PR Move of the Day: The hype leading up to the Super Bowl will be full of activation onsite and online and a host of call to action campaigns leading up to Glendale and to the commercials in the game. However sometimes the strategic planning that can go into ambush marketing or affiliate campaigns can be just as strategic and much more creative to execute.fired by non-Super Bowl sponsor KFC over the past few days (and reported in Media Post., where KFC under its successful Colonels Scholars program, will award $260,000 to the charity of an NFL player who does the Chicken Dance after scoring in the Super Bowl. They have also created a viral opportunity for fans to send in their versions of the Chicken Dance for a chance to win prizes, and have enlisted former NFLer Jamal Anderson's involvement as well. The key to the ambush is to be close but not close enough to the rights and marks, have the cool and hip feel to make it just edgy enough, and to be top of mind early and often, and maybe, just maybe, invok.the league or a competing sponsor to recognize the campaign (being handled on the PR side by Webber Shandwick). As evidenced by the story above, KFC has struck on all of the keys early on.
Another different campaign which we found today and strikes right at its viral audience is Totino's Pizza Rolls online campaign with viral video supporting their Winter X-Games campaign.?The campaign is a call to action for teens, through a series of webisodes, to crash and tune in to the highly popular ESPN event, complete with games, product placement and opportunities to win prizes. Unlike KFC, Totino's is a full supporter of the Winter X games, and is able to use rights and marks, hopefully using the very approachable X Game athletes for video participation at affordable cost when the games are underway.
Both are examples of using the viral spay c.in a nontraditional way to garner pre-event hype for brands going into a very crowded environment. By being outfront early, both campaigns have boith shelf life and the ability for recall. The edgier the better.
