Good PR of the week
 

Considering Halloween has just come and gone, I expected there to be more stunts and campaigns tying into it. Perhaps it’s because I haven’t spotted them or been sent them (always feel free to tweet me @GoodandBadPR) or because any campaigns just haven’t been good enough to get widespread attention, but there seemed to be a distinct lack.

That said, here is a stunt that is topical and, given it’s for charity, deserving of a mention:

Movember moves

There’s obviously a whole campaign, called Mo-vember – this stunt is a way to remind you to get involved.

In short, Big Ben sported a bright blue moustache to see in the first of November, the date recently hijacked by charities to encourage awareness and donations to men’s charities. Last year, £22m was raised for a number of related charities, including Prostate Cancer UK.

The stunt is apparently the work of the UK Movember Foundation, and has grabbed the attention of the national media.

Bad PR of the week

Storm at American Apparel and Gap

Where there’s a natural disaster, there’s a company saying something stupid related to it.

"In case you’re bored during the storm", American Apparel kindly informed its email database, there was 20 per cent off everything online. All you needed to do was enter the playful-sounding "sandystorm" at checkout.

The egregious marketing ploy immediately incurred the wrath of the online public, who collectively questioned the intelligence of the team that approved it; which considering old "sandystorm" has killed both in the Caribbean and the States, is entirely warranted.

My advice to all brands is: just don’t get involved. Nobody will miss your commentary and it can only ever hurt your brand if you try to piggyback on natural disasters or distressing news. Every time, though, somebody does or says something stupid.

To a lesser extent, Gap also ensured its inclusion with the following tweet, which implies you too should be shopping at gap.com:

Reacting quickly to news is an essential PR skill, provided your clients have the capability to get speedy approval, but, as Leeds Met’s Richard Bailey says, judgement is the "most valuable and most underrated skill in PR".

Have you seen any good or bad PR?
 

Contact PR Rich Leigh with it by tweeting him @GoodandBadPR or by emailing rich@10yetis.co.uk throughout the week and we’ll happily credit you for your trouble.

Good and Bad PR is a feature on the blog of 10 Yetis PR Agency.