Monday, October 20, 2014

PR lessons from "Gone Girl", design a 'Guybrator' & who'd be Sinn Fein's PRO this week



4 PR lessons from “Gone Girl”
Fresh from seeing the film last night, I couldn’t resist this piece offering PR lessons from the book and film!  The tips include preparing for the media, coming clean and calling in the experts.  What was shown to great effect in the film is how quickly the story caught hold and how Nick found himself under siege by the media with his marriage being discussed and torn apart on TV by so-called ‘experts’!   And a couple of twists later -  how he is loved by the media!

Design a Guybrator please!
It’s all about the language you use - whether selling a vibrator, guybrator or an e-cigarette according to the case studies in this interesting article.   When the guys who designed “Pulse” – a guybrator – or vibrator for men – stopped calling it a ‘sex toy’ and instead described it as a “therapeutic massager for the health and wellness sector”, designers and the banks began to listen!  Similarly the ‘Blu Ecig’ is not described as a smoking cessation device but as a ‘lifestyle choice’.  Design-wise, it’s black with a blue tip which re-enforces that messaging.  When selling a controversial product, the advice is to “do it with conviction” – like Red Bull does.

Worst PR job this week – PRO for Sinn Fein?
I don’t usually go political in my blog but, from a communications point of view, it will be a challenging week for Sinn Fein.  Who’d want to be their public relations officer?  Interesting to see how they handle the Mairia Cahill story over the next few days?  How will Mary Lou McDonald separate the ‘new’ Sinn Fein from the old?  For example, Mairia Cahill, who seems to be brave beyond belief and believed by most people, stated this morning on Newstalk Breakfast that her grandfather recruited Gerry Adams into the IRA – yet he still maintains he was never a member. Ms. McDonald made a point of emphasising her Dublin roots i.e far removed from what went on in Belfast during those years.  So how will she show Sinn Fein has moved on and is an open transparent organisation while supporting Gerry Adams’ denial and the old SF/IRA hierarchy?



No comments:

Post a Comment