The press release writing has paid off. The email follow up, phone calls and general energy behind your publicity drive has a got a result and it’s an interview on you and your show. That’s a foot in the door but there’s still a bit of work to be done. To make sure you get the most out of the opportunity here are my top tips:

Get the setting right:

If it’s a face to face interview you’ll obviously need somewhere reasonably private and quiet.  A bar during the day, a quiet cafe or a quiet corner of a hotel lobby. If you’re in Edinburgh for it I quite like the lobby of the Caledonian Hilton on the corner of Princes St and Lothian Road, Spoon Cafe on Nicolson St and the Broughton Deli on Barony St. If your interview is over the phone it’s even more important to find somewhere quiet, make sure you have decent reception if you’re on your mobile and a fully charged phone. Somewhere you can sit down and take notes will be useful too. You may just receive a series of questions by email which is great. You’ll have time to think about each answer and make sure you get your message across clearly. Just make sure you keep an eye on those deadlines!

Find out the context of the interview

Are you being interviewed for a straight profile piece on you and your work? Is it about the themes contained in your show or is it part of a wider feature on a particular topic or artform. Knowing the exact context in advance will allow you to prep for the interview accordingly. You may just be asked to comment on a news story or give a quote about another show. Knowing the types of publications or media in advance will also help. What type of stories usually run. What’s the interviewer’s style? Light hearted or hard hitting, tricksy* or enthusiastic? Knowing the context of the interview will allow you to refine your message accordingly even if all you want to say is: ‘We’re on at 13.05 at C Soco – Come and see the show!’

Know what you want to say

What are the core messages of your show? What are the key selling points? If someone is to read a piece on your show what do you want them to take from it? Your show mightn’t be for everybody so how do you speak to those it is for? These of course are the same questions you’re faced with when it comes to marketing your show. Having those key messages either written down in front of you for a phone or email interview or at the forefront of your mind will help keep you focused throughout the interview. This isn’t to replace a chatty informal style, you can’t just trot out the same line again and again like this awful example but you can be clear on what your objective for the interview is. For example if you are working on a topical show and you feel how the writer has approached the subject is it’s core strength then you might answer the question:

‘Why are the company tackling this subject?’ with something along the lines of: ‘There was something about this story that struck a cord with our writer Grace and what intrigued her was the story behind the news story so she interviewed those people the newspapers didn’t and got a unique perspective on the story which informed a script that captures the fallout of this incident in a way that we can all relate to. It may seem like an event we’re removed from but Grace’s script gives the story such a powerful impact from such an unlikely source.’

In the above exchange the message of the strong writing comes through clearly in a way that a straight answer saying: ‘This story affects us in ways not everybody might have realised and we want to tell the stories nobody has heard yet.’ It’s only a slight difference but the first answer makes you want to know more about the show because of the interest in how the writer approached it. It’s generated a connection with the reader that makes them want to find out more. Think carefully about your message and the one thing you want the reader to take away from reading your interview.

Be prepared for likely questions

This is particularly important if you’re doing a news piece as the interviewer may already have an idea of answers they want from you and will tailor the questions to point you in this general direction. Having an idea of likely questions beforehand will give you an idea of how best to approach this or maybe turn down the interview altogether. All news is not good news. For broadcast interviews where you’ll just have 30 seconds to a minute so an idea of questions could help you prepare a soundbite for the piece. For longer print features, an indication of the kind of questions can allow you to prepare extra facts and figures, a useful anecdote or other supporting information. In the fast paced environment of the festival you won’t always get questions in advance but it is certainly worth your while asking for them.

Follow up and say thanks

Regardless how in depth or brief, and as long as it’s not damaging, getting an interview on the Fringe is an achievement and provided you made a good impression you now have one more person on your sales team. Thank the interviewer for taking the time to take an interest in you and your show and in return take time to ask them about their Fringe, their workload and if they’ll maybe get a chance to see your show. If they do offer some free tickets and (only if you feel the exchange allows it) you could always ask if they know any more publicity opportunities at their publication or others. For any part of of the interview that required more information make sure to follow up as soon as possible including supplying images. Finally get an indication of when the piece might run and be ready to time a marketing push to support it!

Oh and don’t forget to celebrate!

To your Fringe Success

Owen

Fed up of cold calling journalists an getting no response?

Or worse, not getting round to making those all important calls because you’re worried the journalist is too busy, won’t be interested or will be annoyed that you even bothered to call. Ok, the last reaction is rare but just thinking about it can instil the fear in even the most pushy of publicists.

There’s only one way to deal with that and that’s to turn your call on it’s head. It’s not about not taking no for an answer it’s about taking it as the first answer of many as you turn your pitch into a journalist interview. The quickest, easiest route to PR success is to find out what the media want.

That’s it. As soon as you hear ‘Not interested’. It’s time to rephrase. It could be: ‘Ah, I see. So what kind of story would work for you?’ or ‘Ok then just so I don’t waste your time in the future can you tell me the kind of interview/feature/article that would work for your publication?’. Once you ask this first question two things happen. One, any initial hostility fades away and two, you become somebody who can potentially help with a story and because of that you’re someone worth talking to.

So what next? What questions to ask and how do you build on this new ground?

For now leave your pitch to one side and make your questions about general coverage. The key things you want to learn are:

Once you have got through those questions you may have found out enough to reframe your pitch to make it relevant for this contact. If that’s not the case don’t worry; ask if there’s anybody at the same publication that may be interested and get follow up contact details for them. If there’s not that’s fine. Thank the journalist for their time and tell them you’ll be in touch. Now the next time you call you’ll be a warm contact, you’ll be armed with the right information about the journalist so you can sell the story on the points they want and PR just got easy!

What about your initial pitch? If the reframing doesn’t work and there’s no one else at that publication then what next? Take a look at your product/client and decide if this really is the best publication. If not follow the target market and find the right one. If it is, then armed with your insider information go back to your client and write a story with them that gets noticed. It may mean thinking bigger, doing something unusual or incorporating something into your pitch to make it more sellable. Whatever it takes at least you now know what will get you coverage and days of spray and pray are over.

Until next time

Happy dialling!

Owen

*Find out who makes the final decisions on pieces. Get them on the phone and reduce the risk of an editor pulling your piece at the last minute

One of the least used and most effective PR tools is audacity.

Chutzpah!

Balls!

Cojones!

Yup, you know what I mean, taking your campaign to the extreme. Not just thinking outside the box but thinking outside the box factory! Being brave courageous and doing something special. As a publicist I know that’s what gets me going more than anything else. The thrill of the big win. Pushing the boundaries with a campaign so much that it’s success or bust. It’s risky and sadly (for that reason) rare. It shouldn’t be though because in that risk lies the greatest opportunity. Below are my top five reasons to take the drama from the stage in arts PR and marketing.

1. Audacity expands our capacity

By setting yourself a challenge that’s more than just pitching the regular features, previews and reviews you expand your own learning in the publicity marketplace. What would it take to put contemporary dance on the Channel 4 news? How do get I get my Fringe show on CNN? How do I get 7 different partners to all agree on staging an event? There’s only one way to scale the heights and that’s to ask how it could be done in the first place. Where there’s a will there’s a way and where there’s audacity there’s a way to stand out!

2. Audacity is the perfect solution to budget constraints

It doesn’t cost a penny to think big. A healthy dose of audacity is the answer. Thinking big doesn’t mean having to plough tons of cash into a campaign. If your audacious act needs cash then where are you going to get it? One big idea needs lots of other smaller ones to make it happen so for every stumbling block keep the audacious attitude and get ready to pull off something really special.

3. Audacity builds yours and your company’s reputation

If you’re the performing arts company that managed to stage a major coup – whether it’s a traffic stopping flashmob in the centre of town or a trending twitter campaign that’s attracted celeb attention then the reputation for your work is boosted at the same time. Both are now linked in a way that has people taking about ‘that great company that did such and such…’ Before people talk about the quality of your work they’re talking about the size of your ambitions and the quality of one reflects the other. Obviously if you’re a marketer or publicist acting on behalf of a company then your stock goes through the roof!

4. Audacity plays to your strong suit

Before any press and marketing campaign you assess the company’s resources yet often we forget the greatest resource is the combination of the best creative minds with a brilliant, driven, problem solving crew. You’ve got the big thinkers and big doers on hand. If ever there’s a group of people with the potential to stop the press (or traffic!) then those in the arts are perfectly placed. So take drama from the stage and put it on the front page!

5. Audacity opens doors

Taking your campaign to the extremes is best way to build new audiences for your work. Everybody likes a good story regardless of their interests in the arts. Thinking big and taking an audacious approach will grab the attention of regular non attenders and turn them into ticket buyers. Audacity allows you to reach out to a wider audience in a way a bigger poster campaign never could. If people are going to change their behaviour and come and see your show you’ll need to spell out a compelling reason to do so. You know you’re worth it, you just need to show it.

To finish all I say is to begin with the end in mind. Stretch your press and marketing goals to the limit and in doing so know that there’s a way to make them happen. Just keep asking the questions until you get the answers you want.

Until next time

Sell in style!

Owen

P.S. Enjoy this audacious anthem!

Show us those jazz hands Peter!

‘What gets measured, gets managed’.

10 years out of university and finally things are starting to sink in. The above quote is from management guru Peter Drucker back in the days when when guru meant ‘here’s someone who really knows their shit’ instead of ‘here’s someone off the telly’. Well, if Peter had ever thought about bringing ‘Management The Musical’ to the Fringe it might not sell a lot of tickets but you can be sure Drucker would know where every single ticket came from.

In the limited resources push to get people in the doors we can often forget to ask them why they came, what influenced them and would they come again. Box Offices will collect some of this data but in a Fringe or touring situation its vital that you do your own audience research and get the results quickly. It will allow you adapt a press or marketing campaign mid run, will potentially give an insight to a new source of audience and will provide some hard facts for the funders and sponsors if you have them.

This kind of market research doesn’t need to be elaborate, although when it comes to ticket sales it does need to be quantitative not qualitative so you want to canvas everyone that walks in the door, instead of a focus group situation where you cherry pick a few attendees and get them round a table to hear their more detailed thoughts. You want to know how many people saw the preview or review in the paper, how many reacted to an online presence and how many are regular attenders. There could be other specifics you might want to know depending on the show, venue or marketing campaign. This type of research is for marketing purposes only mind. You could ask about the acting, writing or plot but it would be a ticket sales opportunity wasted. By all means collect testimonials on the show in the bar afterwards and online but let’s get ticket data first.

The time frame to do all of this is quite limited, handing out a jumble of forms and pens in the stalls can be messy and collecting them akin to herding cats so for ease of data collection I recommend a simple tear and share questionnaire. I’ve uploaded a version below that you can edit in Word but be warned the formatting is a little twitchy. Print it on card instead of paper and guillotine down the middle. Hand out through ushers to audiences as they arrive (maybe with free programmes) and collect as they leave. Its quick, simple and will give you an audience snapshot you can act on.

To end I’ll leave you with a few lines from the forthcoming ‘Management the Musical’.

‘Ticket data is so great-a
You’ll sell more whenyouknow who’s through the door
So do your research and you’ll seeeeeeeeee
Questionnaires are a sales opportunity!‘

Cue jazz hands…..

Until next time where I promise no more ropey lyrics although resisting rhyming couplets with Peter Drucker will be tough!

Happy selling

Owen

P.S. Thanks to Charlie an ex colleague from Edinburgh College of Art who introduced me to this questionnaire template via some clever people at The Edinburgh Filmhouse.

Tear and Share Questionnaire

Is that it? One ticket at a time!? That’s all we needed to know!

Bear with me, here’s where I’m going with this. The Field of Dreams attitude to marketing a show is all too prevalent these days. The message of ‘If you build it they will come’ was nice in Hollywood but the cold hard facts of selling a show today mean that even if you have a great show, press coverage, and a decent marketing campaign it still might not shift loads of tickets. It’s frustrating and there are many reasons for this, some outwith your control but let’s deal with what you can control.

The first step is to start with the end in mind. Let’s say you’re on tour and you have one night in a 100 seater venue. To sell out the show you’ll need to sell 100 tickets. The key is to break down the total by sales action. For example a preview piece in the local paper might sell 10 tickets, the theatre email newsletter might sell 4 tickets, exit flyering other shows might sell 5 tickets and so on.

By breaking down the 100 seats to realistic manageable chunks puts you back in control. Ideally you’ll have about 20 to 25 different sales actions and you’ll aim to sell a third more than capacity so methods that don’t work can be covered. Estimate the time it will take for each action so you can get an idea of the time requirement and subsequent pay off. The aim of this is not just to help you plan your time but also to prioritise your actions should you run out of time. Adding deadlines also will help you maintain your ticket sales focus and in the case of a last minute push they’ll help you decide what can and can’t be done.

The most useful way to plan this is just to put everything down on an Excel spreadsheet so it’s all there in front of you. It’s also worth picking out what can be outsourced to the venue marketing team and sending on the full plan to them with their tasks, time required and deadlines highlighted.

The best thing about a ticket-by-ticket plan is that when everything’s done you know that you and your venue have done everything possible to sell out your show and that, ladies and gentlemen, deserves a round of applause.

Happy selling!

Owen

5 ways to get your show reviewed

1. Get in the news and wait for the reviews

Shows in the news will certainly be reviewed. If there’s a show that everyone is talking about, be it either because of a news story about its subject, its cast members, writer or director then space will be made to have it reviewed no matter how busy the review schedule. Examples have involved shows with controversial subjects at it’s core, shows that have been kicked out of their venue, shows that are doing something ground breaking or shows that have broken something – the law*, actors’ bones, world records!

2. Pitch a set of a reviews instead of just yours

Use strength in numbers for this. Many newspapers in particular those with limited review space review by theme, so don’t just pitch your review, pitch 3 or more, make the editor’s life easy and give them everything they need to fit these reviews into the schedule. Times, dates and great images to run with them.

3. Widen the net and see what you get

There’s only so many times you can contact the small handful of reviewers from the key publications. Use the extra time to widen the net to every possible website, festival freesheets,  even local publications and websites. There are a number of popular websites read by locals in Edinburgh that are keen festival goers where a powerful review will make all the difference. And when you’ve built up a string of good reviews from the lesser known titles the momentum gained might just get our calls returned. Nobody wants to miss the sleep hit of the festival.

4. Get ambassadors onboard

If our own efforts to get your show reviewed are falling on deaf ears then get on board ambassadors who will be listened to. They might be the Fringe Press Office, your venue press office or a well known talent that plugs your show at the end of their own. Having a big comedian in your corner if you’re a stand up starting out or having a well known director, actor, choreographer or personality can open more than just doors. Get them to push on your behalf and be review ready when they do.

5. Word to your mother

The best definition of a good review is a review that sells. Whether it’s written by the Chief Theatre Critic of the Times or a theatre fan from Times Sq, when it comes to selling seats it’s important not to underestimate the power of both options. Getting an audience review is easier than than getting reviewed in the Times so make sure you ask for them. There are a bunch of websites that feature these reviews like EdTwinge.com, lovefringe.com and of course the main Fringe website Edfringe.com. Again it all comes down to asking the audience to review the show. The best way to get word of mouth to work for you is to make sure it travels!

And if after all your efforts to get a reviewer in your show receives a bad review, don’t be disheartened. Instead remember the immortal words of Theodore Roosevelt on April 23, 1910 at the Sorbonne in Paris:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

The sad reality is that you can’t exactly. Not unless you build in voucher codes, backlinks, timed offers and wherever that’s possible please do so. It will help for further campaigns and find the right fit for your show. The management guru Peter Drucker has a phrase ‘What gets measured, gets managed.’ In the unpredictable world of the Fringe, these details are like gold dust.

For print advertising, in an ideal world you could look at a publication, and look at it’s readership figures (say 10,000), then take a percentage of that readership that are likely to book having read the publication (say 20%), then split that by a percentage split on artform ( 35% theatre, 45% comedy, 10% dance, 10% other), then look at the number of competing ads in your artform (10 theatre, 10 comedy, 3 dance, 3 other) and take a split of the ticket buyers by number of ads.

So if you had an ad for a theatre show:

2,000 readers buy
700 buy theatre tickets
70 buy for your show thanks to that ad

If only it was that easy. Of course I totally pulled those figures out of the sky, they’re all a guess and that formula doesn’t take into account the size of adverts, the compound benefit of getting a flyer, seeing a poster, a good review and then your advert! Saying this, it’s still no harm when weighing up the likelihood of getting a return on your advertising investment. If even with rough figures if it seems a stretch it might well be worth investing your money elsewhere.

The five criteria for vetting advertising opportunities at the festival are:

1. What is the advertising reach of this opportunity?

How many of your target market will this ad reach? Circulation figures are best for publications. For readership numbers many publications multiply this by 3 or perhaps more at Fringetime. The key thing for you to note is how many of your target market will see the ad. If there’s a massive readership but only a small percentage are your target market, the final number needs to be greater than any other advertising opportunity.

2. What is the track record of this publication/website/opportunity?

Does this advertising outlet sell tickets? For daily or weekly publications pick up the phone and contact yesterday or last week’s advertisers. Did they see any benefit from advertising here? A few quick calls can make all the difference in this. You wouldn’t throw £500 of your own money away too easy and it should be the same at festival time. Do your research and save that cash!

3. What is the the advertising/editorial ratio in this publication?

Basically what’s the competition for your advert? Is the publication awash with adverts? If so your ad will have less impact. If there are no ads from your artform this might be an opportunity or a sign of whether there’s none of your target market reading the publication. A quick check on the editorial will confirm this. Also in Fringe advertising bigger is better and if it’s a close run thing deciding where to run your advert bear in mind that a full page ad in one publication will have greater impact than a quarter page in another if  the target market readership numbers aren’t too different. You can allow for a swing of 10 – 20% but as an example a full page in The List may well be more valuable than a quartyer page in The Scotsman. This all comes down to competition with other adverts and again your target market readship.

4. What’s involved in putting this advert together?

How quick can you turn around this advert? Have you artwork ready? Will you have to pay a designer to design it according to spec. Does your venue have to sign it off? Are there funders logos that need to go in there? Do you have current press quotes to add in there? The extras like designer fees are worth being aware of an many publications have in house designers on hand to do this if you don’t have one already. Always request to see a final proof before it goes to print and if possible get somebody else to scan over it. Any missing info on this would end up being a total waste. Your advert doesn’t need to have all the info but at a minimum you’ll want, show title (of course!), venue and show time.

5. How many tickets will you need to sell to recoup the cost of this advert?

What is your return on investment for this? I’ve already mentioned the fact that buyers may be reacting to a compound of marketing materials but return on investment for each individual aspect is still one of the most important factors to consider. A £500 ad might just need to shift 50 tickets to cover it’s cost. If the return on investment looks unlikely either haggle for a lower cost ad or revisit your target market readership figures and advertise elsewhere. A good tip for getting cut price deals is to find out the advertising target deadlines for the publication and call on the deadline day (with your advert already designed and ready to go) and see how low your salesperson will go to secure the advert. Where possible it’s worth buying in bulk too.

So there you have it. I didn’t intend on this being an epic post but there’s tons to be said about advertising and plenty to consider before placing that ad. Advertising works best when it’s topping up on other media like flyers posters etc. So if you’re starting from scratch there won’t be that one wonder ad to get people in. If you crunch what numbers you can and choose wisely though your ad might just make that extra boost you need.

Until next time,

To your Fringe Success

Owen

Off to a flyer? Courtesy of Jungleboy on Flickr

Five star show!

Stand Up comedy!

Physical-theatre 3.15!

Awardwinningsketchtroupe!

How much can you actually say to a passing punter on the streets before they’ve passed you by? Not very much really. It makes it kinda tricky when it coms to flyering these people. I’ve seen lots of creative attempts at this during festival time from outrageous poses, to playing dead, to performers covering themselves in flyers hoping you’ll pick one off them and make their show the show to see. All of these tactics fail and fail miserably.

The thing is your flyer doesn’t sell your show.

The person holding it does.

Your show flyer is a key to open doors or at worst a foot to stick in doorways. It’s an opening – and then once you’ve got your opening  - a reference point and as you get your sale then finally  - a closer. Flyering a show is all about having sales conversations, the key is not to shift flyers but to have as many conversations as possible and shift tickets. Below are my top tips for effective flyering:



1. Make a connection

It’s all about working with the willing. By just watching passers by for a short while you can tell those in a hurry from those keen to get immersed in the festival or those studying programmes, schedules, posters or box office blackboards. It’s vital that you only target potential buyers and if they are not apparent straightaway a few quick questions will establish whether or not you’ve got a ‘live’ one.  The key to selling is to get an opening and if you can get your potential ticket buyer to stop for a moment you have a chance to sell. Until then you’re wasting your time giving out flyers.



2. It’s not me it’s you

For a punter to be interested in your show you’ll have to be interested in them. Find out what they’re into, how long they’re in town, what their schedule is like. Once you have an idea of what you’re looking for then you sell. The aim here is to connect the benefits of your show with their needs. Things that can help is by drawing comparisons to similar more well know artists, being aware of the length of time of the show and how it fits their schedule and your story, why are you doing this at Fringe. Passion is contagious so don’t miss the opportunity to let your enthusiasm shine through. If they’re not into your work see if they know somebody who is. People buy from people so make a good impression and who knows when the knock on effects of that connection come good.



3. Pick your pitch carefully

Speak to any street performer and you’ll realise the importance of a good pitch. It’s like fishing where the hungry fish are. For your show they might be in box office queues, exiting similar shows in other venues or scanning the boards at the half price hut. Being careful and strategic with with where you flyer will make an incredible difference to your sales conversions. On that note if you can take advantage of this mobile connected world and get people to book on the phone or online while your standing next to them then all the better. Whilst speaking to you is when they are closest to the sale so try and convert them on the spot!

Those are my top three tips but as a parting note I’ll leave you with some sales advice from the Store manual at a shop in the States called Structure. It’s kinda like a GAP for guys if you don’t know it. The new start manual there was like a university cirriculum and they were well into their acronyms. The one I still remember and used to shift many a pair of jeans was SUCCESS. I’ve broken it down below and is always worth keeping in mind when it comes to sales conversations:

Smile
Use open ended questions
Clarify your customers needs
Connect their needs with your product
Explain the benefits
Sell
Say thank you

Oh yeah, it’s cheesy but it works!



Until next time see you on the streets


Owen

P.S. Want to see the pros at work? Check out the charity campaigners on Princes St. These ‘chuggers’ are masters in the art of street sales.

Edinburgh is perfect for PR stunts, there’s already an air of anything goes, so the unexpected is…um expected. Get it right and a good stunt can catapult your show into the most talked about event at the festival but get it wrong and your show could be be the most talked about event down the police cells – mind you if you can conduct an interview behind bars you might just get away with it but more on that later.

Ok what makes a great stunt? Below I’ve put what I believe are the elements of an ultimate publicity stunt at the Fringe. Get all of these right and you’ll be well on your way to making a splash at the festival.

1. See the stunt and know the show – It’s all very well stopping traffic on the Royal Mile or parachuting into Princes St Gardens* but does this random act of madness have anything to do with your show? If all the chat at the festival is about some Fringe performer that did something crazy but we can’t remember their name or their show then it’s all a waste of energy. The best stunts link the act with…the act. So when news gets out that Jim Rose of the Jim Rose Circus injured himself driving a nail through his nose you can pretty much expect something similar at the show. Make the two interlinked and your show will always be remembered as the source of your stunt.
2. Sells not cells – Remember that the whole idea behind your stunt is that you sell more tickets to your show. This won’t be possible if you carry off a stunt that lands you in jail or prevents you from doing the show somehow. ‘Balloon animal expert floats away in hot air balloon never to be seen again’ kind of defeats the purpose of getting all that attention in the first place. So before you stop the presses make sure you’re operating on the right side of the law and your stunt won’t stop you from playing to sell out audiences. This is also important when it comes to shifting tickets, have you got all the show details ready in a release for the press, have you checked the Fringe Clash diary and even with just a quick look will punters be tempted to book?
3. Seeing is believing – Should have saved that cheesy rhyming in the last line for this point. The best stunts are conveyed with an impressive visual. Whether it’s feats of human endeavour or a skyline spectacle the stunt will travel like wildfire if there’s a pic that captures the essence of the genius behind it.
4. Be newsworthy – This is where a photocall differs from a publicity stunt. A photocall is like the internet back in the day. There were pages and we looked at them. A publicity stunt is like the web now – all about interaction. A publicity stunt needs to capture the imagination so that everyone’s talking about it, commenting, passing n the news o friends and basically getting all worked up on he hottest news item of the festival. To do this your stunt needs to have something newsworthy about it it. Is it controversial, is it a world first, a record breaker, all of the above? The best stunts have at least one if not more of these and more than that they have legs. They are news stories in their own right that can keep running and running until people start to wonder what’s going on in the outside world. By then of course it’ll hopefully be September!
5. Stand and deliver – The problem with cliches like ‘Don’t believe the hype!’ is that they are born out of too many real experiences and the world of Fringe publicity stunts is no exception. It’s not enough to to astound the public with a PR stunt, that same public need to be astounded in the theatre too. The classic example of this going wrong is when Fringe comedian Aaron Barschak shocked the world’s media by gatecrashing Prince William’s 21st Birthday party in fancy dress as Osama Bin Laden. His show was called The Comedy Terrorist (got point 1 down). He got a slap in the wrist when it happened in June but was out in time for August to perform the show (first week sold out, that’s point 2 nailed). Pics of him in fancy dress at the party were circulated around the world’s media (third point spot on) and the news travelled the globe (Point 4 – perfect). BUT….and this is a big but because of all the hype the show wasn’t ready. In front of a press only first performance The Comedy Terrorist died a death (strangely enough in a cave too!). The big break was nearly all wasted because the material didn’t live up to the stunt. Saying that in the history of Fringe publicity stunts gatecrashing a royal birthday is up there with the all time greats. Credit to your cojones Mr Barschak.

So there you have it, don’t be a Barschak and make your cunning stunt count with the top five Fringe Success Secrets for super stunts.

Until next time – stop the Press!

To your Fringe Success

Owen

P.S. Stopping traffic on the Royal Mile or parachuting into the gardens is so Challenge Anneka and like the show more annoying than anything so give these a miss!

P.P.S. Here’s some more famous Fringe stunts from yesteryear as described by Mark Borkowski. As they are all his the criteria for a great stunt aren’t as rigorous as they could be but there are some good ones in this Independent news piece

P.P.P.S. Think you’ve got a stunt Hardee enough then enter it into the Malcolm Hardee Cunning Stunt Awards

It’s definitely worth getting in touch with either companies travelling to Edinburgh from where you are – a quick call to the Fringe Office should point you in the right direction. Even when you’re up in Edinburgh finding out how needs to transport kit or cast along the same routes as you can save you time and money.

Whether it’s new publicity opportunities, economies of scale or promotional packages working with other Fringe companies is a sure fire way to boost your show this summer. To sign off I’ll leave you in the capable hands of those bearded wonders Canned Heat.

Right on!

To Your Fringe Success

Owen