Creativity in Public Relations

A friend of mine in the States knows I love hearing about crazy campaigns – and this one definitely is up there. A company who owns thousands of little TV’s on top of gas pumps (for people who just can’t get enough TV) is looking for someone to i guess be a host of the channel.  Talk about 15 seconds of fame – although i’m guessing that people take at least 3 or 4 minutes to fill up their tank so maybe its more like 240 seconds of fame.  I actually think it is sort of a fun idea – and who knows, maybe a great way to be discovered (you never know).  And, according to the news release, they estimate 30,000,000 people watch each month – solid exposure.

The company is simply asking anyone to upload a :30 second video to enter, and a team of talent scouts will narrow down the list to 3.  Then consumers vote and the winner gets $2,500 and a trip to Detroit to film some segments.  A few days ago I wanted to enter a contest that would pay $25,000 for me dancing around in my underwear – so many choices.

In any case, another example of how to maximise the ease the world has these days to shoot and upload video to enter campaigns.  Grab that Canon (H&K shameless client plug) videocamera!