Our Favourite PR Campaigns From the Last Month
As part of our monthly round up of PR campaigns worthy of a shout out, we’re looking at the latest efforts from Starbucks and Scottish brewery, Brewdog, as well as a clever social experiment to raise awareness about dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Let’s take a closer look at what made each of these campaigns so good:
Brewdog encourages people to vote with free beer
On Thursday 8th June, self-styled ‘punk’ beer purveyor Brewdog gave the country a tasty incentive to get out and vote in the general election: free beer. All people had to do was take a picture of themselves outside the polling station, send it to Brewdog and claim their complimentary beverage. The beers were up for grabs on the day of the polls and the day after.
We all love a freebie, especially when it’s alcoholic, so unsurprisingly, the stunt was a huge success. Coverage reached the likes of The Independent, The Sun, Metro, Mirror, The Drum and plenty of regional titles too.
To protect its reputation, the brewery was careful to stress that it’s not affiliated with any one political party. It said in a blog post, ‘to be honest we don’t care who you vote for. But we do believe it’s important that everyone exercises their right to vote in the UK’s upcoming general election.’
Piggybacking on something as huge and contentious as the general election isn’t easy, but this was simple, well executed and had an important underlying message to get people to vote.
Starbucks and Lady Gaga’s ‘Cups of Kindness’ campaign
This one came from across the pond. Last month, coffee giant Starbucks joined forces with Lady Gaga and her Born This Way Foundation to spread a little love with its ‘Cups of Kindness’. A range of vivid drinks was hand-picked by the global superstar, including Matcha Lemonade, Violet Drink, Pink Drink and Ombré Pink Drink, then sold by Starbucks for a week, across the USA and Canada, who donated 25 cents from each cup to charities that support youth wellness and empowerment.
This was a clever move by Starbucks, which benefitted from lots of positive coverage. Lady Gaga was also a great influencer to partner with. She has a loyal fan base of so-called ‘Little Monsters,’ who flocked to Starbucks to taste the drinks chosen by their idol.
Restaurant opens and hires waiters with dementia
Eating out can be a stressful experience when you’re cripplingly indecisive. But there’s one restaurant where this isn’t an issue, as you know you probably won’t get what you ordered. This is because all the waiters at ‘The Restaurant of Order Mistakes’ have dementia or Alzheimer’s.
The unique eatery popped up in Tokyo’s Toyosu district for three days last month, to raise awareness of dementia and to change the way people think about and relate to dementia sufferers.
The restaurant caught the attention of popular food blogger Mizuho Kudo, who visited the restaurant and had a blast. Yes, she received gyoza dumplings instead of the hamburger she ordered, but it was all part of the restaurant’s charm.
Maggie’s Tokyo, an international member of UK’s Maggie’s Cancer Centres, was one of the initiators of the restaurant. After the successful trial, the restaurant is planning to open up another pop-up event on September 21st for World Alzheimer’s Day.
