10 Yetis Insight Blog – The Use of PR Stunts To Build Interest In Upcoming Releases

Some of my favourite PR stunts are those done to generate interest in upcoming films, TV series and documentaries, and with so many having come out already this year and just as many in the pipeline, there are some fantastic PR stunts floating around - below are some that I particularly liked that I wanted to share with you...

The Gilmore Girls

Hitting our screens back in 2000, The Gilmore Girls was THE show to watch. Lorrelai and Rory had the perfect mother-daughter relationship; Lorrelai was the laid back mum we all wanted our mums to be and Rory had the brains that we all wished we had. Not to mention, Rory’s grandparents were loaded, all the hot boys wanted her, and her life in general just seemed like SO MUCH FUN!

The show came to an end in 2007, much to the despair of the fans, but not so long ago it was announced that Netflix were reviving the show for four feature length episodes that would see the characters through a year – ‘Gilmore Girls: A Year In the Life’, hitting Netflix on November 25^th.

A Netflix special, they obviously want to make a song and dance about the four new episodes, and in doing so they’ve decided to covert 200 coffee shops across the US into Luke’s Diner on October 5^th. During the day, fans will not only get to experience their own mini Stars Hollow, but the coffee will be free and there are also Gilmore Girls cups and sleeves being handed out.

We all know that Netflix doesn’t do things by half, and this is a sure-fire way to get everyone talking about the new episodes, and walking around with themed cups.

Well done Netflix!

Ghostbusters

This was a few months ago now, and I have mentioned it previously in an insight blog about PR Stunts With Minimal Effort, but if we’re talking about come backs that have made good use of PR, I can’t really not mention Ghostbusters!

The PR team behind the new Ghostbusters movie did a few good stunts, including erecting a giant marshmallow man in the middle of London Waterloo, but my favourite PR stunt was an advert that I spotted on the side of a telephone box one day; it was your typical movie advert, but it had a number for people to contact the Ghostbusters team if they needed assistance. I rang this number, just to see if it was a fake or if there was a message, and THERE WAS A MESSAGE! Recorded by none other than Chris Hemsworth, the message advised callers on what to do if they encountered a ghost, and then directed callers to their Facebook page.

I've said it before, but I really would love to know how many people called that number.

Magnificent Seven

Just a few weeks ago, to draw attention to the new Magnificent Seven movie, seven cowboys on horses were spotted riding around London. In full cowboy attire, they were first spotted in the ‘Wild West End’ of London, followed up by sightings in various London parks, crossing some of the busiest roads, as well as loitering around Boris Bike stations.

Completing their tour of London, the seven cowboys were last spotted outside the Cineworld in Leicester Square, making it all too clear that the new movie was being released a few days later.

If you ask me, that’s a PR stunt done well.

The Conjuring 2

So this PR stunt followed the release of The Conjuring 2, but it definitely helped to build interest following the launch and got people talking about the movie.be The team arranged a warehouse showing of the film and then asked those who'd come along to stick around afterwards to be asked their thoughts on camera - little did they know it was a set up and they were left alone in a room with a two-way mirror.

Waiting for someone to come in and interview them, each person could be seen using the mirror in the room (presumably to ensure they looked good prior to being filmed) only to see a reflection / of the nun from the movie looking back at them. If that wasn't enough to scare them, they then came face to face with her in the same room - where most ran out screaming.

As the video says; "A successful horror film will freak you out, even after it's ended..." and that it did. I don't particularly like horror films, but I now want to watch it to see what happened to the nun and what she does - because you know she's a scary one.

There are a lot of other remakes, prequels and the such in the pipeline, including Jumanji, Bad Boys III and Pirates of the Caribbean, and I can't wait to see what they do to generate interest in the lead up to the release of each. What I'd love to see above all though are PR stunts for the Disney remakes; we've got Beauty and the Beast coming out next year, and we've recently heard that a Lion King remake is on its way too!