and traction and chatter before the newly-branded products are ready to hit the shelves- and before the target consumers actually get to chatter about the brand.
It also works for established brands that have new product lines in R&D or Archive or the pipeline but for cost and investment purposes are not ready to hit the start button on the manufacturing belt yet.
Why that's so is simply because there are several topics in this world that are always newsworthy- and Entertainment is one of them.
That being said, one has to be clear that it isn't an entertainment franchise on its own (although it most certainly can be) but for the sake of the product and the product/brand development, the concept of anthropomorphism whereby your brand values, attitudes and persona have to be personified into a character (human or otherwise) has to be key.
As long as you have anthropomorphism morphed into the entertainment element of your company/brand, you're good to go.
Someone will talk about your brand.
Someone will discuss your brand.
There will be chatter.
Which will then translate into data which will then translate into better business decisions and/or serve as a base report for whatever's been done, whatever's on the cards, and whatever new growth strategies there are.
This is a technique where you don't have to travel the long winding road of brand strategy and brand development step by step to give you an angle that makes your new product and (not yet there brand) NEWS.
No samples for the press?
No problem.
No warehouse for the stock that will grant you the samples?
Also no problem.
For the public, it keeps the momentum going, never mind how business operations are all the way until your product hits distribution and display.
And if needs be, it can be a fast track way to start the ball rolling, placate impatient investors (should there be any), and even attract new ones.
I should know.
We got this out in six months.
