More on quirky PR for business

My last post dealt with using quirky stories to achieve PR.

I did not think the BBC could better their Magazine Monitor list of real, but slightly worrying media spots, which included Pam Ayres being inspired to write poetry after becoming a Dylan fan.

But they have. They are two goat related stories that made the news front page of the BBC website: a speeding Swiss man in Canada claimed he only was driving fast because there were no goats on the road to slow him down. The second is a Sudanese man being forced to marry a goat after being caught having sex with it; he was also forced to pay a dowry. Click here if you really want to read the details.

Not to be outdone, gnomes have also featured. Devon and Cornwall police have served a notice on a neighbour of a local policeman on the spurious charge of "placing a garden gnome with intent to cause harassment" after the policeman claimed it deterred buyers of his cottage. Click here if you really want to read this.

Businesses do not have to go this far. But it illustrates a point: news is often entertainment. Businesses that conduct PR with the dourness of the chancellor are not going to get coverage. So no more pictures of businessman shaking hands or cutting ribbons or an anniversary press release.

You do not have to invent the wheel but a little originality and creativity will go much further than you think.