For those of you who have ever been on a blind date that didn’t quite work out, try spending it enclosed in a glass box in the middle of Sydney’s busy Circular Quay.
That is what new dating website, partner4real, is doing to some lucky – or unlucky – contestants later this month. While it’s not the first time a stunt has been used to highlight a launch, some have been more memorable and effective than others.
Drew Lambert, senior account director at Markson Sparks points to a recent example during Sydney Fashion Week, when the Discovery Group, for its fashion brand Lili, hijacked the fashion show by conning their way into the event with a van. Out of the back of the van popped a catwalk and models.
“The security guards started to manhandle our models,” explains Lambert. The models, holding signs saying Bringing Fashion to the People, and the intrusion to the show helped the brand stand out in a week when every fashion brand was clambering for attention with the world’s media looking on. It ended up as the lead story on news.com.au, Lambert adds.
Danny Avidan, chief executive of the Discovery Group, the owner of Lili, believes such stunts are “very effective”.
“In our case there were 60 different fashion brands on show with everyone fighting for column inches. We needed to do something big to get coverage,” he says.
But just how cost effective are these stunts and is there any return on investment?
“We got amazing publicity for not much money and it was all quantifiable,” Lambert claims.
Todd Marks, director at Maverick Marketing and Communications, makes the point that any stunt should be multi-layered to deliver return on investment. He cites the example of a floating rugby field built for the last World Cup. As well as the media attention it attracted, Vodafone used it for corporate hospitality. “If you are just viewing it as a spectacle in itself, it will not give you the ROI you are always going for,” he says.
Other well-publicised examples many in the industry point to include the Earth Hour blackout campaign for WWF; the Vodafone streakers, where in 2002 two streakers stopped the Bledisloe Cup match in Sydney adorned with the company’s logo; when Formula One driver Mark Webber drove an F1 car over the Harbour Bridge after switching to the Williams BMW team; and when Dick Smith attempted one of the world’s great April Fools jokes by riding a fake iceberg into Sydney Harbour.
And coverage does not have to cost the earth, in the words of Discovery boss Avidan: “We spent very little money, but were in the news in every newspaper in Australia.”
For Matt Jones, creative strategist with experiential marketing agency Jack Morton Worldwide, ROI is a big challenge. He believes what should be measured is how much the brand has engaged with the target consumers. Stunts which involve targeting a mass audience usually entails giving something away for free, he explains. But this is not always the best strategy, as most people will take something free and not care about or remember the brand. “You need to do whatever your brand needs to do. What is going to tell exactly the right story?”
Avidan believes stunts produce measurable editorial, but not measurable sales. However, a long-term strategy of using stunts, which he says he will do with the Lili brand, has the potential to directly boost sales.
The partner4real stunt, carried out in conjunction with DMG Radio’s Nova station in Sydney, will see a single male living in a 12m by 3m glass container outside Customs House in Circular Quay.
During his time in the container, he will date five different women each day, for a week, in his search for a partner.
The dater will be chosen through a radio competition, and will then move into the container on August 20.
But is partner4real.com telling the right story?
One industry expert thinks not: “If you think about dating websites, what are the key things about it – you are putting yourself on display, and it can be embarrassing and people could think you’re desperate. Does putting someone in a glass box really say the right thing about the brand?”
