When I saw this story in the Sun about British film censors slapping a ’12A’ rating on a ride at Alton Towers amusement park something about it didn’t seem quite right.
The story goes that Alton Towers management were so concerned about how terrifying their new ride was that they called in the British Board of Film Classification – the folks who rate films – to apply their rating system to a fairground ride for the first ever time.
The press release that goes with this story says Alton Towers was:
“…compelled to seek advice from esteemed film classification body the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), to help assess its new psychologically terrifying underground attraction, Nemesis Sub-Terra, which opens to the general public on 24thMarch 2012.”
The headline that went with this was – and I have copied in the same big bold writing and subheading used in the press release:
FIRST EVER THEME PARK ATTRACTION IS CLASSIFIED ‘TOO SCARY’ FOR UNDER 12′s
Alton Towers Resort calls in the British Board of Film Classification to help classify new terrifying attraction with an age rating
It seemed to me odd that the BBFC would officially “classify” a fairground ride as was clearly the message from the headline.
If you read further – and you paid very good attention – you’d notice the language is quite subtle. In fact all the BBFC did was offer advice to Alton Towers based on how they would classify a film were the impact to be the same.
Still not certain about the legal ramifications of this I got on the phone to the BBFC and they confirmed that there was no ‘mandatory classification’ whatsoever.
This didn’t stop newspapers and websites the length of the land reporting it as if the BBFC had slapped a film-style rating on it.
What Alton Towers has done is pulled off a classic publicity stunt.
Now I wouldn’t for one minute suggest that their claim that “classification advice from the BBFC is important for the Resort to ensure the wellbeing of our guests” was not the primary aim of this press release.
But what it did do was create a fun story, which several national papers picked up on and gave the theme park some top notch publicity.
They also wrote the press release (the full text of which I will attach below) in a way that at no point said this was a mandatory rating like in a film, but at the same time made it look exactly like that was what it was.
And the Sun, amongst others, either fell for it or thought it was just too good to miss. (There’s an old journalistic maxim: “never let the truth get in the way of a good story”.)
The Keys To A Good Publicity Stunt
Now a good publicity stunt will quite simply wow the journalist and their readers because it is something fascinating, funny, intriguing, surprising, disturbing – or any number of adjectives you might come up with.
Ideally it needs to be bigger, better, faster, cleverer or funnier than anything similar that has been done before.
It needs to be clever, it needs to be new, and ideally it needs to be easily photographed or filmed.
For these reasons publicity stunts often involve breaking records – the more obscure the better on occasion – so look out your Guinness Book of Records! (Breaking a record counts as ‘new’ because, while it has been done before, it hasn’t been done to that extent ever before.)
I remember recently being invited to a hotel in Italy that was made out of rubbish, which a supermodel had agreed to sleep in it for the night.
This was a publicity stunt for a firm wanting to push its green credentials. But the idea of hotel made out of rubbish was novel, and juxtaposed with a supermodel, it was positively interesting.
An insurance company once bubble wrapped an entire street, which they claimed was the most accident prone in the UK.
The snooker player Jimmy White once changed his name to Jimmy Brown – which turned out was a publicity stunt for brown sauce ‘HP’.
Both the supermodel and Jimmy White also illustrate the importance of getting someone interesting in on the stunt if you can. In the case of Alton Towers they managed to persuade the “esteemed BBFC” to get involved.
But at the end of the day all these examples are nothing more than a cleverly dressed up advert that will get you press coverage – which many consumers see as more credible than a real advert.
What did Alton Towers do right?
So what did they do right that made this a success? Here’s a dissection of their story and why it worked, hopefully giving you some lessons in creating your own stunt:
- They got the BBFC involved: this gave the story credibility. They also got the BBFC to supply a quote that a journalist could use, which justified their involvement in terms of the wider entertainment industry. Again, this added credibility by putting it in context of a wider phenomenon, which we are all aware of.
- They made clear it was ‘the first ever time’ this had happened. ‘First time ever’ are three words that are music to any journalist’s ears. In this case it was the ‘first time in 100 years of the BBFC’, which makes it seem even more interesting.
- They used ‘science’. You will see towards the bottom of the press release there is ‘research’, which is always helpful in propping up any argument. But if you do use research make sure it stands up to scrutiny.
- They used emotive language: the ride was ‘terrifying’ and possibly a danger to the mental state of younger participants…this highlights exactly why people want to go on these rides. The language is used to make the story sound more dynamic and interesting. (Be careful of over-doing this if it isn’t appropriate, journalists are quite well versed in sniffing out BS.)
- There is a lot of description of the ride (i.e. their product) but not too much. This builds a strong picture of what is going on, giving the journalist a comprehensive understanding without over-loading them.
- It was timely: the launch of the ride was close to the release of the press release.
Now there’s quite a lot to this and your stunt doesn’t need to be nearly so complex. For example, as a hairdresser you might simply try to cut as many people’s hair as possible in a set time.
In terms of the idea of timeliness, you can always latch onto something else that is going on. For example, check out this blog on how Cuprinol cleverly took advantage of the Queen’s Jubilee.
As ever, the simplest, and often best, test is the ‘pub test’. What do your friends think of the idea? Does it wow them? Or does it bore them?
Without further ado, here is the complete text of the Alton Towers press release:
FIRST EVER THEME PARK ATTRACTION IS CLASSIFIED
‘TOO SCARY’ FOR UNDER 12’s
Alton Towers Resort calls in the British Board of Film Classification to help classify new terrifying attraction with an age rating
Following unprecedented feedback from a testing panel during its beta phase, Alton Towers Resort has been compelled to seek advice from esteemed film classification body the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), to help assess its new psychologically terrifying underground attraction, Nemesis Sub-Terra, which opens to the general public on 24thMarch 2012.
For the first time in history for a theme park attraction, the BBFC agreed to assess Nemesis Sub-Terra, so that Alton Towers Resort could protect its younger visitors from the intense and disturbing effects of the new attraction and consider appropriate restrictions.
Now in its 100th year of operation, until now the BBFC has only rated content in the form of film releases, DVDs/Blu-Ray, digital downloads and video games. The BBFC considered carefully the feedback and unique nature of the attraction (which is neither a ride, performance nor a maze) and agreed to lend their advice.
Murray Perkins, Senior Examiner at the BBFC commented: “The BBFC is seeing a real blur of the old boundaries of visual content and physical experience in both 3D and 4D cinema, and at theme parks. Applying our experience of the public’s acceptability of moments of threat on screen, to more physical experiences, is something we have begun to do as cinema and other theatrical experiences evolve.
After experiencing the attraction first-hand, based on 100 years of experience andline with British public opinion, we would recommend that Alton Towers Resort classify the new Nemesis Sub-Terra a ‘12A’.The BBFC’s Guidelines at ’12A’/’12′ allow moderate physical and psychological threat, provided that the disturbing sequences are not frequent or sustained. Nemesis Sub-Terra contains some intense moments, in some respects comparable with scary scenes which may be experienced in horror or science fiction films at ’12A’/’12′. But while some people will no doubt find this a frightening experience, the personnel monitoring the site are soon on hand to guide the public to safety.”
Katherine Duckworth from Alton Towers Resort commented, “The classification advice from the BBFC is important for the Resort to ensure the wellbeing of our guests. We are aware the enforcements that will now be implemented will mean that many of our younger visitors are unable to experience Nemesis Sub-Terra, which we are obviously concerned about. However, the Alton Towers Resort prides itself on offering a variety of rides for all ages and we hope that those under the age of 12 will continue to enjoy our other attractions.”
To ensure the new attraction was as terrifying as possible, Alton Towers Resort conducted some research during the development which revealed 75% of Brits have a phobia of being trapped underground and as many as 1 in 5 adults are still scared of the dark. Nemesis Sub-Terra plays heavily on both of these fears.
The Nemesis Sub-Terra attraction is unlike anything the world has seen before – a psychologically and physically thrilling experience, taking place in a dark, intense underground setting and based around the back-story of the original Nemesis attraction, launched in 1994. It takes guests into a restricted facility deep underground into a system of hidden caves. There is only one ‘chicken exit’ within the attraction – for people who can’t cope with the rest of it.
For more details on Alton Towers Resort and Nemesis Sub-Terra or to book tickets visit www.altontowers.com
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