Cat Poop Turns to PR Gold

Imagine meeting with your boss (or client - which in the agency world is the same thing) and he/she tells you, "I'd like to introduce a coffee flavor that will cost five times as much as a regular specialty coffee and is made out of cat poop. Can you help me get the word out on this?"

Blink. Blink. Uh, what?

The first thought is probably, "You're kidding, right? Good one." But if you're a true PR professional like Melinda Isley of m creative you pretty quickly see the potential. $20 bucks for a cup of coffee that is brewed from beans that are eaten and digested by a special type of cat-like creature, then, well, eliminated - hmmm sounded like a PR story to her. And she was right. This story had enough of a WOW factor that it not only made the news, it was a front page story on Sunday. http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009909270359

Whether you think this is hysterically funny, immensely gross or incredibly decadant in the nastiest sort of way, chances are you'll read the story. You may never actually buy or taste the coffee, but you'll remember Bennett's Fresh Roast as a coffee cafe that really is different than the run-of-the-mill coffee shops found at every corner. Now THAT's a good PR accomplishment. Only time will tell if this strategy pays off, but my PR hat is off to Melinda for taking something that seems kind of, well, challenging to say the least, and turning into a great story for her client. Also to note, she used an age-old tactic that works wonders. She got the reporters involved. That's almost a story guarantee. If you can get a reporter to sample or interact with something you want them to report on, you'll have success. She planned a pre-tasting event for media prior to the public availability. The reporters simply couldn't resist. It's what they live for. They love to try something themselves so that they can accurately relate the facts.

Not all reporters are thrilled with the opportunity, but most will take advantage. I had an opportunity once to invite a reporter to go on an anti-gravity airplane flight at Kennedy Space Center for Charter Schools USA. The reporter was thrilled and scared to death. She thanked me and cursed me for arranging it. The flight travelled at zero gravity to allow the participants to truly experience weightlessness like they do in outerspace. The effects could be a bit unnerving and many well, throw up. The cost was pretty high, but we were able to offer the seat at no expense to the reporter. Sadly, at the last minute, her seat was no longer available. I can't really express the sound of relief in her voice. "I'm a grandmother!" she said. "I simply could NOT pass this opportunity up, but man am I glad I didn't have to do it." I have a feeling, her thoughts may have been similar had I offered her a hot smoking cup of cat poop. Either way, the resulting stories were really good. She wrote a great story about the anti-gravitational flight and Melinda's reporters wrote a great story about the cat poo coffee. This is the classic story of turning lemons into lemonade...or better yet... cat poop into gold.