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How Two Publicists Got Celebrities To Contribute Sketches For The MS
Society's "Pictionary Celebrity Auction"
By Bill Stoller, Editor-In-Chief,
Publicity
Insider
I've spent 20 years in the PR trenches, and
I've got my share of stories to tell. This month, I'm reminiscing
with my pal and former partner Jon Bard about one of our big
success--and how it can help you get major publicity...
Bill: Sometimes, great publicity
ideas wither on the vine, because the publicity-seeker thinks "Nah,
I couldn't really make that happen. That's way outta my league!"
Jon: Yep--thinking big is what real
publicity mavens do. They ignore the naysayers and shoot for the
stars. Audacity and brashness are two of the publicist's best
friends.
Bill: Which leads us to this month's
War Story--the Pictionary Celebrity Auction.
Jon: When it comes to getting
publicity in the Features section or on TV, there are a couple of
constants. Celebrities and charity. Do something for a good cause
and have some star power, and the PR world is yours.
Bill: Now, this is easy enough if
you're Disney or Coca-Cola. You throw a big party, have Jennifer
Lopez or Michael Jordan show up, set your VCR to CNN and wait for
the coverage. But for us mere mortals, generating star power is
another story entirely.
Jon: So we came up with an
interesting idea for our client Pictionary. As you probably know,
Pictionary is a game that involves sketching. Our idea: have
celebrities make a Pictionary sketch and then auction them off for
charity. The celebrities wouldn't actually have to be there--their
star power would be represented in the drawings on display.
Bill: We hooked up with the National
Multiple Sclerosis Society, who were good folks with a good cause
and had some marketing know-how. They also told us they could
deliver a few stars--regulars on TV series--to the event. That was
great, but we knew we needed real star wattage to make this succeed.
If we were going to score press, we needed some Pictionary sketches
from big, big names.
Jon: How does Ronald Reagan, Bob
Hope, Muhammad Ali, Roseanne Barr, Steve Martin, and Barbara Bush
sound? They were just some of the folks who were kind enough to take
a moment to make a sketch and send it back to us.
Bill: And you know what? It was easy.
Real easy. Here's what we did: Jon went to the bookstore and got a
book. It lists contacts for thousands of celebrities (usually their
agents or management companies). We targeted a bunch of big names,
then set about creating a request for sketches.
Jon: The key was to make it as easy
as possible for the celebrity to respond. We knew that agents and
managers wouldn't forward a request that took too much effort on the
part of the celebrity--it's their job to save their clients' time,
not waste it. So we made it incredibly simple. WE wrote a nice intro
letter talking about the good cause (fighting MS) and asking the
celeb to take a moment to help.
We included some paper (with the Pictionary
logo on it--very important for getting the product's name out in the
media when the artwork was reproduced in print publications), a
black marker, and a self-addressed stamped envelope with postage
already affixed. All the celeb had to do was make the sketch and pop
it in the envelope.
Bill: It would have been easy for us
to say "No way will Muhammad Ali respond" and not bother to send him
a request. But we shot big. We figured "hey, you never know."
Jon: And it paid off. The star power
associated with the event was now massive--and so was the publicity
we generated.
Bill: So there's one lesson--shoot
for the stars. If you have a big idea and it can be realistically
accomplished, give it a shot. Just be sure to think about what
you're up against (in this case, the time constraints of very busy
celebrities) and be sure to address it (as we did by including the
paper, marker, and pre-addressed envelopes).
Jon: And here's a bonus lesson: don't
site on your laurels after a big success. We milked this sucker for
all it was worth. The event took place in late 1992, after the
election. Barbara Bush made a sketch that ended up selling for more
than the sketch made by first lady Nancy Reagan.
After the immediate publicity rush was over,
we took that tidbit to the political media, who ran with it as a
humorous "sign of the times" story. Think big--and then keep
thinking!
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Bill Stoller, the "Publicity Insider," has spent two decades as one
of America's top publicists. Now, through his Web site, eZine, and
subscription newsletter, "Free
Publicity: The Newsletter for PR-Hungry Businesses," he's
sharing--for the very first time--his secrets for scoring free
publicity. For free articles, killer publicity tips, and much, much
more, visit Bill's exclusive new site:
PublicityInsider.com. |
