A very interesting thing happened this week. While doing some follow up on some street press magazines i noticed what appeared to be a serious error in printing.
The story i gathered was that Beat Magazine, a music based street press magazine was loosing their graphic designer as he was moving to America for another job. Like most papers they go to print on Tuesday night and like most weeks the editors all headed home in the evening. The art department stayed behind to set up the pages to go to print over night, including the member of the team that was leaving.
The cover that week was meant to be of the UK band, The Kaiser Chiefs, however that is not what happened.
The designer replaced it with something he had drawn and that night hundreds of thousands of copies were printed, bundled and that morning the delivery drivers picked the bundles and dropped them off as usual at their assigned spots.
The editors of Beat magazine woke up to countless frantic phone calls.
Our office had a good laugh at the cover and thought it was a seriously brave over on the designers behalf, but then i noticed Beat magazine changed their display picture on their Facebook page to the same image, that is where, i believe, the magazine has slipt up.
It occurred to me, this probably wasn't an act of rebellion but perhaps a carefully thought out PR stunt. How many people picked up the magazine to have a look after hearing that story? How many times did I personally send their link to coworkers and friends? How many times I, myself go onto their Facebook page.
Whether the story I heard was even correct or not, it certainly helped the magazine. It was definitely interesting and food for thought.
Hope you all have fantastic weekend!
5 comments:
i love it! embracing a problem rather than fleeing from it! They turned a PR nightmare into a positive and that's creative. Good on em!Shows you that it really is about how full you see the glass
i love it! embracing a problem rather than fleeing from it! They turned a PR nightmare into a positive and that's creative. Good on em!Shows you that it really is about how full you see the glass
Wow!!!
This is a really interesting case. I would think the graphic designer must have had a good enough relationship with the editor or be in a powerful position within the magazine to feel that doing that would be fine OR if it was a stunt then kudos to them because it has got everyone talking!
Spicing up the front page with something cheeky and unexpected would be great for a magazine and it could mean that someone who wouldn't normally pick up a copy might read it, and also gets Beat Magazine's name out there.
It's interesting what you said about how they changed the cover to their Facebook display picture because then it is either a stunt like you said, or they were just embracing what had happened despite being unaware!
I think in that kind of environment and with that particular reader of a music street press mag, it would be taken pretty well and in good humour. However, I think it depends alot on the publication and the demographic and if it were a credible newspaper or something else it could cause a bit of conflict!
I love this blog post of yours because you are clearly thinking about things we've discussed in uni and you've questioned it!
All the best with your internship!
Lisa
Thanks for the feedback guys!
I actually heard them talking about this on Triple J the other day. They seemed to believe it as well and i found out from a friend that the designer was moving to America for another job so i suppose it doesnt really matter.
Thanks so much for everything you said Lisa and all the best with the rest of your internship!
This is such a great example, whether it was a carefully planned PR stunt or a well executed crisis management plan i think it was a smart move by Beat.
I would have to agree with Lisa, i think they would have changed the facebook image to cover up a potentially embarrassing and unprofessional act.
I think this also highlights the importance of employing open minded creative types. there is alot of prejudice towards young people starting out in the industry, that they dont know alot, or cant compete with older people who have been doing PR for their whole lives. This is the work of a young designer who wasnt afraid to take a risk, and i think it paid off for the publication whether they were aware of it happening or not!
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