The PR stunt of the month came courtesy of Tropicana, which gave us the Trafalgar Square Sun on January 23. The stunt was described by Tropicana as “a spectacular, first of its kind, public art installation which (we) commissioned”. Explaining the rationale for the stunt, Tropicana added that the sun “reflects our ‘Brighter Mornings’ proposition and brings to life the positivity and optimism that you get from drinking a glass of Tropicana in the morning through an exciting and emotive experience which people can enjoy”.
It’s too early to get a full breakdown of the stats for Trafalgar Sun’s media coverage, but there’s no question it grabbed decent headlines in the mainstream and business press – no doubt helped by the iconic nature of the location. It also dovetailed neatly with marketing activity across a range of platforms. On TV, the stunt launched to coincide with a new Tropicana ad campaign. On-the-ground, passers-by could watch the installation from Tropicana deckchairs with branded sunglasses and blankets. Field teams also handed out around 35,000 cartons and bottles of juice during the day. There was also digital and instore-activity.
Putting on the perfect stunt
Preparation
It’s great to give the impression that a PR stunt is spontaneous and ground-breaking. But the reality is that you need to be incredibly well-prepared. In this case, the 2500kg artificial sun took public artists’ collective Greyworld six months to create. As for innovation, the campaign was new to the UK – but Tropicana did something similar when it ran a stunt that lit up part of arctic Canada during its lengthy sunless winter. In other words, it was an example of tried and tested PR innovation.
Skillsets
Freud Communications was the lead agency, but Initals Experience managed the fieldwork. Aside from trialling, Initials also encouraged people to take photos of the sun from specific locations, presumably so they could be shared via digital media. On the subject of digital, there was behind the scenes video to show how the Trafalgar Sun was created and another video aimed at people outside London.
Practicalities
Stunts of this kind bring with them a number of logistical challenges, one the most obvious of which is healthy and safety. On this point, Tropicana said members of the public “could walk up to the sun, but not under it as this area was cordoned off. The bottom of the sun was 20m off the ground”. It called the sun “safe to look at”; pointing out that it was handing out sunglasses to people as they walked by. Health and safety also needed to take into account the potential impact on drivers: “We worked closely with Westminster Council, TFL, GLA and LTC to ensure that the Trafalgar Sun was not a danger for any members of the public. A full Event Management Plan was submitted and approved by all the parties responsible for safety around Trafalgar Square”.
Spot the potential pitfall
It goes without saying that brands need to get consumer buy in. But doing this is about more than just giving them a laugh. In this case, Tropicana had to address the issue of carbon emissions after telling people that “the sun will produce around 4-million lumens of light, the equivalent of 60,000 light bulbs”. According to Tropicana, “We took this into consideration and offset the carbon emissions through Carbon Footprint, a leading provider of Carbon Management services”.
Consumer journey
Not exactly a criticism but an observation. Anyone seeking more information on the Trafalgar Sun was encouraged to go to Facebook. But a large number of comments on the Tropicana wall were actually people moaning about the lack of rewards in a recent competition, the fact they didn’t win and the amount of time prizes take to arrive. It’s the nature of social media that people say what they want (as McDonalds has just found out with Twitter). But when planning a major investment in a stunt, it’s important to think about whether the positive mood you are trying to create will be reinforced by digital media or run into interference from other marketing channels.