What does...PR stunt actually mean?
In his column "What does... actually mean?", Benno Maggi looks at terms from the marketing and communications sector. This time he deals with the term "PR stunt".
Every idea, no matter how tired, that gets so-called earned media coverage is now called a PR stunt. Why is that? As if it were a dangerous, acrobatic feat to get the media to report on something without paying for it.
Public relations? Of course... Advertising would be more appropriate
The fact that everything that is not classic paid advertising is called a PR stunt is probably more to do with the fact that two terms are linked here, with huge scope for interpretation. Firstly, there is the PR term - how often have we talked about public relations in meetings when we actually meant advertising? No explanation of the meaning can follow at this point, but a recommendation to all experts among the readers: Please be precise in your statements when you talk about PR.
In the age of TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, public reports, paid content, content cooperations and the like, the boundaries between paid and unpaid content are blurred beyond recognition anyway, so it helps if you speak a clear language and show how classic PR works. But what are the media's own journalistic services and what is paid and ready-made content from companies and advertisers that is published as content? And what content is initiated by companies and advertisers, but is so relevant that it is also published (voluntarily and unpaid)?
When content is increasingly supplied or dictated by advertisers, political pacesetters and investors, it comes as no surprise that the TX Group recently wrote in a press release via its subsidiary Tamedia that 90 editorial jobs are to be cut. What is more surprising is that the press release went on to say: "[...] Advertising revenues at Tamedia and 20 Minuten [...] declined." The attentive readers are wondering what is and what is not booked under "advertising revenue" at Tamedia, given the large amount of paid content in 20 Minuten. It feels and reads more like much more is paid for content than is shown in the books. But that's another story.
* Benno Maggi is co-founder and CEO of Partner & Partner. He has been eavesdropping on the industry for over 30 years, discovering words and terms for us that can either be used for small talk, pomposity, excitement, playing Scrabble, or just because.
This article originally appeared on markt-kom.com - https://www.markt-kom.com/de/markom/was-bedeutet-eigentlich-pr-stunt/
