PR and the selfie seen ‘round the world

​I love watching the Academy Awards, from the red carpet to Best Picture. And I think we’ve all come to the consensus that the 86^th annual Academy Awards, Ellen’s performance in particular, were particularly well-done and entertaining.

Ellen did a terrific job of engaging her audience in the auditorium and, in doing so, offering the viewing audience a sense that we were all in on a great joke. Most notably, the “selfie” seen ‘round the world was, I believe, a moment of live-television genius; a reflection of Ellen’s tremendous grasp of both audiences and the new “multi-screening” environment that is live television.

Aside from the entertainment value, the selfie has raised an interesting question for marketers. At least, it has for the marketers in this office. And I’m putting it to you, the RVA marketing community (and beyond), to help us resolve this one. 

Here’s the question: was the selfie great PR or was it great advertising? Or something else?

For the record, I think it was great PR. Yes, Samsung paid to be the phone in Ellen’s hand. But I think the moment transcended the ad-buy and became something bigger as a result of Ellen’s editorial direction. Show me the brand that doesn’t get a leg-up in their PR efforts by doing some kind of paid media, whether it’s producing content or actually advertising in the outlets it’s targeting for editorial. We say it all the time inside Hodges – public relations and advertising work best when they work together. You’d be hard-pressed to find a better example than Samsung’s slam-dunk on Sunday night.

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