I just read about a very clever and attention getting marketing campaign that I had to share. The Discovery Channel is promoting the season launch of shark week, it’s popular annual event. The PR teams at the Networks use all kinds of promotional gadgets and gimmicks to reach media journalists and reporters in hopes of getting ink as they say…basically written up in the newspaper or online, or on TV news.
So the Discovery Channel came up with an absolutely brilliant marketing program that definitely was edgy and pushed the envelope and seems to have grabbed attention.
To promote its annual Shark Week series to reporters, Discovery Channel sent reporters a jar than contained swim-trunks that was chewed up and bloody. Oh, and wait, there’s more. Inside the jar was a crumpled up newspaper clipping that had each reporters obituary. “<Reporter Name> …dies of a grisly shark attack”. Quoting James Hibberd, who penned the initial story “But today was the first time a network ever truly creeped me out.”
I wonder if they could use the same campaign to consumers? Test market in a city that matches the shows target demo. This will make it possible to see ratings lift since you are concentrating on a single DMA.
Oh well, I thought it was very clever and attention grabbing. Heck, it got mine and I didn’t even receive a package 
Check out the breaking story from the hollywood reporter live feed here.
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