Breaking a world record is no easy feat. It takes a lot of brainstorming, researching, and planning; ultimately, it takes a lot of time. However, it is possible to break a record if you have a clear vision of what you want to accomplish and why.
Here are Immerse Agency’s 5 W’s and an H to breaking a world record.
1. WHY Break a World Record?
If you’re looking to revitalize your brand, announce a grand opening, celebrate an anniversary, or gain media attention, breaking a world record can be a great way to accomplish these marketing goals. As a public relations initiative, setting a new world record does not happen every day, which makes it a very enticing story for the public to learn more about and for media outlets to cover.
2. WHAT Record to Break?
When thinking about what record to break, start by thinking of things that your brand relates to, then research records that may already exist. These records may or may not be recognized by Guinness World Records, but that does not matter. The most important thing is that the precedent has been set, which means it can be broken. As a starting point, brainstorm what people associate with your brand and research records related to those associations.
3. WHO to Tell and Involve?
Once you have decided on the world record to break, think of whom to involve and how to position the record-breaking event. As you are ultimately designing this initiative to get recognition and press coverage for your brand, you must strategize a way to make the event interesting enough for the media to cover.
To make an event appeal to the media, you should involve the greater community. The more people you involve, the wider-reaching your initiative will be, and the more the news will want to cover it. Some ideas include involving local first responders, community groups, youth groups, and similar. If your goal is to achieve press coverage, make sure you have a great visual.
4. HOW to Break a World Record?
The “how” of breaking a world record depends on what record you want to break; a good first step is determining how much bigger than the previous world record you would like to go, then gathering all your materials.
In order to determine what materials you’ll need ask yourself questions like…
- What is the design of this project?
- How much space will we need?
- Do we have enough materials to pull this off?
- How much help do we need to break the record?
- How long will it take to break the record?
- Are we going to be photographing/video recording the process?
It’s important to determine the means of breaking the world record before you begin.
5. WHERE to Break the Record?
Deciding where to break the record can be the easiest part. Where you break the record should be close to your brand’s location or significant to your brand. This connection between the record-breaking site and your brand’s location will further blend your brand and the record. Just make sure you have enough space!
6. WHEN to Break the Record?
Picking a date to break the record depends on what you are trying to accomplish by breaking this record. You may want to break the record during your grand opening, or you may be breaking a world record to reinvigorate your brand’s image. If you are breaking the record for the latter, then you should try to find a date that is significant to you, your brand, or a national holiday. By breaking the record on a meaningful date, you are further building the story, thus increasing the media’s interest.
Now it’s Time to Tell the World!
Once you have a date picked out, you must consider your strategy for media outreach. You’ll want to consider what media outlets are most relevant for this story; utilizing PR software can help you build meaningful lists of reporters. You’ll need to draft the media alert, the press release, and the outreach cadence, including the key dates for email distribution, but most importantly, you’ll have to make phone calls to the press. Breaking a world record can be exciting, but if the media doesn’t know about and share your story, your campaign will be for naught.
Whether you’re having a grand opening or looking to reinvigorate your brand image, breaking a world record is a great way to gain attention from the public and media alike. However, it can be a daunting task to carry out from conception to completion as a lot goes into not only planning for breaking a record but getting the word out about your event as well. If you’re looking to set a new world record, or carry out any other public relations initiative, contact us today!
