case study 1

Martians have landed

When a seven metre high metal alien appeared in the centre of Woking, stories appeared all over the world. But this wasn't so much an extra-terrestrial landing as a carefully planned PR campaign to promote a public sculpture commissioned by Woking Borough Council in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the publication of H G Wells' famous book The War of the Worlds – written while the author was resident in the town.

We were invited to promote the commission and raise the profile of the Borough to the widest possible audience, while keeping criticism to a minimum. Public art can be an asset worth shouting about, but if mishandled can degenerate into an easy target for criticism.

We adopted a 'teaser' campaign involving the progressive unveiling of the magnificent sculpture, working with all the local media – newspapers, radio and television stations.

We invited television presenter Carol Vorderman to the grand public unveiling and used an award-winning newspaper photographer to record the event. The result was unprecedented media coverage nationally and internationally as far afield as Japan and the USA. In the UK, the Guardian, Independent and Daily Telegraph published large photographs of the sculpture. Comprehensive positive local coverage was also achieved.

Not only was the council delighted, writing to us to say that we "...made an impressive presentation to members and the results far exceeded expectations. We were very pleased with the work", but PR Week carried an analysis of the campaign, describing our work as "...a well-planned campaign from a company with expertise".

As a final footnote, the council was contacted by a medium who said that he'd been in contact with H G Wells himself and that the great man approved of the sculpture. Who says PR has a limited reach?