The Magic Of Public Relations
You might have heard about the magical impact of public relations towards the end of June 2006. This is when the release date of the final installment in the series of Harry Potter novels would not be announced for six months, then something extraordinary happened! The author of the series, J.K. Rowling said on a British talk show that two familiar characters would meet their doom in book number seven, and that one of them might be young Mr. Potter himself.
This simple and short statement set an avalanche of press coverage into motion. Each and every major television networks and their web and cable counterparts covered the story. Even, the New York Times featured the story in its pages, as well as on its website. More and more, the venerable Wall Street Journal covered the story! The story had been featured in most of the newspapers across the globe.
The trade journal Ad Age covered the story and the story behind the story was that the announcement is such a big deal. If you go deep to the issue, you will find that it is only Ms. Rowling’s interest to keep her work in the public eye, but to the book’s publisher, the producer and distributor of the popular Harry Potter movies, and a countless number of companies that make and sell Potter paraphernalia as well. It is also a point a that the Harry Potter brand reached the peak of popularity among children and adults everywhere thus it is also in the interest of television producers, newspaper editors and magazine publishers to cover this announcement. You might be thinking why it is? Because, a mere mention of the boy wizard’s name gets the instant attention of viewers and readers, which is good for organization that covers the story.
This could also be said as the win-win-win situation created by the unique form of marketing created through PR. In such cases, people who deliver the message win by getting the word out about their work, since the message draws the public to their information outlet, and the consumers win because they get access to the information that they crave. Is not it the magic of public relations?