Movie in the Park/PR Events

Last week I went to a free movie in park sponsored by Trip Advisor (which I may refer to as TA throughout this post). While I went because I figured that it would be a fun free event -- the type that I always see but never go to -- for a brief moment it got me thinking about work too. While a friend and I were talking shop, I pointed out how much of a great PR campaign it was.

I explained that while many people think of public relations as press releases and media announcements -- all the old formal stuff -- there's a whole lot more to successful PR than just making necessary announcements. PR pros give themselves reasons to make announcements. They plan events, host parties and give out awards, all to remind people what brand they're serving.

A perfect example of this is Trip Advisor's movie in the park. Trip Advisor is an online resource that (I would guess) gets most of its advertising through online resources and the existing popularity of the site. The size and high activity of their pages make TA hugely attractive to Google, meaning that they have a consistently high search rating for the exact thing that they provide to the public. Essentially, the size and quality and amount of information on their site makes makes it easy to find, which contributes to the size and quality/amount of information...

But what happens when Trip Advisor execs want to generate a 'buzz' about the site in non-online areas. There's no obvious excuse for a PR campaign -- as far as I know, the product hasn't changed and they're not coming out with anything new. But perhaps too many people are finding the site through random searches and not enough are going straight to TripAdvisor.com. They want to increase brand awareness. How can this be done?

One option is doing what Trip Advisor did: 'sponsor' a community event that appeals directly to your target audience. The easy appeal of a free summer movie in the park was a great way to draw people in and then advertise their brand without boring or 'turning off' their potential users with traditional ads. By giving their audience something for free they created a positive association with their brand so that the next time one of these people decides to look online they may just think 'what was that site?... Trip Advisor... that was a fun movie... I like that brand" Everyone likes free stuff, and if you give something away and still slip in some brand advertising, then you're well on your way to a good PR campaign.

And Trip Advisor's event was a success, I think. The overhead, I would imagine, was fairly low, the turnout was high, and people had a great time. The audience left happy with their belly's full of free pop corn and a Trip Advisor hat on their head. (A hat that they'll either wear around the city (free advertising) or throw in the corner of their house and glance at from time to time (branding) both of which will, in theory generate more hits to their site.)

Will I go directly to Trip Advisor's site the next time I'm planning a trip or getaway? I'm not sure. Will I remember their site when I'm Googleing hotel reviews? Most likely.