New era in brand communication
I believe we are witnessing a new era when it comes to brand communication, and clearly this picture below is the best example:
The communication strategy is not new, since it has already been seen before but it seems it is under constant refinement by our fellow marketing “masterminds”.
The story: Hugh Grant was caught drinking and driving by photographers
Facts: There was a beer can in Hugh’s car but it could have been the passenger on the right doing the drinking.
The communication strategy: A dubious photo agency made available this picture showing a catchy red circle zoom of the tasty alcoholic beverage inside Hugh’s car - the zoomed part is also suspicious (you can see why). News magazines and tabloids quickly jumped at the photo and published since people are starved for celebrities gossip (that’s the real reason you are reading this as well). They all wrote about a big celebrity drinking this beer in the car. Yes, Hugh Grant himself!
Consequences: Getting thirsty. You go to your local supermarket and buy Carlsberg. Heck, if Hugh Grant drinks it, why won’t you? 
P.S. I hate Hugh Grant.
Ana Placinta
April 6th 2008 - 11:01am
yeah…so far so good.
but would you like your brand to be seen as an non-social responsible one? cause the photo with Hugh having a beer while driving is not the best for a positive PR.
since we’re at this point, i don’t know if you’ve heard about Virgin Mobile virals…they’ve made a video with a celebrity [don't remember the name] which had his personal number on the car he was supposed to sell it. ppl created an hysteria, they started to call at that number…and scattered the video among the others. in the end Virgin revealed the mystery, and said to stop calling the poor guy, as their structure can’t face so many phone calls [or smth like that. i've seen the case at an APG seminar...pretty cool]
George Man
April 6th 2008 - 1:36pm
Sounds to me they got more than they expected..