Porn certainly has it’s share of “PR” people most of whom seem to think that writing a press release about their latest client and quoting themselves in that press release is PR.
I have news for you, yer a moron.
And if you are paying these guy (or girls) for this yer a bigger moron than they are.
PR is something that can be very valuable, as Sasha Grey can certainly attest. Doing it right can make people want to know more about you, want to see your photo and learn about you for at least as long as it takes them to give up on googling the name Sasha Grey and trying to get anything meaningful from that.
Lets talk about whats real PR and what isn’t.
If the best your “PR” person can do is get you on Howard Stern, I suggest you look elsewhere for PR. Kim Komando ( an obscure computer talk show) has twice the cume (Cumulative audience…that’s how Arbitron measures these things.)
In terms of listeners lets see where Stern Ranks
Rush Limbaugh 15 million
Sean Hannity 14 million
Glenn Beck 8 Million
Mark Levin 6 million
Dave Ramsey 5 million
Kim Komando 2.2 million
Howard Stern 1.2 million
In the grand scheme of talk radio Howard’s audience doesn’t even put him in the top 75, he falls way behind even finance related talk shows. So ask yourself this…Who exactly benefits from you going on Howard Stern? If you answered Howard, congratulations you are as smart as Sasha Grey.
Sasha refused to appear on Stern and probably got more PR because of it, after all, a porn chick who won’t go on Stern and be treated like an idiot…who’da thunk it.
But let’s talk about who has done well. Ok look at Mary Carey. nobody had ever heard of Mary Carey outside of porn until Mark Kulkis got the brilliant idea to run her for governor of California. It got her on every TV network, news show, talk show and sold a lot of movies for her.
Credit Soderburgh for putting Sasha Grey in an abysmally bad movie, it got the movie enough attention that it turned a profit, and turned an otherwise unknown porn performer into the talk of the town in entertainment circles. Accidental PR for Sasha…maybe but she did have the good sense to tell Stern to fuck off.
Stormy Daniels. Here is an example of when opportunity meets preparedness. Someone in Louisiana had the bright idea to form a committee asking her to run for the US Senate, Stormy capitalized on it and is actually taking it seriously, unlike Mary Carey’s, Stormy’s campaign is serious and issues related, she could very well find herself in a very serious race. After all this is the state that brought us “Kingfish”, Huey P Long.
Now these are real PR examples, things that get you recognized outside the microcosm of porn fans and insiders. If you want recognition that you can take to the bank that’s where you need to look. Being pretty and willing to fuck on camera doesn’t make you anything special in and of itself, porn is full of that. Being smart too…and able to do something else as well, ….well that’s a good start.
8 Responses
maybe this is why i’ll never get filthy rich. i get what you’re saying and it’s probably all true. but man sometimes i question what kind of society we are when every little thing we do has to have a dollar sign attached to it. nobody’s talking about restraint and consequences. why should daniel’s choose to run for public office to capitalize on free pr? what if she actually wins? has she studied the issues? does she accept friggin evolution and science??? everyone in this country wants to be a marketing agent. and that’s their right for sure. but i wonder what it’d be like if there were less of them and more genuine public servants.
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Your response is actually a REALLY good one It brings up the point of fame being a double edged sword.
Take the case of Stormy, On the face of it the position of US Senator would be a salary cut for her, BUT it benefits her in so many ways that it would be a huge financial boost in the long run most likely. To my knowledge she hasn’t indicated that she would no longer dance or do porn if she got elected and knowing Stormy as I do I thinks it’s pretty safe to say she would not quit. Say what you like about Stormy but she isn’t a hypocrite.
Being in the public eye is marketing, intentional or not it adds value to you.
From all reports she is taking this very seriously, she has done a listening tour to see what the voters of Louisiana think is important.
I suspect that if Stormy does have a political weakness it will be that she won’t ride the fence on issues, she will determine her position and make a stand.
I whole heartedly agree about us needing more public servants, what we now have is a lot more like “A Parliament of Whores”.
Mike…I like you actually read “Parliament of Whores”, in fact a copy sits on my couch table in my bedroom…you know the one…you’ve been in there enough times…wink. Nevertheless, maybe we need some REAL whores with brains in their heads on the Hill instead of these pretenders whose main concern is to stay in office. I have MORE respect for Stormy Daniels and how she makes a living…duh…than these blue-haired dinosaurs on Capitol Hill. But at the end of the day, they must have the greatest PR people in the world because they continually get re-elected. If you read most polls taken in the last…oh I don’t know…two or three decades…the general public typically has nothing but disdain for their elected officials. Somehow though, the Ted Kennedys, Joe Bidens, Arlen Spectors and the rest of their ilk continually win re-election. I guess we get what we pay for.
I have a theory why so many of these guys continually get re-elected.
theres an old southern saying….”Better the devil I know than the one I dont”
Mike, I respectfully disagree with your post only because you are focusing on publicity STUNTS, and not an overall publicity campaign.
Well done publicity is much more than publicity stunts, it has to do with a multitude of individual steps that keep your client out in the public eye AND that gives them credibility with the public when they are in that spotlight.
Too many times, a publicity stunt can backfire. One of the most important talents of a great publicist is being able to determine if the stunt will generate publicity that is giving their client a good reputation and credibility, or simply makes them look like an idiot. We have all seen the later, especially when dealing with mainstream news and an adult client.
Yet, there are ways to get clients into mainstream without resorting to publicity stunts of a great magnitude, such as running for public office. Sometimes an original campaign/product will make news on its own, (with the help of a capable publicist, of course.) Take some of the “Not the…” and “Ain’t the…” titles, as an example. Or the alternate reality game Jay and I created for a client’s upcoming release. Sometimes it is simply that the client is doing something on a day to day basis that is worthy of attention by the press, both mainstream and adult. This can be as simple as creating a truly remarkable product or a social responsibility that they engage in regularly, not just an engineered stunt.
While I certainly agree that any “PR” people that rely on press releases alone are missing the entire point, (and not doing their best for their clients), press releases are a viable tool to support a real publicity campaign. It’s a formal introduction to the press, and many times the public, about what your client is up to. It should not end there, however. Without going into lengthy details, a good publicist knows how to keep their client in the eyes of the press, and that does not EXCLUDE a well planned and carried out publicity stunt from time to time. However, basing an entire publicity campaign on a stunt, or even a series of stunts will also not guarantee your client sustainable publicity. It is a flash on the pop-culture radar, and it has to be followed up by regular, old fashioned press relations and image management.
I actually agree with Black and Blue at least to the point that they are obviously professionals but I also think they know I’m not talking about them and they know who I am talking about.
My one point of note would be that if you want PR within our industry there’s nothing wrong with that per se but if you want PR outside our industry and into mainstream you better have a talent that you can use to get there. I agree that Mary Carey was a “gimmick” but the truth is it was a brilliant one with almost no downside and it was played perfectly. nothing wrong with that if you know what your plan is going into it.
but if all you do is suck cock and fuck on camera, don’t expect mainstream to have any interest in you. You ain’t that marketable.
I must have a mental problem because I am writing a response at 3:31AM and convincing myself that it is a needed break from my late night work prepping our big movie Flight Attendants starring a number of high profile girls including the lovely Kayden Kross.
I always laugh when I read about criticism of PR in the porn business because normally everything I read that is bad are things that I have done. I am guilty of just about everything Mike wrote including quoting myself (often) but I stand before all of you and dare you to find consistently bigger selling adult movies than the ones we make right here at X-Play. Who the fuck really knows what works and what doesn’t when it comes to promotion but I can tell you that when Flight Attendants comes out in September it will outsell just about 98% of the movies that are released this year. Not the Cosbys XXX is already at a pace that is bigger than the first two Brady Bunch pornos and it has only been one week in release. The truth is that there is really not much ‘news’ when it comes to porn and you have to manufacture it in anyway you can including using the latest quotes from Will Ryder or some dipshit on YouTube calling for a boycott of Cosby porn. As far as I am concerned Will Ryder could be an idiot but he’s also a great sex-comedy director and he never fails at giving a great quote. In the end it’s all about the sales and we should enjoy them before they are completely over in two years. What do you say Mike?
Howard Stern aka KING OF ALL F*CKING MEDIA! Nobody in terrestrial radio even comes close.