Star Struck – Creating a Buzz

It was my first time in Hollywood, I was staying just off the main strip and on our first day we took a wander to see the stars on the sidewalk and of course to go “star-spotting”.

I was in luck almost immediately. Outside Grauman’s Chinese Theatre a small but determined crowd had started to gather. Like moths to a flame we joined the crowd jostling and craning our neck to see who the celebrity in the inner circle of the group was. Autograph pads were flying, cameras flashing, excitement was most certainly in the air.

After around 5 minutes of rubbernecking I was still no closer to finding out which celebrity was in the middle of the crowd. I asked the question to the excited person next to me, they had no idea. Five people later and I finally got my answer.

It was the 12th guy from Oceans 12! (The new Oceans 12 movie staring the delectable George Clooney was about to come out at the cinemas in a few months).

By this stage the crowd was whipped into an extreme frenzy with certainly over 100 people all clambering to get their taste of this “celebrity”. After around 10 minutes, we left the autograph signing mass without our autograph, but still excited to have seen a “star”.

You can imagine my surprise a few months later watching the Oceans 12 movie only to find out that there was no “12th guy” in it! It was the same original cast as in Oceans 11.

Now you can either look at this one of two ways I feel:

The first, 100 people on the streets of Hollywood were conned into thinking they saw a celebrity.

The second: 100 people on the streets of Hollywood were given a “star” sighting and something exciting to go home and tell their friends AND we can learn the lesson that it’s easy to create a buzz about ANYTHING if you think about it hard enough.

So, taking the second lesson, when your business opens its doors for trading, or has it’s 5 year anniversary, or hits a milestone, or starts selling a new product, what can you do (without lying!) to create some buzz and excitement?

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By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments