PR Story of the Week: The power of social media

This week, I have two joint favourite PR stories and I believe they both reinforce the power of social media.

The first was Taylor Herring’s plan to wake up sleepy commuters going about their usual morning routine by placing a life-sized polar bear on the Tube! The stunt was an eye-catching way to promote Fortitude, a new series on Sky Atlantic. Commuters were presented with an unbelievable and picture-perfect moment to tweet, share on Instagram, post on Facebook or send to friends. Social media is a fantastic tool for spreading the right messages and this stunt was a great way to encourage the public to do just that.

Image: London Evening Standard

The second is the Marc Jacobs Spring 2015 campaign, in which all 11 of the ‘models’ from around the world were cast directly from social media sites such as Instagram. It is the second time the fashion designer has done this, with the first #CastMeMarc campaign attracting 70,000 entries. What an excellent way to encourage brand promotion through word-of-mouth (both online and offline) and increase audience engagement. It’s also hugely refreshing to see ‘real’ people in a fashion campaign who, I'm sure, will benefit massively from the exposure – as opposed to the usual choice of models and celebrities who don’t usually need the boost to their career or bank balance.