Customer Reviews

Can We Do That?! Outrageous PR Stunts That Work--And Why Your Company Needs Them

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

A piece of "advice" from the author (pg. 54):

"PR for the sake of PR is a waste of time."

Writing a book just for the sake of writing a book is a waste of time for readers seeking ROI on their valuable time spent.


For readers seeking any insight on effective communication campaign operations, look elsewhere.

The content of this book ranged from the banal ("Everything should be a potential media opportunity...as a chance to get more media and more exposure for your client.") to the narcissistic ("...I am known. The media knows me...they know my clients.") with not that much of value for anyone -- industry beginners or salty veterans. At times the author's advice drifted toward the ridiculous. He suggests, for instance, that if you are suffering from a creativity block, take a trip down to the local animal shelter and hang out with stray dogs (no kidding!).

Without fail, his anecdotes cast him as the Maharaja of "out-of-the-box" thinking. I would agree with this self-characterization if the phrase "out-of-the-box" meant mass-produced Bratz dolls from the Walmart shelves after Christmas. His pomposity truly shines through when he describes situations at his firm -- he rarely mentions another name, opting instead to refer to most collaborators as his "employees." OK, it may be true that all of those with whom he's had these experiences happened to be his employees, but the facelessness and anonimity with which he veils others SCREAMS of a self-absorbed man who guards his "turf" at all costs and rarely offers credit and praise to others. Don't mean to play junior therapist, but it is an important note that highlights one of the more annoying aspects of this diary.

The author advises the reader to keep pitches short and to the point (more "original thinking"), yet provides samples of his own pitches that were, to be generous, neither.

His advice on effective headline writing is atrocious. It seemed as though he is hoping all of his competitors read his book and take his advice so he is the only on left in the PR industry!

The following is actually a suggested headline:

ACME COMPANY OFFERS A "DAY OF THANKS" TO LOCAL COMMUNITY FOR RECORD GROWTH AND PROFITS, SIGNS MULTI-YEAR DEAL ON NEW SPACE AND WILL GIVE BACK TO CENTERVILLE'S LESS FORTUNATE ON MARCH 15TH

Yes, I said this is a suggested headline. I'm assuming that the text appearing after "PROFITS" was meant as the deck, but it is not presented as such. Either way, it's a mess. And no, I'm not saying that because it's "different." I'm saying that because it is garbled and just plain awful.

More from the sage:

"Don't be afraid to be different." (Pg. 2)

"If it's not important, it's not worth talking about." (pg. 14)

"If you have something to say, find an intersting way to say it." (pg. 18)

"Don't bore people." (pg. 18)

"Learn to craft a press release that doesn't put people to sleep." (pg. 31)

"To be creative, you have to do different things than you are doing right now." (pg. 50)

"...brainstorming will produce the most insane ideas when you least expect them." (Pg. 86)

"You get one chance to make a first impression." (pg. 89)

"Don't expect. Plan." (pg. 97)

"Whatever you do, don't give up. Don't rest on your laurels." (pg. 103)

"Don't make promises you can't keep." (pg. 168)

Really, it doesn't get any better than this...and I don't mean that in the sippin' Mojitos on a white sand beach sort of way.

Hi there, after reading some of these positive reviews, I bought the book and I was extremely disapointed. I think was irritates me the most is that these reviews are clearly fake or written by PR friends of the author. I guess working the amazon system is what you'd expect to find from a pr person. Save your money.

I feel duty-bound to note that sadly, as seems to be the case more and more frequently on amazon, there is review "fixing" going on for this product. The favorable reviews are featured and presented as "most helpful." However, the only one-star review actually has the most helpful votes AND the most actual information about the book. This review may not have useful information about the book, but neither do the "most helpful." I don't consider "beg, borrow, steal, just get this book!" to be very illuminating as to its contents. Presumably there were other one-star reviews that have been removed. Be aware that the rating is probably not accurate before you purchase.

Very disappointing. I had hoped for something out of the norm that would make me think in different ways about PR. What I got was page after page of the author's self-promotion. Before buying and reading the book, I had read a number of reviews on Amazon and was convinced enough to buy it. I now agree with a recent reviewer that many of the reviews have to either be from Mr. Shankman's extended family or written by him and filed by his minions. I read this on vacation and will not carry the book home with me. It is not worth the weight.

Reading the other reviews I have to think that Amazon sent me a different book!

Absolutely minimal advice, even less takeaways, bordering on banal and tedious.

The writing style is disjointed, ideas are bare or nonsensical and anecdotes are often just plain stupid (3 pages story about a guy who ate too much wasabi???!!).

Incomprehensible to me that it could get decent reviews.

If the book was as good as its premise (and title) we'd have already made this one a modern business classic. Unfortunately, rather than a discussion on the merits of event and stunt based PR, Shankman wrote an homage to himself. In other words, it's not so much "Can We Do That?" as it is "I Did That!" and the result is not nearly as educational or instructive.

Each of the publicity stunts Shankman writes about were performed by himself and majority came at the height of the tech bubble. One is about a party he threw for himself, another an event he did to promote his own agency (instead of a client). The remaining few are clever and innovative. They are just less impressive laid next to the author's shameless narcissism. He does, however, do an good job showing how just a little momentum can turn itself into a media frenzy that provides an ROI far better than traditional advertising or press releases ever can.

Those positives feel much more like missed opportunities than redeeming qualities. Unless you're a beginner or a personal friend of Peter, this book can probably be skipped.

This very short book is a little light on practical examples for my liking. A bit less self-promotion and a few more real world examples would have provided a better balance for me. Some of the rules provided throughout the book made good sense but are really targeted at the novice rather than the seasoned professional.

are looking for an interview from someone who works in PR. The book is written from a very personal point of view, it is very far from being a textbook or how-to book. This is not bad, if you are looking for inspiration or motivation; I must say I really liked it in this sense. It is easy to read, full of humor, has cool examples and stories. I would have given it 4 stars if the title wouldn't have been deceiving.

To sum up: good book if you are looking for motivation/inspiration/real stories of people who have succeeded in the business of PR. If you want a book which will teach you the practice or theory of PR look for something else.

I think the quote on page 141 best describes this book: "Don't hate the player hate the game". If you go into this book with your mind made up about PR you will not get much out of reading the book.

On an episode of "My boys" about facebook Brando said "Just because you post funny videos on facebook it doesn't make you funny". This quote sums up why I gave this book a three star rating. There were a few very good stories, however, the author seemed to aggregate all the ideas from other sources. He did not seem to have any spectacular ideas of his own that stood out after reading the book all the way through. PR is all about aggregation, so it works in this case. Getting the right people in the right place at the right time to get covered by the right media outlets really is the PR game.

The definition of PR vs. Advertising as it pertains to picking up a woman in a bar, was priceless. All in all it was a quick read and did have some good ideas but ends up being just one guys take on his career thus far in PR.

Can We Do That? How many times have we been in a meeting and someone comes up with a seemingly outrageous idea that is tossed out with almost no consideration because it's just too outrageous to actually execute... After reading this book, you won't be so quick to dismiss the "outrageous" idea - they can be some of the best ideas ever, or at least lead to a great idea. In a world full of reality shows and crazy stunts, sometimes you have to be a little over-the-top to get attention. This book is a guide for coming up with ideas and executing them to get the kind of attention businesses want and need to build awareness and generate revenue. While this book may seem a little "light" for experienced PR professionals, if you're trying to come up with publicity ideas for your business that will differentiate you from the crowd, this book can be a good starting point. One caveat: This book was written several years ago before blogging and Facebook and social media became mainstream tools. I'd love to see an updated book with ideas from Peter Shankman about how social media has impacted what they do and some of their experiences using it to promote their clients and events.