073: PR Stunts Round Up: August 2022

Welcome to Will It Stick? podcast, where hosts and marketing experts Melissa and Alexis cover creative advertising campaigns, PR stunts, and marketing activations that brands of all shapes and sizes pull, and dive into the research and data to understand if it worked and of course … Will It Stick?

It’s time for our August 2022 Brand PR Stunts Round-Ups.

Here’s our recap for August 2022:

Burger King and Uber Eats Messy Eaters

In the UK this month, Burger King partnered with Uber Eats to offer a new deal for anyone who orders BK’s messy bacon and cheese-loaded fries – and this deal promises to save your face AND reduce your laundry load.

When customers order this exclusive Uber Eats menu item, they will be entered into a raffle to win a custom adult bib. Because if you are ordering bacon and cheese loaded fries from Burger King, certainly they want an adult bib so you don’t have to stress out over sauce dribbling down your face and onto your clothes. These limited edition bibs are custom made to catch all of those falling bacon bits.

Apparently, 55% of clumsy Brits admit to being unfortunately splatter-prone, with wayward spills finding their way on to clothing at least once per week, according to Burger King research. The most dangerous foods to keep around fresh linen were cited as spaghetti and soup. The more you know.

Patrón Enters the MetaVerse

Patron invited fans to attend the Patron “Tequilaverse,” A virtual pop-up experience where visitors went on quests to win a trip to Mexico – a four night stay in a condo in Punta Mita – we were just there earlier this year we LOVED IT. The pop up operated August 12-14 and 19-21 via the browser-based VR platform Decentraland. Consumers went on a series of quests to make Patrón cocktails. After completing all three quests, they were entered into a sweepstakes to win a trip to Mexico. I’m OBSESSED. Basically, you had to create your own character, then you had to go on a quest to gather ingreatideants to make a paloma, a Patron Silver and soda and a Patron Anejo highball. You could also unlock NFT wearables on your journey.

“At Patrón, we celebrate creative communities like the metaverse that bring people together in a digital world. With this new venture, we hope to spark curiosity, creativity and connection this summer while offering our tequila fans a new way to experience the mastery behind our brand.”

The venture into the metaverse follows the January launch of Patrón’s first NFT. The brand sold 150 bottles of a limited-edition Chairman’s Reserve aged añejo tequila through BlockBar, with each purchase accompanied by a cryptographic version of the product.

Tito’s Mocks Canned Cocktails

It doesn’t just SEEM like every alcohol brand is making a seltzer these days, it’s a freaking fact.

If you think Tito’s seltzer is too good to be true, you’re right. The brand used the canned cocktail craze to create their own can. The catch? It’s empty.

The product was complete with a hilarious advertisement and the tagline “We don’t make seltzers, you do.” Consumers can buy the insulated aluminum can online for 20 dollars, with net proceeds being donated towards non-profits. They certainly know their target audience, as the video received overwhelmingly positive support on social media.

Wine for Nugget Stealing Parents

This one is just perfection, for me Lex. Have you heard of the frozen meal brand Kidfresh? Delicious frozen kids’ meals packed with hidden veggies + lots of nutrition. They sell them at Target. Anyway, Kidfresh launched a new product… they created two wines to pair perfectly with the food that busy parents steal off of their kids plates.The brand. Kidfresh reserve, used data to find that 81% of parents admit to stealing food off their kids’ plates. I will tell you that 100% of the time I steal my kids nuggets. The limited edition wines Chardonuggets and Red Wagon. The stunt didn’t get a lot of attention on social media at all – and I was SO disappointed with the TikTok video the put together for this… way too commercial and they could have done something SO HILARIOUS, but it’s a cute and clever idea.

Fancy Feast Restaurant in NYC

I’m not really a cat person. Actually I’m not a cat person AT ALL. But, I am familiar with Fancy Feast – are you? Well it’s a cat food brand and they decided to create a cat-themed Italian trattoria this past month in an effort to celebrate the brand’s new recipes for its Medleys’ collection …the restaurant was named Gatto Bianco and it was a pop up in New York’s meat packing district and created in partnership with a Michelin-starred chef. Human attendees were served beautifully plated courses presented at tables with golden cutlery and cloth napkins with the Fancy Feast logo. The Fancy Feast cat himself made appearances and posed for pics, and guests received gift bags filled with human-pleasing goodies including a heart-shaped food mold, pasta-making tools, an apron and cutting board etched with the brand’s logo, bags of seasonings and a massive cookbook autographed by James Beard Award-nominated chef Cesare Casella.

According to a spokesperson for Fancy Feast, this stunt was supposed to be give cat owners an insight into their pets (whatever that means)

“We hope that it’s a window to help cat lovers get to know a little more [about] how their cats see food,” he said. “How they experience food. How they love the variety and the forms and textures. So they can come a little closer to their cats and understand them a little better. We like to think that food has the power to connect us.”

Fancy Feast’s in-house chef, Amanda Hassner, was on hand to guide guests through the sensory experience of the night’s first course, which she deemed an “exploration of textures.”

Only 16 cat lovers who were quick enough to snap up the OpenTable reservations got to take part in this.

Couture Dress at VMAs was an ad for Instacart

You can now turn your event wear into a secret carrier of snacks! Instacart broke all the snack rules at this year’s VMAs on Aug. 28 – did you watch it? Well, they took to the red carpet with SNL actress and comedian Chloe Fineman and she was dressed in what they called “Cart Couture”. This outfit was literally made to hack the event’s “no outside food” policy – how you ask? Well this dress incoporated a variety of snack textures like rock candy, gum balls and gummy bears. She literally wore the snacks and then handed them out to other snack-depirved celebs. This stunt was dreamed up by the brands agency Droga5.