999 nudes
The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) has forced many PR agencies to come up with creative, cost-effective campaigns. Here’s a campaign that’s sure to peak your interest!
999 nudes bared their no hidden extras.
A recent campaign by the Irish Airline, Aer Lingus, used a flash mob of 999 nudes to parade through central London wearing shamrock string bikinis (yes, there were men and women – and even a group of over 60’s that took part on the day). The shamrocks were also symbolic of St Patrick’s Day which occurred a few days after the launch on 15 March, 2009.
It was hoped that the parade of nudes would launch two things:
*The £9.99 cheap fare offer that was developed to counter the impact the recession has had on overseas travel; and
* The airline would be flying to eight new destinations from April 2009 including Nice, Malaga and Vienna.
In an effort to engage the British public and raise the profile of the brand, the PR team at Golley Slater, set up a recruitment campaign on social networking sites allowing members of the public to register their interest in attending the launch to bare all – this worked on a first-in-best-dressed basis – or should I say, a not-dressed-at-all basis!
Participants were offered free flights to one of the eight new destinations as an incentive, further promoting the new destination. A total of 1,400 had registered to attend before the event.
Several newspapers were alerted to the stunt via the social media sites. A few outlets contacted the PR team in advance in attempt to get pre-event exclusives, but the media were not informed of the stunt location until the morning of the event. This was also done to ensure it was not intercepted by the authorities.
On the day of the stunt, a photographer from every national tabloid and London newspaper attended along with the Press Association, Getty Images, and other news and picture agencies. Capital Radio, XFM and Absolute Radio interviewed participants and several TV crews including London Tonight attended. A video was uploaded onto the BBC website and YouTube.
Overall, this campaign was successful in promoting the cheap £9.99 fare, and it also appealed to the sensibilities and humour of the British public – you only need to look at British comedy to detect their penchant for nudity i.e. Little Britain, Benny Hill. However, I don’t think Aer Lingus’ new base at London’s Gatwick, or the new international flight destinations came through in the campaign. Another campaign could have been used to gain focus on the other aspects of the campaign, as these other important details got lost in the buzz of the stunt.
