PR Stunt Watch: A floater on the Thames, Cazoo, Pringles' urn and Samantha x Meltwater

From a giant poo to an engraved urn, this week’s Stunt Watch is a lesson in perfect casting, and WTF factor.

Danny Dyer and a big floater

A “Thames floater” might usually trigger a collective groan from PRs, but if ever there was a time for one, this is it.

Actor Danny Dyer and Labour MP Kevin McKenna floated down the Thames together, alongside a giant, deeply offending-looking, inflatable poo emoji. Why? To call on the water industry to be brought into public ownership.

To top it off, Danny personally dropped off the petition to Number 10.

Would this work if a commercial brand did it? Probably not. But its raw, unapologetic protest energy is why it lands so well.

Barry x Cazoo

Meanwhile, Cazoo enlisted EastEnders royalty Shaun Williamson, aka Barry, to shed light on "clocking" (tampering with a vehicle's mileage) in the UK’s used car market, calling on the government to make the practice illegal.

The casting choice is pure genius. Using a beloved, meme-worthy face, whose character is known for being a car salesman, to make a dry regulatory issue prominent is impossible to ignore.

The only thing with clocking is you can tell them not to, all you want, BUT THEY’RE GONNA DO IT ANYWAY.

The Pringles urn

When I first saw this, I was unsure. Pringles is offering one die-hard fan the ultimate final resting place: a personalised urn – styled as a Pringles can. A competition where only one person can physically win coverage, surely not?

But this one works due to its sheer, unadulterated WTF factor.

The main reason I was swayed was that it’s inspired by the inventor of Pringles, Frederic John Baur Jr., who was buried in one himself. Bonus points for the name (“Once You Drop”) and bringing in TikTok’s Dan the Funeral Man for the content.

Would I want to be buried in one when I pop my clogs? No, but it’s a great example of taking a brand truth and blowing it out into a quirky idea.

The return of Samantha

I couldn’t not include Meltwater casting Kim Cattrall to reprise her iconic publicist persona, Samantha of Sex and the City, for its global “Intelligence is always in style” campaign, with Samantha swapping long lunches for LLMs.

The ultimate pop culture PR icon to talk directly to actual PR practitioners – need I say more?

Article written by Hannah Jackson, creative director at Pangolin. First published on PRmoment.com.