Tuesday, March 27, 2007

The Most Expensive PR Stunt - EVER

Hi all -

Now I love a good PR stunt as much as anyone, but it hurt to watch this one unfold. As you know from reading my blog daily (right), I am a bit of a gear head/car lover. If you don't believe me, all you have to do is to look at all the cuts and cracks in my hands - or reference THIS blog post. So when I saw this video, I cringed.



What you're seeing is Eddie Griffin, actor and comedian, crashing a car that retails for over $1,500,000 as he promotes his upcoming movie Redline. And with a car like this, a little front end damage is unrepairable. The skin is made of carbon fiber, and much of the car's structure is composite. Did I mention they only made 400 of them? Ever.

Granted, this PR stunt drew news coverage all over the world, and will probably sell a few more DVDs and movie ticket stubs, but I doubt it will make up for the cost of the automobile. I'm willing to bet they didn't figure it into the budget!

Note to self: If we ever orchestrate a PR stunt for a client that involves a supercar, make sure there are NO WALLS ANYWHERE NEAR THE CAR. EVER.

Garret

2 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Now they're promoting the accident on Myspace, in order to drum up more ticket sales for their movie!

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=56355612