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Marketing is a long-term strategic drive of consumer demand to your product. It is how you identify and communicate to your audience as a commercial enterprise, and can be as crucial to success as the product itself.
The overarching aims of marketing are threefold: to showcase your product in such a way that your potential customer can't live without it; to help the potential customer remember positive things about your brand next time they consider a similar purchase; to engage with your customer, so they are satisfied enough not to look elsewhere for fulfilment.
Publicity and publicity stunts are a short-term answer to creating awareness of our business or brand.
Eye-catching, head turning events such as a prize draw, survey or celebrity sponsorships are just some examples (read the 5 best marketing stunts of all time) as publicity stunts are simply more artillery for the marketing department battery.
But beware, marketers, as we shall see in the examples below, publicity stunts must be attempted very much on the premise that ‘any press is good press'. Often, your stunt must be controversial to be striking, making it impossible to control the media as well as the public reaction to your campaign and your product.