Top of the PR Pops: May Highlights

From floating houses to life-saving phones, it's time to take a look back at the campaigns, stunts and happenings from the world of PR, social and digital that have got us talking this month...

Airbnb's Floating House

If you thought you saw a house floating down the Thames…you did.

A pretty impressive PR stunt, Airbnb popped a house on the river to both raise awareness and celebrate the new rules that allow Londoners and Brits alike to share their homes with travellers for up to 90 days a year. And, in conjunction with the stunt, they’re also running a competition.

Airbnb’s house will be cruising past the Houses of Parliament and London Eye, before docking at Putney Pier where one lucky winner will spend the night in this unique abode, whilst being utterly spoilt with spa treatments and waited on by the head chef of a Michelin-starred restaurant. Not bad, not bad!

Magnum's #BeTrueToYourPleasure

Last week at Cannes, Magnum premiered their new #BeTrueToYourself campaign; a series of short interviews with people who identify themselves as gender nonconforming.

Sophie Galvani, Global Vice President for Magnum said: “Magnum believes that a day without pleasure is a day lost…This film celebrates the ways one specific group of individuals embrace their personal pleasure in a courageous way, in an effort to inspire all people to be true to their own pleasure”.

It’s a pretty bold step for Magnum who would normally promote their products with celebrity advocates, but their ad has already been watched by over 620,000 on YouTube, and counting.

Adidas Hang Up Their Boots

A video released by Adidas on 18 ^th May showed big-name brand advocates Leo Messi and Luis Suarez announcing the end of the brand’s existing range of football boots.

Adidas claims the move is part of its efforts to adapt to the changing game of football, which has a “new set of rules”. “Instead of previously defined player types or positions, modern football teams nowadays need only two types of players on the pitch”.

At first this sounded like a drastic measure for Adidas who, incidentally, has seen sales falling in recent years due to the increased competition in the market space. But this could actually be a pretty smart move from the sportswear giants. And it’s a move that other companies have made. Take Disney, for instance; they frequently pull films from the shelves, only to re-launch as an “Anniversary Edition” a few years later. And it works. So it’ll be interesting to see how this pans out for Adidas…

Nokia Saves Another Life 

There are plenty of tales about Nokia phones saving people’s lives (…apparently), and the latest comes from China where a man survived a collapsing wall, courtesy of his Lumia 920. Mr Geng Ming instinctively covered his head with his mobile device which softened the full blow of the falling wall. Crazy!

Good press doesn’t come much better than that. Good luck topping that one, Apple and co!