PR Stunt Watch: Dolly Parton's playbook, a great Fall and Irn-Bru
I can’t talk about this week without honouring our country music queen, Dolly Parton.
She was a musical genius, philanthropist, and feminist icon. We can all learn a lot from Dolly, and that includes brands.
She has spent decades mastering the art of the perfect crowd-pleaser, knowing exactly how to lean into the joke, shock the room, or steal the show without taking herself too seriously.
From a high-drama stunt to a viral inside joke, here are
the brands that have taken notes from the Parton Playbook and worked
hard (9 to 5?) to grab our attention – all while making it look
effortless.
Baseline by Vaseline
This all started when a Korean skincare creator and Vaseline superfan, Min Day Lee, posted multiple product demos. Except she used an alternative pronunciation of the petroleum jelly we all know and love, as “Baseline”.
TikTok did its thing, with people making their own remixes and edits.
Then, Vaseline entered the chat in the best way possible, officially rebranding to "Baseline" on socials in her honour, appointing Lee as CEO of Baseline with immediate effect.
Simple and swift, the brand subverted its “Vaseline Verified” brand platform to verify something completely unexpected. Genius.
The suspended screening of Fall 2
How do you launch movie sequel Fall 2? You host a screening where people literally have to face the ledge.
The follow-up installment to the thriller Fall tells the story of two young women, trapped thousands of feet up in the air, attempting a plank walk on Mount Kwan in Thailand (no, thank you).
The studio set up an immersive screening, where attendees were forced to stand on elevated, narrow, wooden planks high off the ground for the entire film.
Although this is literally a scene from my nightmares (anyone else have those sudden falling dreams?), I love it.
What makes it work so well is that there isn't a slick, over-polished video edit in sight. It’s landing entirely through raw, suspense-inducing social clips of genuine terror.
Will I go and see the film? No. Is it a good
stunt? Yes.
Irn-Bru vs Batman
If this isn’t British culture at its finest, I don’t know what is.
With production underway in Scotland for The Batman Part II, security crew members have reportedly spent every night hunting down and removing strategically placed Irn-Bru cans left hidden across “Gotham City” by rogue locals.
It’s cheeky and hyper-local. The cherry on top is Irn-Bru’s official statement that followed: “We’ve always had our suspicions that Bruce Wayne was made from girders. If he needs a can to keep him going while saving Gotham, Glasgow’s clearly got him covered. Just stick up the Bat signal, and we'll make sure there's some Irn-Bru for his utility belt.”
Part of me hopes this is a really cleverly engineered stunt. Either way, 10 out of 10. No notes.
Written by Hannah Jackson, creative director at Pangolin. First published on PRmoment.com.
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