The power of charity PR stunts
There are just under 169,000 registered charities in the UK. In such a heavily saturated sector, how can you make your organisation stand out in a unique way without spending a fortune?
Three words. A PR stunt.
For the unfamiliar, a PR, or publicity stunt, is a disruptive marketing tactic with one simple goal – to get people talking.
More specifically, PR stunts:
Are short or one-off events, not long-term campaigns.
Are interesting, original, and memorable.
Rely on viral marketing, where people share footage of the stunt with their friends, resulting in exponential reach.
If you haven’t experimented with PR stunts, it may be worth considering, as, when they’re planned effectively, they can raise a ton of awareness, generate free column inches, and drive donations.
What does a charity PR stunt look like?
PR stunts come in various shapes and forms and aim to achieve different things.
Let’s look at a few examples.
USA for Africa
Goal: Raise awareness and boost donations
One of the first notable charity PR stunts took place in 1986. Organised by USA for Africa, the stunt, dubbed ‘Hands Across America’ aimed to raise awareness of poverty and hunger by uniting millions of Americans in a single cause: forming a human chain spanning the continental United States.
The ambitious stunt attracted 6.5 million participants, including celebrities such as Whoopi Goldberg, Jerry Seinfeld.
Former President Ronald Reagan and the White House staff even took part.
Participants donated $10 to stand in the chain, and the stunt raised a whopping $34m for the charity.
Greenpeace
Goal: Raise awareness and solicit signatures
PR stunts can also be an effective way to campaign for change.
In 2013, six female activists from global campaigning network, Greenpeace scaled London’s 1,017-foot Shard tower (without permission) to highlight Shell’s plans to drill for oil in the Arctic.
They chose the Shard as Shell’s headquarters are located near the iconic building.
The six women began their ascent in the early hours of July 11, and reached the top at around 7.10pm, at which point they attached a protest flag with the words "Save The Artic" to the building.
The stunt was broadcast live via the internet from cameras mounted on the climbers’ helmets. Greenpeace urged followers to monitor the climber’s progress via a live video link on their website, which featured pop-up boxes asking people to sign a petition and donate.
The women were arrested "on suspicion of aggravated trespass", but the stunt had the desired effect: 65,000 people signed up to support the campaign in the 24 hours following the stunt, and the live stream peaked at 13,000 viewers.
The story also trended globally on Twitter and dominated media coverage on the day.
RNIB
Goal: Raise awareness
In 2021, The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) opened a mock corner shop to highlight the inaccessibility of packaging by stocking the shelves with vaguely labelled products.
The "WhatsIn store" pop-up provided an insight into how it feels to be confronted with inaccessible packaging, something regularly experienced by people with sight loss.
Hidden cameras in the shop filmed shoppers' reactions to the blank or intentionally vague packaging before the shopkeeper revealed that this is the reality for people with sight loss when they’re out shopping or want to buy food on the go.
The footage was uploaded to RNIB’s social media channels, attracting thousands of views and shares. It also generated widespread media coverage.
The stunt also prompted global drinks brand Coca-Cola to release a line of accessible packaging for blind and partially sighted people.
Sanku and Choose Love
Goal: Raise awareness and funds
In 2022, surprise performance company, ClubMob took to the streets of London for a charity flashmob. (If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, a flashmob is ‘a large public gathering at which a group of people perform a seemingly random song, or dance routine, and then disperse’. Flashmobs are designed to attract attention by disrupting the normal and taking people by surprise).
The professional dancers performed a pre-choreographed routine in four high-profile locations in London, to raise money for two charities; Sanku and Choose Love.
In advance of the event, ClubMob filmed a tutorial of part of the routine, posted it online, and invited people from across the world to learn it and join them on the day. 100 people travelled to London to take part.
The stunt caused quite a stir, with large crowds of bemused passersby stopping to watch and film the performances.
The video has been viewed 320k times and the stunt raised just under £4,000, which was split between the two charities.
WaterAid
Goal: Raise Awareness and solicit signatures
In 2021, WaterAid placed four ice sculptures on the banks of the Thames, to highlight how climate change is causing fragile water sources to disappear for vulnerable communities.
The ice figures depicted people from some of the world’s poorest communities collecting water, to highlight the reality of those living on the frontline of climate change.
The stunt, which formed part of WaterAid’s ‘Our Climate Fight’ campaign, highlighted how climate change is causing fragile water sources to disappear in vulnerable communities.
The charity used it to encourage the public to sign their open letter to the UK Government, urging them to ‘invest a third of the UK’s committed international climate funding in locally-led adaptation projects, to help vulnerable communities get a reliable source of water, so they can protect themselves against the impacts of climate change’.
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