All I Ever Needed to Know About Promotions I Learned From WKRP in Cincinnati

In today’s Introduction to Public Relations class, we watched a classic episode of the classic 1970s TV show “WKRP in Cincinnati” :: “Turkeys Away.” Though I paid to download the episode from iTunes, I just discovered it’s also available for free through Hulu.

In this episode, which was based on a botched promotion from a radio station in Atlanta, live turkeys dropped from a helicopter. Chaos ensues.

What can we learn about how NOT to do a promotion from Mr. Carlson’s fiasco? I’ll get the list started:

  1.   Communicate with your entire team before launching a promotional campaign (or a turkey).
  2. Do your research! It’s best to learn ahead of time that turkeys don’t fly.
  3. Get permission before doing a stunt.
  4. Know what is considered news in your local market. Giving away turkeys for Thanskgiving wasn’t news. (But watching live turkeys plummet from a helicopter probably would be news.)
  5. Brainstorm for what could possibly go wrong before you proceed with a promition.

What would you add to this list?


This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 at 4:58 pm and is filed under PRCA 2330, advertising, public relations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

8 Responses to “All I Ever Needed to Know About Promotions I Learned From WKRP in Cincinnati”

  1. Trey Joiner Says:
    April 30th, 2009 at 5:07 am

    It’s always important to look at a promo campaign from ALL angles before thinking about putting it into action!

  2. MY COMMENTS!!! « The Life and Times of Trey “IceTrey” Joiner Says:
    April 30th, 2009 at 7:51 am

    [...] http://epond6.wordpress.com/2009/04/09/what-will-kids-come-up-with-next/#comment-16   2. http://publicrelationsmatters.com/2009/04/29/all-i-ever-needed-to-know-about-promotions-i-learned-fr...   3. http://lineolesen1.wordpress.com/2009/04/27/woops-obama-s/#comment-6   4. [...]

  3. Janet McCullough Says:
    April 30th, 2009 at 1:36 pm

    I had never heard of the show before- it was so funny! But from a PR perspective, a disaster! It really goes to show how important PR is to a company, but good PR that is. The promotional plan should have been researched and well thought out… or maybe hired a professional! Poor guy!

  4. Blog Comment « Think Happy Thoughts Says:
    April 30th, 2009 at 1:42 pm

    [...] I commented on Barbara Nixon’s [...]

  5. PR stunt gone wrong « It’s a Loveleigh life Says:
    April 30th, 2009 at 2:37 pm

    [...] After watching the show we discussed what we learned about how not to do a promotion. This list is also available on Barbara Nixon’s blog: [...]

  6. Lauren Lee Says:
    April 30th, 2009 at 7:59 pm

    I found the video clip to be very amusing. I had not previously heard of the show however when I asked my parents if they had ever watched it they both said yes and were surprised that I knew what WKRP was. We talked and laughed about the turkey episode.
    Getting to the point, I agree with all of the steps that you listed in your post. I think it is really important to be prepared and make sure you consider everything before taking such a risk of launching turkeys out of a helicopter. I learned from this episode that it is really important to work as a team in public relations.

  7. Comment Number Three « Laurenashleylee’s Blog Says:
    April 30th, 2009 at 8:08 pm

    [...] Comment! I left a comment on Barbara Nixon’s post about the clip from ”WKRP in Cincinnati” on April 30, 3009. The link that will take you to my comment is: http://publicrelationsmatters.com/2009/04/29/all-i-ever-needed-to-know-about-promotions-i-learned-fr... [...]

  8. promosyon Says:
    September 1st, 2009 at 3:24 pm

    very good thank you

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