Public Relations is the marketing communications art of having people tell your story to audiences of people that you want to hear it. There’s science and best practices behind good PR and there’s also knowing what’s a questionable seed of an opportunity and fertilizing it properly to watch it grow it into a redwood forrest. In today’s media landscape that seed of a story can turn into a forrest in hours, or even minutes. That’s called PR gold, when your brand story goes viral.
In the later half of last summer we were sent a seed of a PR opportunity via e-mail for our BFF client Sea-Doo watercraft. Mr. David Pike of Jersey City, NJ sent an e-mail about an opportunity to do something unique on a Sea-Doo and that the media may pick up on. Now, as the PR agency for the global, industry leading personal watercraft brand for the past 15 years, we get dozens of, “great ideas” every year about how people can promote Sea-Doo through exotic, sometimes crazy rides. We do our due diligence on everyone of them. LOOK makes sure we don’t miss that hidden, golden nugget. Nearly all of the ‘pitches’ are passed on for various reasons; no plan, lacking physical skill, no experience, not thought out, doesn’t understand what the media are interested in, doesn’t understand brand positioning, or is simply so wacky you wonder what bar stool they were sitting on when the idea developed.
the golden seed.
David Pike was one of the rare idea guys that actually had a solid, and very doable idea. Pike is smart, business savvy, and simply found a better way to commute around New York City. And at the same time live the Sea-Doo Life. For years he was commuting 90-minutes each way from his home in Jersey City to his business, The New York Trolley Company, in Brooklyn, New York. That’s an hour and a half each way or three-hours out of each day lost simply getting from one point to another.
Pike, sick of the grind and losing his time looked at a map. He realized a straight shot across New York Harbor is less than three-miles. This is where his e-mail to us comes in. He figured out how to beat the NYC Commute by riding a Sea-Doo from his condo with a private marina in Jersey City, past the Statue of Liberty and to his office in Brooklyn. He would cut his commute down to 20-minutes door-to-door and do it with a smile as he lived the ‘Sea-Doo life’ everyday.
It all fit. David is a good looking, young entrepreneur with a young family and figured out how to make his life better by riding a Sea-Doo to work. Great story right? Right. After a few weeks of commuting via Sea-Doo the New York Media (the biggest in the country) were, ah hum, informed of his ‘system beating’ commute. Then ABC called and the 2:57 segment aired on Good Morning America and the ‘seed’ exploded. Pike on his Sea-Doo smiling and cruising by lady liberty was picked up by The New York Post, CBS Radio, Yahoo News, CNBC, the Wall Street Journal and more.
David’s NYC Sea-Doo Life Commute went viral…Public Relations Gold.
Neptune Award for Best Public Relations
At the 2020 Miami International Boat Show LOOK Marketing won two Neptune Awards. One for Best Public Relations. The Neptune Awards are presented by the Marine Marketers of America organization to celebrate the best marketing campaigns and activations in the Marine Industry. These are LOOK Marketing’s fifth and sixth Neptune Awards, and includes wins in five different marketing categories.
Great PR includes great story telling. David Pike’s Sea-Doo life was unique, engaging and relatable for so many New Yorkers. He had a great story to tell and the media of NYC loved sharing it. It would’ve been easy for us to delete his short e-mail as ‘another dude with a crazy idea,’ yet we studied that seed, fertilized it and low and behold it grew bigger than we ever expected. Every person and every brand has a story. Tell your story. And if you need help. #lookatus
