TOUCHDOWN: BEAM US UP SCOTTIE!

In our Marketing PR practice we work with our clients to find ways to use their customers whenever possible to be a part of the message that we’re trying to forward. We help them to recognize that sometimes it is more significant to use real people and their own stories than created messaging. Engaging consumers and using them as focal points for a message can have tremendous impact on creating legitimacy and ultimately supports transmission of the message via word of mouth. Many months back Paramount Pictures could have simply laughed off a quaint request from the little town of Vulcan, Alberta to play host to the premiere of the new Star Trek movie. Let’s face it, there’s no way that a movie that cost US$150 million was going to launch in a small prairie town that doesn’t have a theatre big enough to accommodate such an event! However, Paramount not only understood the importance of creating good fan relations, they saw an opportunity to let the fans themselves be the spokespeople. So they held a lottery for 300 townspeople to attend an advance screening of the movie. Accompanied by Canadian Bruce Greenwood, one of the films actors, the winners were bussed to nearby Calgary (birthplace of Canada’s national cocktail, the Caesar) as guests of honour. Come they did, and like good Trekkies they showed up in full costume regardless of age. They became the spokespeople, the photo opps and the focus of the event. Coverage of the event showed not the usual stars and Hollywood hoi-polloi, but rather, real people having a good time. And that led to quotes that you just can’t make up: “To see so many Vulcans…just having their chance to be in the spotlight is just so special…”; “A Klingon would never be named Pansy.” Stellar. This kind of interaction with a client base is a tremendous means of building solid relationships—ones that will live long, and prosper.