Most people think they can spot an ad from a mile away. They're usually right. We’ve all become cynical, haven't we? We scroll past the sponsored posts and roll our eyes at the corporate "we care" statements. But every so often, something slips through the cracks. Something feels real, or funny, or just so incredibly smart that you find yourself talking about it at dinner. That is the realm of brilliant pr and marketing.
It doesn't feel like a pitch. It feels like a moment.
Take the 2023 "Curb Your Enthusiasm" style chaos of the CGI-rendered giant bags driving through the streets of Paris for Jacquemus. People argued for days about whether they were real. They weren't. But the debate itself was the product. That’s the shift we’re seeing right now. In a world where everyone is screaming for attention, the loudest person in the room is often the one whispering something actually interesting.
The Death of the Traditional Press Release
Honestly, the old-school press release is mostly dead weight. If you're still sending out dry, three-paragraph PDFs about a "strategic partnership," you're shouting into a void. Journalists at top-tier outlets like TechCrunch or The Verge get hundreds of these a day. They delete them in bulk.
Brilliant pr and marketing today is about creating a narrative that the media can't ignore because the public is already obsessed with it. Think about MSCHF. The Brooklyn-based art collective doesn't really do "marketing" in the traditional sense. They released "Big Red Boots" that looked like something out of Astro Boy. They were clunky, impractical, and objectively ridiculous. Yet, they dominated the cultural conversation for weeks. Why? Because they understood that in the attention economy, "weird" beats "polished" every single time.
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It’s about friction. If there’s no friction, there’s no heat. And if there’s no heat, nobody is looking.
Why We Stop Scrolling
What actually makes a campaign brilliant? It isn't a massive budget. We’ve seen billion-dollar companies flush money down the toilet on Super Bowl ads that everyone forgets by Monday morning.
True brilliance usually hits one of three marks:
- Subversion: Taking a trope and flipping it.
- Extreme Relatability: Admitting the "ugly" truth about a product or industry.
- Cultural Hijacking: Jumping on a trend without looking like a "fellow kids" meme.
Look at Ryanair’s TikTok strategy. A budget airline that everyone loves to complain about should, theoretically, be terrified of social media. Instead, they leaned into the hate. They use a filter with eyes and a mouth on their planes to mock passengers who complain about lack of legroom or extra fees. It’s self-aware. It’s funny. Most importantly, it’s authentic to their brand of being the "cheap flight guys." By roasting themselves, they took the power away from the critics.
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The "Quiet" Power of Earned Media
There is a massive difference between paid media and earned media. Anyone can buy a billboard. Not everyone can get the world to talk about them for free.
When we talk about brilliant pr and marketing, we’re often talking about the art of the stunt. But not just any stunt. It has to feel earned. In 2022, Liquid Death (the canned water company) released an album called Greatest Hits Vol. 2, where the lyrics were literally just hateful comments they received on social media. They turned online vitriol into a creative product. They didn't "address" the negativity; they monetized it. That is a level of psychological warfare that most marketing departments are too scared to even suggest in a meeting.
The Psychology of "The Leak"
We also need to talk about the "accidental" leak. High-end tech companies and fashion houses have mastered this. A prototype left in a bar? A blurry photo of a new sneaker on a grainy "spy" camera? It’s rarely an accident. It builds a sense of discovery. When a consumer feels like they’ve found something they weren't supposed to see, their engagement levels skyrocket. They feel like insiders.
Misconceptions About Going Viral
Viral isn't a strategy. It's a result.
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If a consultant tells you they can "make a video go viral," they are probably lying to you. What you can do is optimize for shareability. This involves understanding the "Double Peak" of content. The first peak is the initial push (your followers). The second, much larger peak, happens when people start sharing it with their own commentary.
To get to that second peak, your marketing needs to be a conversation starter, not a period at the end of a sentence. It needs to be debatable.
The Data Behind the Magic
Don't let the "creative" side fool you. Behind every seemingly chaotic or "random" success is a mountain of data. Spotify Wrapped is perhaps the most brilliant pr and marketing execution of the last decade. It’s just data visualization. That's all it is. But it’s personalized, it’s aesthetically pleasing, and it taps into our inherent narcissism. We want to show people who we are through our music.
Spotify turned their users into a global unpaid sales force every December. They didn't have to buy ads to tell you they have a lot of music; you told your friends for them because the data was presented as a gift, not a pitch.
Actionable Steps for Modern Brand Authority
If you're trying to move the needle, you have to stop playing it safe. Safe is the most dangerous place to be in 2026.
- Find the "Anti-Hero" in your brand. What is the thing people joke about? The flaw? Lean into it. If you’re a slow service restaurant, own the "slow-cooked" narrative. If you’re a boring B2B software, own the "we’re the invisible engine that prevents disasters" angle.
- Kill the corporate speak. Replace "leveraging synergies" with "working together." Replace "innovative solutions" with "this actually works." Talk like a person.
- Invest in Community, not just Audience. An audience watches you. A community talks to you. Spend more time in the comments than you do on the creative assets.
- The "So What?" Test. Before launching any PR campaign, ask yourself: "If I saw this from a competitor, would I actually care, or would I just keep scrolling?" If the answer is "scroll," start over.
- Micro-Influencers over Mega-Stars. The era of the $10 million celebrity endorsement is fading. People trust a niche creator with 50,000 loyal followers more than a movie star with 50 million bots. Go deep, not wide.
Stop trying to be perfect. Perfect is boring. Perfect is a robot. Brilliant pr and marketing is human, messy, and a little bit risky. It’s about making someone feel something—even if that something is just a quick laugh or a bit of shock—in the three seconds before they swipe away.