PR Stunt Watch: Vikings, sausage rolls and six packs

Hot off the back of Kim’s excellent football PR Stunt Watch takeover last week, I had aimed to avoid the F-word this week. Alas, it is impossible whilst approaching the global football event that I’m sure we’re all briefed to our eyeballs about (I know we sell engines/flaxseed/teeth whitening strips, but how can we jump on the football event this summer?).

So, here it is. A planned football-free Stunt Watch, which is in fact only one quarter not football or football event adjacent. I’m sorry! 

Norway World Cup shoot

The Norwegian team, which, after almost 30 years, is so thrilled to be taking part in the football event of the year, it has gone full heritage for the official team photo. 

The striking image shows the team decked in full viking attire, with a stunning backdrop of the beautiful fjords, shot by Scottish fine-art photographer David Yarrow. 

There is nothing I love more than seeing a team flip the formula, moving away from the M&S dad "matching suits in airport" efforts of yore. 

HEIN EKEN

I waited for more than one "sauce" here (hahahaha you’re welcome), because I honestly wasn’t sure if it was real, or one of those "imagine if" things that designers keep doing on LinkedIn to mess with our heads. However, it’s confirmed on the brands' social channels now, and I applaud the absolute simplicity of it. 

Heinz Tomato Ketchup and Heineken have created a six-pack featuring five lagers and a ketchup bottle, packaged together. And that’s it! There’s a teeny bit of "bringing people together" marketing speak (I’ve redacted my thoughts here because I do need employment), but mostly, it’s two brands with a similar audience being consumed at the same (football?) events, sharing a six-pack together. 

They haven’t shoved two quirky "they wouldn’t usually be together" celebs in it, they haven’t created a franken-bottle – they’ve simply portmanteau’d the name, and created a fun bottle pack with both brands. There may also be a half-and-half football shirt (visible, but not mentioned otherwise), but let’s ignore that. 

Great brand collab, perfect moment for it – simple. 

Movember paternity leave stunt

Movember, the men’s health charity, has promoted their damning new paternity leave report with a symbolic game of football in front of the Houses of Parliament. The report (in partnership with The Dad Shift) revealed that the UK's paternity leave is one of the worst in Europe. The bold call-to-action requests ministers to introduce six weeks of statutory paternity leave at 90% pay immediately, with a phased expansion to 12 weeks within three years.

In protest, dads (including former pro sportsmen), decked in black Movember branded kit, campaign stats displayed on their backs, played for 10 minutes – one minute for each day of statutory paternity leave that UK fathers currently receive. They were then benched while their children played on – alone. 

A simple activation, doing the job it needs to do – in view of the people they need the message to get to. 

Greggs Ta-Pastry

And finally, thank God for the Greggs team. They've tapped into the REAL cultural event of the summer – the Bayeux Tapestry – coming to England for the first time since it was made nearly 1,000 years ago. So, who best to hijack this news than Greggs – the nation's favourite sausage roll house? 

They created, wait for it, a sausage roll “Ta-Pastry" for the UK’s most important national day of celebration, National Sausage Roll Day (and yet, no bank holiday). This could have been fun as a silly pun, but it’s the commitment I admire. They didn’t half-arse the execution – the downfall of many an idea destroyed with budget cuts and "it’ll do mentality". 

Instead, they invested 200 hours in a team of royal embroiderers (nice), resulting in eight metres of detailed work depicting the history of our fave sausage snack. They stuck to on-theme, slightly faded brand colours – outlining key moments from their history, translated into Latin. They’ve also unveiled the art at the Design Museum (niiiiice), which means the public can actually go and see it. 

Off to buy a sausage and sign a petition for another bank hol. Vale!