Katie Price, Cheryl Cole, Kim Kardashian. Whether you love them or hate them, there’s one thing for sure – you know exactly who they are.
By utilising the power of PR, many celebrities have managed to cultivate strong personal brand identities and loyal fan-bases.
Corporate PR representatives can learn a thing or two from celebrities, and the following examples highlight three celebrity PR strategies that you can adopt, to make your brand a superstar.
Miley Cyrus
Miley Cyrus doesn’t exactly have a squeaky clean image, but her PR stunt at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards got people talking about her for all the right reasons.
Cyrus won the award for video of the year and used her moment in the spotlight to shed light on the homeless epidemic in Los Angeles. She let a young homeless man accept her award, where in his speech, he urged people to visit Cyrus’ Facebook page and donate to the homeless.
PR Lesson 1#: Organizations have a responsibility to help their community. Cause marketing campaigns and corporate social responsibility programs show audiences the values you have that extend beyond making profits.
Tiger Woods
In November 2009, news broke that the seemingly honourable golfing legend Tiger Woods had cheated on his wife. As details of further affairs were revealed, his private life eroded in the public eye, leaving the Tiger brand in tatters.
His sponsors, including Accenture and Gillette cancelled contracts and with each new story that emerged, it looked more and more like the Tiger brand was finished.
However, five years later, Woods is back in favour, tearing up the pro circuit again. He has even been signed by Rolex as a spokesperson for its brand.
How has a guy who fell so far, managed to rise from the ashes?
PR Lesson 2#: Acknowledge your mistakes publicly. It took Tiger a few months, but he finally went public with an admission of guilt. When your business makes a mistake, you need to acknowledge it as quickly as possible, to minimise brand damage. Your customers will thank you for your honesty.
Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift used PR to great effect, to launch her ‘1989’ album. She released a teaser of each song in the weeks leading up to the launch, along with snippets of information on Twitter and Instagram. She also made numerous live appearances and invited her fans to exclusive ‘listening parties’ dubbed the #1989SecretSessions.
PR Lesson 3#: Don’t rely on a press release alone to deliver major news. Offering “sneak peeks” and “inside looks” to an upcoming launch can generate chatter and maximize the launch’s results.
Hotcow is a non-traditional creative agency that specialises in experiential marketing that goes viral. Our campaigns generate buzz through crowd participation, PR and content sharing. Contact us on 0207 5030442 or email us on info@hotcow.co.uk.
