Sponsor a fun contest
Joan Stewart
One of my favorites is the Wacky Warning Label contest, sponsored each year by the Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch, to reveal how lawsuits have created a need for common-sense warnings on products.
The grand prize winner receives $500 and a copy of the new book “Remove Child Before Folding: The 101 Stupidest, Silliest and Wackiest Warning Labels Ever,” written by Bob Dorigo Jones, the group’s president. The title of his book comes from a warning label that won a prize in the early years of the contest.
I heard a drive-time interview with Bob on a Milwaukee radio station last week. So I called him this morning to see how much publicity the book and contest have generated.
He was a guest on about 25 radio shows within the last three weeks, including four interviews on the BBC. He appeared on Fox & Friends and was also scheduled to be on the “Today” show. But he was bumped when the show interviewed Donald Trump instead.
Still, that’s a pretty impressive publicity campaign–and all because of a fun contest.
Joan Stewart's free publicity campaign started at age 10 when her hometown newspaper wrote a story about a blue ribbon she won for a 4-H sewing project at the Ohio State Fair. From then on, she was hooked on publicity. Today, Joan teaches Publicity Hounds how to catch the attention of frazzled news directors, busy reporters and grumpy editors. In fact, she worked as a grumpy editor at three daily newspapers and The Business Journal in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As a media relations consultant and professional speaker, she shows people how to use the media to establish their credibility, enhance their reputation, position themselves as experts, sell more products and services, promote a favorite cause or issue, and establish their companies as employers of choice. Her popular electronic newsletter called "The Publicity Hound's Tips of the Week" goes to more than 50,000 subscribers worldwide and includes the best publicity tips and good clean dog jokes (one in each issue) you'll find anywhere. She lives and tries to stay warm in Port Washington, Wisconsin.
August 20th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Human beings just can’t resist the funny, silly and absurb! I, for one, must stop channel surfing, if just for a few moments, on the funniest home videos. Or the late night talk show host reading and displaying the silly word play of newspaper headlines or advertisements. How brilliant to tap into those unresistable aspects of human nature to garner publicity and promotion. It’s a win win situation and a marketer’s dream! Thanks for sharing Joan, I love it! - terri