DaLick ice cream anyone?

It's been a scorcher hasn't it?

So while it may be late in the season, it's high time we saw a decent stunt from an ice cream maker. And sure as eggs is eggs, along came this one ...



Now okay, many in PR will say "what the hell has a 40 foot Dalek made of hay got to do with ice cream, this is PR for the sake of PR?".

And do you know what, I'd have some sympathy with that perspective.

But at the same time I do admire the way that the Snugbury’s behind it has taken something epic (there is a long tradition of hay bay sculpture and it speaks of the natural and organic) alongside something seasonal (ice cream) and added a degree of topicality to the whole affair (this was the week everyone was talking about Who after all).

The fact that Snugbury’s threw in the launch of a “DaLick” flavour to their repertoire meant that the message carried.

And the lessons here are two fold for me.

First of all, that if there's a clear narrative link back to the story and the stunt is so good that the media want to cover it, the copy has to explain the story. In other words, create something that demands coverage and an element of the message has to cut through.

Second that sometimes (not always admittedly), a leaving the branding out isn't always the worst idea in the world. Once again, create an image people want to carry and the editorial will do the work for you.

Those aren't by any means universal laws. But they are some principles have been adhered to pretty vehemently here. And the result has been some epic coverage.

James Gordon-MacIntosh is founder and Managing Partner at Hope&Glory PR. He is also author of Ideas of the Year 2012: an incomplete compendium of the best ideas in PR during the year. You can buy a copy simply by emailing him.