“Computer games don’t affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we’d all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music.”
Kristian Wilson, Nintendo, Inc,
A story which captured the public imagination last weekend was the fight for the WBA heavyweight title in Nuremberg, in which Britain’s David Hayes snatched the title from Russia’s undefeated ‘lumbering giant’ Nikolei Valuev. Weighing in at 23 stones and 7’.3” tall, you’d think that Valuev would be more than a match for the diminutive Hayes – who at just 16 stones is a mere by waif by comparison.
Far from it. The Russian fell into the trap of chasing his much smaller and elusive opponent around the ring the entire night, exhausted himself in the process and lost on points.
What few pundits mentioned, however, was that until this fight took place few people outside of boxing circles had even heard of David Hayes, and fewer still had heard of Valuev, despite his being the WBA champion with 51 undefeated fights behind him. Why should this be?
It all comes down to good PR. People love a good ‘David and Goliath’ story. And this story had all the right ingredients to provide unique a tipping point: a charismatic, articulate and outrageously confident underdog (think of a young Mohammed Ali) versus a humourless and dangerous brute. With such an incendiary PR mix, David Haye’s publicity machine could hardly fail to milk the story dry.
But what has David and Goliath to do with marketing in the broader context? Everything…
When a few years ago the mighty British Airways’ dirty tricks campaign against start-up Virgin Atlantic spectacularly backfired, Virgin received a massive amount of ‘feel-good’ marketing mileage, and it couldn’t have been bought at any price.
Back in the nineties, American brewing giant Budweiser misguidedly attempted to stop the (far smaller) original Checkoslovakian Budweiser brewery from using its name, despite the fact it had been in business for centuries and had every right to the name. Outrageous! And that’s exactly what the courts decided. The case was thrown out and BIG Budweiser was left looking like a playground bully. Why do they put themselves through it?
And only as recently as last week, (allegedly egged on by the Sun newspaper) a humble soldier’s mum reduced Gordon Brown, the most powerful man in the land, to a grovelling, apologetic wreck as he attempted to limit the damage to his reputation for the minor oversight of misspelling her name. So who was the ultimate winner here? You tell me. But it certainly wasn’t the dead soldier’s grieving mum. Clue: a good ‘giant killer’ story is always guaranteed to sell a few extra newspapers.
My personal favourite underdog story, however, is Mcdonalds versus McChina.
In 2001, McDonald’s decided to sue a small Chinese takeaway for no other crime than calling itself McChina. Lawyers for McDonald’s argued that the restaurant, which was located next door to a branch of McDonald’s, could be confused as being part of the McDonald’s chain and breached the McDonald’s patent.
Good sense prevailed. A judge at London’s High Court ruled that the fast food giant – which, with 29,000 outlets worldwide is the world’s largest restaurant company – was in the wrong, and McDonald’s lost its legal bid. ”It appears to me on analysis that McDonald’s are virtually seeking to monopolise all names and words with the prefix Mc or Mac,” the judge said.
Like the hapless Nikolei Valuev, McDonald’s had blundered blindly into a PR trap hatched by a more cunning ‘little guy’ to extract maximum publicity at his opponent’s expense. Such is the power of a good underdog story.
Next time how to write a damn good press release to support your PR event.
Not registered yet? There is no charge!
It’s 2009, and the rules of marketing and PR have changed forever…
In just a handful of years an entirely new marketing language has revealed itself: business blogging, Web 2.0, e-marketing, viral marketing, podcasting and search engine advertising, to name just a few of the concepts that until very recently simply didn’t exist.
For the ambitious entrepreneur this change opens windows onto lucrative new marketing opportunities. The only difficulty is navigating your way through the tangle of information to find out how it all works.
Now for the first time it’s possible to get the insider perspective on the new rules of marketing clearly explained without hype and nonsense, and all in one location – and it won’t cost you a penny.
Marketing – Kent Austin
Developed and written by leading UK copywriter and marketing blogger Kent Austin, Business Marketing Goldmine gives you free tips for low-cost marketing , marketing strategy, strategic marketing, creating the best marketing mix and marketing consultation – ideas which can be immediately implemented to generate more sales and permanently recession-proof your business.
It’s Britain’s most readable and informative marketing website. ALL content is free!
Also, keep an eye out…
UK marketing
BMG doesn’t stand still. It’s constantly expanding and is regularly updated with new ‘how to’ modules, blog posts, reports and white papers on direct marketing, marketing consulting, marketing UK, marketing Ireland, marketing USA, marketing mix, marketing plan, marketing strategy, marketing company, marketing service, marketing communication, sales and marketing.
You’ll also join the FREE Business Marketing Goldmine Letter, which is packed with valuable tips and immediately workable business growth strategies.
