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Doing the back work in a PR campaign is absolutely vital in
determining the success of your campaign. It is important to have all the
information needed and to make sure you are getting the point across to your
target audience. Make sure you do your research, and that your research is
relevant. There are many failed PR campaigns out there, but one that really
sticks to me would have to be the fiasco that is O.J. Simpson’s book (former NFL star, turned accused murderer). Entitled “If I did it” about the
hypothetical murder of his ex-wife. In today’s world of sensationalist
news it might be possible (although would require a healthy dose of fantasy) to
understand why some marketer out there thought this was a good idea. It
was scheduled to be published and promoted on a TV special by News Corp
subsidiaries – but the general uproar over the book and a few affiliates
refusing to run the show led to Chairman Rupert Murdoch stepping in and
canceling both. Oh – and the book’s super high profile editor was fired.
In my personal opinion, this was a horrible idea. Not only O.J. writing the
book, but the fact that people actually backed this insane idea and tried to
bring it to market. I’m sure there are people in today’s society who are more
than curious about what O.J has to say. Personally I wouldn’t waste my time or
money on such a book. Not the greatest idea on both O.J and the publisher’s
part.
Hi Jessie,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your post! OJ Simpson writing a book is a bad idea for PR and legal reasons in my opinion. However I guess he wanted to recoup his losses from the court hearing.
Maybe he could have done approached it differently instead of naming the book "If I Did It". It makes him sound like he's making a confession to a crime that many people naturally think he's guilty of. He would have been better off had he entitled the book "Racism in the Courtroom" or "Wrongfully Accused".
Anyways I enjoyed the post.