V05 pushes showering to the limit in Extreme Shampooing stunt
By Alex Mansell on Thursday, June 20, 2013
Shampoo is a tricky business when it comes to the male market – even the word conjures images of flowing blonde hair and scents of summer blossom, so how the hell do you make it masculine? Easy – you make it EXTREME!
This is exactly what V05 did yesterday, in a great stunt to promote their Extreme Style shampoo range. They sent blogger Jim Chapman to lather up in five of the most extreme places in the UK – in a waterfall, on Ben Nevis, in the River Thames, with a powerful fire hose and during a bungee jump.
The clever thing about this stunt is the way it entails three of the strongest weapons in the PR armoury (Pramoury?! Have I just coined a new term??): i) crazy stunt ii) short, simple video iii) blogger engagement
Crazy stunts have always been a staple of the PR diet, generally a sure-fire way to grab attention/column inches, and a video to go with it is a great way to push something to all corners of the internet. With the rocky soundtrack and blink-you’ll-miss-it editing, the vid is like a one minute montage from an action film, meaning the creators definitely hit the mark with taking something essentially feminine and making it aggressive and cool.
The power of the blogger has only been recognised relatively recently in the PR world, but should not be underestimated. They provide a platform like no other when it comes to PR, and the good ones have influence spreading far across the vast plains of the web. Jim was a good choice for this project – popular, likeable, and one of the few young male bloggers whose fan base spreads beyond adoring 14 year old girls.
Metro and Huffington Post have already picked up on the stunt, with the former clearly loving the idea judging by the size of the piece.
Bet his head was sore after all that.
Check out the video here:
