What does...PR stunt actually mean?
In his column «What Does It Actually Mean…?», Benno Maggi explores terms from the fields of marketing and communications. This time, he discusses the term «PR stunt.».
Every idea, no matter how tired, that gets so-called earned media coverage is now called a PR stunt. Why is that? As if it were a dangerous, acrobatic feat to get the media to report on something without paying for it.
Public relations? Of course... Advertising would be more appropriate
The fact that everything that is not classic paid advertising is called a PR stunt is probably more to do with the fact that two terms are linked here, with huge scope for interpretation. Firstly, there is the PR term - how often have we talked about public relations in meetings when we actually meant advertising? No explanation of the meaning can follow at this point, but a recommendation to all experts among the readers: Please be precise in your statements when you talk about PR.
In the age of TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, public reports, paid content, content cooperations and the like, the boundaries between paid and unpaid content are blurred beyond recognition anyway, so it helps if you speak a clear language and show how classic PR works. But what are the media's own journalistic services and what is paid and ready-made content from companies and advertisers that is published as content? And what content is initiated by companies and advertisers, but is so relevant that it is also published (voluntarily and unpaid)?
When content is increasingly supplied or dictated by advertisers, political pacesetters and investors, it comes as no surprise that the TX Group recently wrote in a press release via its subsidiary Tamedia that 90 editorial jobs are to be cut. What is more surprising is that the press release went on to say: "[...] Advertising revenues at Tamedia and 20 Minuten [...] declined." The attentive readers are wondering what is and what is not booked under "advertising revenue" at Tamedia, given the large amount of paid content in 20 Minuten. It feels and reads more like much more is paid for content than is shown in the books. But that's another story.
The art of trickery
Stunt is an English term that can best be translated into German as "Kunststück" or "Trick". We got to know it in the German-speaking cultural area through the movies. This is when someone else replaces the famous actresses and actors for particularly dangerous action or sex scenes and plays the scenes for them. So naturally that the audience doesn't notice. Or is simply tricked. But who is ultimately tricked in a PR stunt?
The media with their journalists, who should not realize that the sole purpose of this action is to be published for free? C'mon! You can't be serious. Or are you referring to the tricks that agencies and clients use to celebrate their successes afterwards? In their cases, even the lamest of PR ideas are hyped up thanks to moving images and (well, of course) paid or coerced extras, so that the first impression is one of: Wow, what a cool campaign. But on closer inspection, as with a tired spell, you don't really trust the whole thing. Did it really happen? Was it really as successful as it seems? And why did it pass me by? Well, that's just the nature of stunts. They leave the audience with a pale aftertaste. Actors and actresses who don't let themselves be doubled, but play the scenes themselves and in real life, are cooler than the others. Or to put it in marketing terms: the only real PR stunt took place on October 14, 2012 in Roswell, New Mexico by Felix Baumgartner, on behalf of and on the initiative of Redbull. His jump from the stratosphere (from an incredible height of 39 km) towards the ground at a top speed of 1,342.8 km/h and a fall time of 4 minutes and 19 seconds remains unparalleled as a PR stunt to this day. Everyone - and that really means EVERYONE - reported on it worldwide. If anyone knew how to manipulate us all - consumers, advertisers, journalists and investors - it was RedBull founder and marketing mastermind Dieter Mateschitz. He was the greatest PR stunt man of all time! That is the benchmark and makes everything else look tired, artificial and cheap. And even ineffective. So please leave it alone.
* Benno Maggi is co-founder and CEO of Partner & Partner. He has been eavesdropping on the industry for over 30 years, discovering words and terms for us that can either be used for small talk, pomposity, excitement, playing Scrabble, or just because.
