On September the 9th (3 days ago), a light-hearted PR stunt seed was sewn when a camera manufacturer – Autographer – tweeted a seemingly innocuous shot from a photographer set up in Lake Windermere:
24 year old Ellie Williams, the photographer in question, set the camera up to take shots every few minutes in order to ‘capture a sequence of nature and wildlife shots throughout the day’.
In true Buzzfeed-style, She Could Never Have Been Prepared For What Happened Next. (Unless, of course, she could and was). For good measure, Autographer tweeted again on the 10th to ensure the story that was to follow looked legit:Now, with the Scottish Independence referendum just a week off, what could an otherwise entirely unrelated brand do to lighten the increasingly tetchy mood, not helped by the Royal Bank of Scotland announcing that should the ‘Yes’ (to independence) voters win, it’d move its HQ to London?
They could claim the Loch Ness Monster has also decided to move south of the border (by setting up a Nessie-lookalike in the distance), that’s what:
The stunt has gained fantastic coverage across the board as a result of a) being a great photo, b) having great potential for headline-worthy wordplay – ‘Loch Ness Monster defects/says no/leaves Scotland’ etc and c) great timing to fit in with the news agenda.
The Metro, Mail, Telegraph and many more have already covered and, whether this effort benefits Autographer from a financial perspective, the links and attention it’ll now receive certainly won’t do it any harm.
Involved agency: Hope & Glory PR (if any Loch Ness believers happen upon this page and think it isn’t a stunt, click here).