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Pizza PR Video Response To Jon Stewart

Posted on November 20th, 2013 | Leave a Comment

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How do you take a public relations hit or joke and turn it to your favor… have fun with it. Take Chicago pizza chain Lou Malnati’s and their new PR video.

How it all started

As you may or may not be aware, One World Trade Center in New York recently unseated Chicago’s Willis Tower as the nation’s tallest building. While Willis Tower has more floors, 1 WTC’s spire atop the building makes it 47-feet taller. This led to a funny story on The Daily Show that evolved into Jon Stewart ripping Chicago pizza.

Okay… it was all in fun. It’s not like this was some serious critique or condemnation of our beloved deep dish here in Chicago, but that didn’t stop one of our local chains from having some fun of their own.

The pizza PR video response

Lou Malnati’s owner Marc Malnati flew to New York and shot a video to counter Stewart’s rant. Now… let’s be clear. The folks at Lou Malnati’s are much better at making pizza than comedy, but the video is still fun.

Lou Malnati’s took something topical and used it to promote their own PR message. CHICAGO DEEP DISH PIZZA IS AWESOME! Okay, it’s something I feel passionate about as well. Again, it’s all in good fun. New York… Chicago… we love the back-and-forth debate whether it’s pizza… sports… politics… whatever.

Well, no surprise the whole exchange has been a big hit on social media. Stewart’s video went viral last Friday receiving hundreds of thousands of views. Lou Malnati’s launched it’s video yesterday (Tuesday) and has already racked up nearly 30-thousand views.

How would your company like that kind of publicity?

Well… here’s your challenge… keep your eyes and ears on fun things happening in the news and social media surrounding your industry. Have a video budget ready to take advantage of the right situations. Establish a relationship with video pros who can act fast.

If you do all of that… there might be a PR video you can create to get in on the fun.

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 12 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.