PR Stunt Watch: A hairy experience in NYC, GWR libraries, free electricity from Octopus Energy...and Greggs

The Tumblehair

There is literally a giant (ten-foot) hairball – MADE OF REAL HAIR – rolling around the streets of New York. Why? You might ask. How? You might ask. I can only answer some of the many, many questions.

It’s the brainchild of Uncommon Creative Studio, signed off by hair serum brand K18, because, of course, if New Yorkers used their new hair serum, they wouldn’t lose the collective 167 billion strands they estimate are lost over a mysterious period of time.

Once the ball arrives in the Meatpacking District, the campaign becomes more trad, with a pop-up Hair Longevity Lab, where people can go for scalp analysis.

They’re calling the physical stunt a "narrative object" (a term I am going to thieve from now on), which they see as more powerful than OOH or film alone – something Stuntwatching traditionalists will be only too happy to hear.

But, where is the hair from, Uncommon?

Frankly, I’m jealous. Imagine pitching this and then GETTING SIGN OFF. 

Congrats to the Uncommon team. This story will feature in a hair-shaped frame on my desk, inspiring me to push for weirder from now on.

PS. I will never stop asking where they sourced the hair from.

GWR Little Libraries

This is a lovely idea from Great Western Railway (GWR) and VCCP Roar, with teeny Little Libraries popping up at train stations. A great place to encourage summer holiday-tripping kids to pick up and read a book. 

These are "stationed" (snort) at ten locations across England and Wales. They’re cute, and they’ve got a solid number of locations for people to genuinely take part.

A drop in kids reading is a real issue over the holidays, plus Michael Rosen launched it. Solid.

Octopus Energy

You cannot have escaped the intense eclipse chat this week. It felt like it came from nowhere, a bit like an eclipse, in fact (ok fine, not in fact – it’s a very predictable spacey event, you nerds).

I would have thought more brands would try to jump on this, and a few did – notably Jaffa Cakes – bringing back its classic campaign (beautiful).

But, I really liked the core of the "money-where-mouth-is" offer from Octopus Energy. This was an authentic voice in a space with an often too complicated message. They offered, for those who are signed up to its rewards programme, (strap in), that if they used less energy during peak eclipse times (6-8pm), they would receive one hour of free electricity on Sunday (not two hours for some reason). This was premised on the fact that Britain’s solar generation will obviously be depleted during this time, which also happens to be peak energy use time.

There’s also a competition to get free solar panels, which feels like an unnecessary add-on. But, the bones are there – they had the right idea, and they’ve made a generous offer.

Specsavers' BIGGER Issue

A simple and clever idea from Big Issue and Golin Ketchum, that created a special edition BIGGER Issue – twice the size of the standard mag – with some blurred content.

The story highlights that one in three people experiencing homelessness has sight conditions, plus almost half have never had an eye test (or, at least not in the past five years).

No notes.

Also this from Greggs…IYKYK.

Fast work. Ta-ra until next time.