Netflix's PR stunt has me saying "#SANAALL"

Over the weekend, I along with a lot of Filipino netizens, woke up to the news that the Mall of Asia globe had been stolen. Having just woken up, my first thought was WTF?! It was a huge LED globe and weighs a ton! Who would and who could have done it? And WHY?

Certain people wondered if it was a PR stunt although it was written like it was a real news article, with BREAKING NEWS written in all caps. Reactions to the breaking news were a mix of disbelief, wonder, disappointment and amusing. When I saw the tweet from Rappler with the accompanying hashtag #BrandRap, I knew then it was indeed a PR stunt. For those who don’t know, BrandRap is Rappler’s platform for sponsored articles.

People who suspected it was a PR stunt thought it was for IKEA. After all, the furniture and home accessories store, the largest in fact, was about to open in Mall of Asia. Turns out, another brand was responsible for it. It was Netflix’s way to create buzz around their latest film, Red Notice, which stars Ryan Reynolds, Dwayne Johnson and Gal Gadot. It’s not the first time Netflix PH did a creative PR stunt. Hello Trese! That was a very successful PR stunt for sure! Widely talked about! Can I say the same for Red Notice’s?

Yes! It met the objective of generating people’s curiosity and then awareness for the film. It got people talking! And upon checking, it’s part of Philippines’ top 10 today. And you know I applaud creative out-of-the-box ideas like this on how to get people’s attention! As a PR professional myself, I wish I had clients like Netflix who would let me think of creative ideas for their brand. And has the moolah to shell out for me to execute it into reality too. The last time I had such an opportunity was way back 5-6 years ago! Back then, I was thinking up Twitter parties, a media launch to welcome the return of a well known brand in the country and getting the two fastest rising young stars in the country to be its ambassadors, magazine cover buys… Those were good times. High points of my career. And I miss it. Yes, Netflix has me saying “Sana all…” Sana all may creative PR stunts. Sana all may budget. (Wish all brands could be as creative as Netflix with its PR requirements. Wish all brands have the budget too to execute creative gimmicks).