Lynx recently made a song and dance of ‘discontinuing’ its Africa scent with the ad ‘Rest in Africa’. Fans lamented the loss and questioned what they were going to get for Christmas… only for Lynx to backtrack the next day with a ‘Christmas is Saved’ message. Turns out all they’re doing is updating the packaging.
It echoes the ‘Rest in Peach’ stunt from Lipton the week before, from design to wording to the follow up message. The Lipton stunt was rumoured to be an April Fools’ Day joke gone wrong, with someone accidentally pushing the post live early.
But do these stunts actually work?
They certainly attracted attention from fans and marketers alike, and there’s no such thing as bad PR, right? Well, actually there is.
If the Lipton stunt was an April Fools’ Day prank gone wrong then they saved it well, reacting quickly, pretending it was their plan all along and getting a significant boost in people talking about their brand and product. But if it was a planned stunt, it was a risky strategy with the potential to upset long-standing customers.
And as for Lynx?
Well, the blatant copying was just a bit lazy. And fans seemed to agree, with comments such as “Copying others’ homework isn’t big or clever” and “They plagiarised another company’s ad idea to get attention?”
It’s perhaps an even more eye-opening move when you consider that both brands used to be owned by Unilever, which sold Lipton in 2022. A bold move from Lynx taking a dig at a brand which used to be in the same stable – has someone held a grudge?!
Our take?
We expect better, especially from Lynx. Copying the Lipton ad was presumably meant to make it obvious that it was a joke – but from the reaction, clearly most of their audience hadn’t made the connection. We love a good PR stunt which gets people talking, but it’s important to consider the impact of any potentially negative perceptions created.
If you’re looking to make some noise about your brand or product without upsetting your loyal customers, drop as an email at hello@awesomesaucemarketing.co.uk to find out how we could help.