IMC Hawks Blog

Tag: promotion

  • Paul McCartney’s NEW Publicity Stunt

    The digital world of iTunes and social media has given the music industry both high and low notes. While the Internet offers accessibility, it also caters to specificity. Most predominantly, the Internet offers an array of platforms for artists to upload, share, and send their music.  However, while music junkies may be constantly searching for new digs, most people eventually acquire a particular taste for what they choose to send through their ear buds.  Internet music services such as Pandora, Spotify, and iHeartRadio allow users to handpick and listen to an endless variety of artists and genres. This narrowcasting of music leaves artists waging campaigns to try to reach listeners. As a result, clutter prevails.

    Like in advertising, clutter has become a big problem in music promotion. As Douglas Rushkoff pointed out in The Persuaders, “The more messages they create, the more they have to create to reach us.”

    The more opportunity social media platforms – YouTube, MySpace Music, and most recently Vine – offer artist to share their music, the more competitive and important promotion of music and musician become.

    So how does a music artist break through all the online music clutter without breaking budget? The answer is: great music, a little luck, and a publicity stunt.

    Not new to the music arena are surprise gigs on rooftops or buses in the middle of big cities, events known in the public relations world as a publicity stunts. This past October, music legend Sir Paul McCartney promoted his recently released album, NEW, by doing just such a thing – performing a surprise concert in the middle of Times Square.

    Paul McCartney at performs at the Times SquareTelling fans only hours before – via Twitter – he played a 15-minute long show featuring the single “New”, as well as music from the (not at the time released) album. McCartney was not only able to give NYC fans a concert, but fans from around the world could tune in through Times Square live webcast and watch the performance.

    pm tweet nyThe surprise gig resulted in social media buzz and major news coverage, all promoting the NEW album for free. The stunt was so successful; exactly a week later he performed another surprise concert in London.

    pm tweet loSir Paul McCartney proved how to conquer the masses. Not only did he succeed in making his fans happy, but also he succeeded in executing a publicity stunt that generated both word of mouth and media coverage that ended up promoting his music at no cost to him.

    –Caroline Robinson, Savannah Valade 

  • The Contribution of Celebrities in the Fight Against Breast Cancer

    An advantage to the promotion of breast cancer-awareness for celebrities can be their ongoing fame and popularity. Their voices are being heard, and can get the point across to both women and men that this is an urgent issue and should be taken very seriously. Various celebrities have been diagnosed with breast cancer and are using their popularity, courage, and personal experience with the fight to serve as a source of inspiration to other women and men. It sounds strange to put men in this category; but yes, men can also be diagnosed with breast cancer.

    An article titled “Celebrity Breast Cancer Fighters”, located on the knowcancer.com website, releases that Cynthia Nixon, popularly referred to as “Miranda” from the show “Sex and the City”, was “diagnosed with breast cancer during a routine mammogram in 2006. She initially battled it without a public announcement of her diagnosis or treatment in fear of related stigma, but in 2008 she announced it to the world in an interview with Good Morning America.” Nixon portrayed much bravery and thoughtfulness throughout her interview as she explained with much understanding why some women fear yearly mammograms. Nixon addressed this fear and also offered positive, yet convincing advice to all who were listening.
    Celebrity status has been a great way of reaching a wide-ranged audience, proving that numerous celebrities’ lives have been unavoidably interrupted by breast cancer that they are not alone in this fight. Professional athletes and teams are also jumping on the awareness support-train. The NFL, its club teams, and all of the professional players in the association are wearing pink with pride in order to support the fight against breast cancer. According to the official nfl.com/pink website, the NFL’s “A Crucial Catch” campaign, in partnership with the American Cancer Society, is “focused on the importance of annual screenings, especially for women who are 40 and older. Throughout October, NFL games will feature players, coaches and referees wearing pink game apparel, on-field pink ribbon stencils, special game balls and pink coins – all to help raise awareness for this important campaign.” These organizations are aware that breast cancer can happen to anyone and having this kind of support could mean the world to those diagnosed.  An auction will later be held by the NFL with proceeds going to the American Cancer Society’s CHANGE program. All the pink apparel worn by the coaches and players will be auctioned off, along with special pink game footballs.

    According to www.cancer.gov, breast cancer is the most prevalent non-skin cancer among women with 203,000 new cases diagnosed along with over 40,000 deaths in 2007 alone.  Using celebrities as spokespeople for the cause can be a great way to spread awareness and get more people involved.  Ultimately, this can get more money raised for research, treatment, and cures.  As previously stated, getting celebrities to speak out about breast cancer not only helps with current cases but helps in the detection process as well, for it promotes mammograms and routine check-ups.  It is great to see various celebrities and sports organizations come together to fight a cancer that is so detrimental to hundreds of thousands of Americans.

    –Sasha De Vecchi, Lindsay Gallagher, Jay Reilly, Cary Welborn

  • Has the Branding of Humans by Companies Gone Too Far?

    Marketers and advertisers have been getting more and more creative with how they choose to promote their brand and products. A recent trend has been the one of the “walking billboard.” Many people have been willing to brand almost any part of their body for the right price.


    In more recent years, tattoos have been seen as both as cultural icons as well as innovative methods to deliver a specific message. Web sites such as LeaseYourBody.com, TatAD.com, BodyBillboardz.com, HumanBanner.com, and LivingAdSpace.com connect brands and potential advertisers with individuals who are willing get “branded” for money.

    Many popular brands such as Volvo have used these creative tattoo advertisements to further promote their cars. Linda Gangeri, national advertising manager of Volvo Cars of North America, said their tattoo man was a way to get people to think differently about the Volvo brand.  Being a “walking billboard” is an extreme example of how people are being used to creatively advertise for brands in today’s society.

    There are less permanent and drastic ways in which someone can brand themselves for a company. Clothing is a great example. Clothing will always be a great tool for human branding because it is one of the first things we notice about the appearance of others.  In recent years, there have been rumors circulating that Abercrombie and Fitch pays individuals to come into their store and shop whilst wearing their clothes.  Even more recent are the allegations that the company has done the exact opposite as well. In 2011, the company reportedly offered the cast members of MTV’s “Jersey Shore”, specifically Mike “The Situation”, to not wear their clothes while filming the popular TV series. They felt that the cast members wearing their clothes affected their brand negatively rather than positively and did not want to be affiliated with the show. Clothing is also largely used by brands that are not restricted to apparel to benefit both the clothing store, and their own brand. For instance, the clothing store “Hot Topic” sells a variety of different t-shirts from many different companies. One of the big examples is the “Twilight” series. By selling shirts that relate to the book or movies, the people who buy these shirts then become walking billboards for both “Twilight” as well as “Hot Topic”. Clothing has been and remains to be a great tool for human branding for the simple fact that in society, appearance really does seem to be everything. If someone is attractive and is wearing a t-shirt that promotes something, most people that see this person are likely to be influenced by what is being advertised on the shirt.  The “Legalize Gay” shirts from “American Apparel” are a great example. Not only does the shirt promote a cause, but some people even think it’s trendy. This caused the design to become a quick success for “American Apparel”.

    Along with self-branding through choice of apparel, companies use celebrities to promote their brand by paying them a great deal of money to wear their clothes, jewelry, hats, sunglasses, etc. In 2003, famous tennis player Serena Williams signed a sponsorship contract with Nike which agreed to pay her over 8 million dollars a year just to wear Nike’s logo on her uniforms and visors while playing. Not only is Serene getting paid; she does not even have to buy her clothes from Nike because they are given to her. The better and more popular the athlete, the more money companies choose to invest into that particular person or team. Tiger Woods is another athlete that has been ridiculous sums of money just to wear and boost certain brands. Before his sex scandal, Tiger allegedly made between 55-60 million dollars from endorsements.  After, the controversy, he makes about 20 million less, but still an incredible amount of money just to wear Nike apparel.  This marketing strategy applies to fashion and luxury brands as well. On the “red carpet”, interviewers are constantly asking who designed celebrities’ dresses or what brand of jewelry are they wearing. Throughout the past couple of years, the number of film stars that accept fees for wearing a brand’s designs or jewels at the Academy Awards and other red-carpet events has significantly increased. Lucie Greene, the author of many articles located in FT Magazine, stated that “last year US Weekly reported that Oscar host Anne Hathaway was paid $750,000 by Tiffany & Co to wear its jewels throughout the ceremony. The same story said that Gwyneth Paltrow was paid $500,000 to wear Louis Vuitton baubles during her live performance” that same night of the Oscars. Businesses are looking for every possible way they can find to market their brand and increase sales and participation. Phillip Bloch, a professional stylist who works with the popular celebrity Sandra Bullock, along with many other famous clients, views this pay-to-wear trend a smart branding strategy. “It’s a business more than ever now”, Bloch says.

    Over time, the ways in which people are used to promote and essentially brand a company have evolved.  While clothing has been around for quite some time, the creative ways in which it is used has been changing in recent years.  Celebrities have been used to wear a brand and increase revenue.  As notes, extremes such as being a “walking billboard” have become more and more prominent.  As is natural in a social setting, people are extremely influential upon one another.  Thus starts the argument that as technology develops over time, the ways in which humans are used to advertise will as well.

    –Sasha De Vecchi, Lindsay Gallagher, Jay Reilly, Cary Welborn

  • We’ve got Canes Fever!

    With October comes many things, the beginning of fall, Halloween, and one of my personal favorites, hockey season!  Granted, along with millions of other fans, I have been watching preseason games since September, but there is something indescribable about watching your favorite team play their first game of the season that I love.  This year was no different; I was so excited to watch my beloved Carolina Hurricanes play the Minnesota Wild that I had trouble sleeping the night before.

    Despite being a popular NHL franchise now, the ‘Canes haven’t always had the same following.  When the franchise first moved to North Carolina in 1996, their fan base was small.  Many people thought, “Hockey, in North Carolina?  Are you sure this is going to work?”  We aren’t exactly a state know for frigid temperatures and long winters typically associated with the ice sport.  This, coupled with the fact that the team played its first two seasons in Greensboro, a city somewhat out of the way for a sport that doesn’t have many followers and a team that doesn’t have many fans, proved to be a stumbling block.  Luckily, over the next few years the team’s success steadily increased, thanks in part to player improvement, relocating to Raleigh, and the efforts to spread the sport of hockey to North Carolina.

    Although winning the Stanley Cup for the 2005-2006 season helped to bolster the team’s fan base, the Hurricanes would not be where they are today without the efforts of the promotions and fan development department.  The department continually strives to promote and bring the sport of hockey to everybody.  They accomplish this through initiatives such as the organization, Canes Youth and Amateur Hockey (CYAH), an effort to get involved with youth hockey at all skill levels.  They also take advantage of in-game promotions including fun activities on and off the ice.  The team mascot, Stormy makes special visits to local schools and is available for parties and functions.  During games, the Storm Squad pumps up the crowd with cheers and entertainment.  The Storm Squad is also available for charity events and corporate outings.  Another unique promotional activity that the team uses is the Canes Cool Bar.  This is when the Carolina Ale House hosts a live broadcast during the game.  For fans who want to learn more about their favorite players, they can enroll in Hurricanes U, which provides students with a t-shirt, handbook, tickets to a Hurricanes game, and a graduation certificate.  Before every home game, one lucky fan gets to sound the Hurricanes Warning Siren, which signals the start of the game.  All of these promotional activities create a community for fans to come together and celebrate being Caniacs.

    Sarah McIntosh, Sean O’Connell, Eliza Wadson, Jocelyn Walson