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COMMENT: International PR Company BursonMarsteller is in PR heaven right now. They are sucking fees worth tens of thousands of dollars from their client LG by rolling out stunt after stunt in an effort create street cred for LG flat panel TV displays and mobile phones among the so called in crowd.
But the problem is that they seem to have forgotten all about the LG product on the way through as they make more money selling an event over a simple press conference.
Last night at a gala packed event which BursonMarsteller described as “a celebration” for the new LG Secret phone they packed in hundreds of celebrities including former Miss Universe Jennifer Hawkins and Sex in the City and Law & Order Star, Chris Noth who BM describe as the new ambassador for the LG secret phone. A mix of retailers and media the event was held at a so called secret location which was no more than the back entrance to the State Theatre.
However the gig seems to have backfired, with Hawkins this morning making no mention of the fact that she was at an LG event when she wrote gushingly in her Confidential column in the Daily Telegraph about meeting Noth at a “media event” in Sydney last night.
Instead of writing about LG and the new Secret phone she wrote “He’d heard I was going to Paris on Saturday, for the Dior fashion shows, and he suggested a few restaurants to go to. He also invited me to his nightclub (Cutting Room) in New York the next time I am over there. As I said, a charmer, down-to-earth and really friendly”.
However the most damming part of BM’s PR strategy appears to be the fact that they have totally forgotten about launching the new phone to the technology media. This is akin to having a wedding party before the wedding. “We are still working on that side of the launch program” said BM today.
This is not the first time this year that LG and BursonMarsteller have gone for the celebrity approach over simple PR substance. It was only 5 weeks ago that a bunch of C grade celebrities turned up for free LG food and grog gig for the launch of the new LG Scarlet TV launch and with the TV performing poorly in retail stores one has to seriously question BM’s strategy.
As a comparison Taiwanese Company HTC also held an event yesterday for the launch of their new Diamond mobile phone which will compete head on with both the new LG Scarlet offering and the new Apple 3G iPhone which is set to be launched on July 11.
Run by PR Company Upstream this event was attended by over 100 journalists, communication industry analysts and leading executives from Telstra. Also present was the President and CEO of HTC along with Horace Luke the creator of the Xbox and the lead architect in the development of the new HTC Diamond phone which is set to be a credible competitor to the Apple 3G iPhone.
The event had substance over LG froth and as a result several media organisations are today running stories on the new HTC phone.
What LG and BursonMarsteller are engaging is pure marketing crap because at the end of the day it’s the product that that is the hero not some TV or movie celebrity who is earning a big fat fee to act as a LG phone “Ambassador”.
While there is nothing wrong with the work being done by BursonMarsteller or the implementation of the program, it is the stategy of going after celebrity street cred before the offical launch of a product. This is bordering on the ridiculous.
And it is not Chris Noth or Jennifer Hawkins phone that consumers search for on Google when they are looking for a new phone. Nor is linking a phone with a celebrity going to work. Take the Paris Hilton Sidekick phone. This product is already dead and gone.
At the end of the day the game is about sales and profits and brand credibility and in today’s TV and mobile phone market there is enormous value in a good well executed PR programs similar to what HTC and Samsung in the phone market and Panasonic and Sony in the flat panel TV market recently delivered.
Recent research has shown that consumers do not trust retailers or vendors to tell them the real facts about a product or service. Instead more than 80% of Australians are using Google to search for information on a product or service from third party sites like SmartHouse or CNet who today are attracting millions of consumers to niche information silos.
