The PR dilemma: How to get mass publicity for a brand which is likely to be pretty close to the top of the delete/hang up list for most journos. In this case billboard company Outdoor Plus, "a leading light in the premium out-of-home sector". Answer: Get Coldplay to do it for you. A rather blatant attempt at a "conscious coupling" – tweet Coldplay a pic of a billboard promoting new album Ghost Stories with slightly sycophantic comment "looking fantastic on Euston Underpass" – turned into a PR home run. With 12.4 million fans following @coldplay, the retweet that followed generated something of a Twitter storm. The PR company reckons the publicity avalanche – helped by another image of the same Outdoor Plus billboard ad tweeted by a fan got the same Coldplay treatment – resulted in nearly 1,000 retweets and 1,748 favourites. Outdoor advertising was never so sexy. While the plan may not have required a rocket Scientist, the agency will no doubt claim they can be counted on to Parachute into any PR crisis.
