Communicator of the Week: Banksy

Of all those awful PR industry words or phrases which are leveraged (sorry) with merry abandon in pitches and update meetings with clients, "create a buzz" is arguably the most vacuous. What do eager PR types mean when they explain that their forthcoming campaign will do just this?

"A buzz" cannot of course be measured, so what is it? Some point to content shared online via social media. Some hope their initial work will just be a catalyst to their message being seized upon and used by others. Or, it might mean the traditional media picking up and reporting on digital activity. Too often however, little thought has been given to the point of a campaign including a theme, let alone a plan to use multiple forms of communication to "create a buzz".

Which brings us neatly to this week's Communicator of the Week who has…wait for it…created quite a buzz in New York City and beyond.

Using multiple social media platforms to inspire other people to become his ambassadors which, in turn, has led to traditional media to report on his activities, the street artist known as Banksy has taken his work to the walls and streets of New York.

The artist's website says the project is a month long residency. He is calling his New York exhibition "Better Out Than In" which the Wall Street Journal says is a reference to a quote by the artist Paul Cézanne.

To publicise his project he is using Instagram to post up pictures of new work, a dedicated Twitter account, his own hashtag, as well as a website which includes an audio commentary of each new piece of street art.

Banksy has attracted a significant following with people rushing around New York to get a glimpse of his work before they are destroyed by graffiti. Media interest has been huge with coverage of the project in the UK, the US, and Australia  in just the first few days. The world is now eagerly awaiting his next trick. Now that is what I call a buzz and is why Banksy is my Communicator of the Week.



Communicator of the Week is written by Edward Staite