"Vital reading for media students, PR practitioners, marketers and
everyone with opinions to sell or perceptions to change."
"Selling the Circus is much more than an educational text
for media students - there is hardly a page that doesn’t
teach old pros something.”
"Practical tips and memorable lessons from the real world...
this is how elite professionals use radio, TV, print and web
to make us believe what they want...”
“Through a combination of experiences and lessons illustrated by memorable anecdotes, “Selling the Circus” provides a fresh and at times confronting insight to modern communications objectives. It is neither a naive sanitised “How to...” nor a romantic view through condescending eyes, but a comprehensive and genuinely practical guide for Publicists, Marketers, Media, and all those for whom publicity is an essential career component.”
Sam Hamilton masterminded the campaigns that made many of today’s pop superstars famous. He has promoted world leading broadcast technology, luxury hotels, automobiles, cosmetics, around two hundred Hollywood movies, and managed communications operations on four continents.
He acknowledges the individual skills of advertising, media promotions, and public relations, but contends that maximum effect is only achieved when all three integrate like the rings of a circus, and that the media, which once protected us from rampant propaganda, has dropped the ball, leaving a massive opportunity for competitive publicists to provide their version of balance.
This is his candid revelation of the tricks and techniques he learned - methods to launch and promote products, stars, and ideologies, and the other side of coin - measures to negate and benefit from competitive attack.
Ranging from observations about recruitment, traps, pitfalls, and attributes common to the best publicists, to detailed explanations of strategic objectives that ease their universal application, and eye-opening practical guides to communiqués, conferences, promotional "buzz" tours and media visits, he concentrates on aspects rarely tackled in traditional texts - the final few percent that make the difference between regular success and headline stardom.
Often self-effacing, the author encourages critical analysis of his mistakes and the lessons he learned.
There are absorbing parables to illustrate problems and the rationale behind his solutions, and there are amusing anecdotes to aid recall of principles so that they may be effectively applied to all industries and situations.
Whether for new brands to position, taxes to justify, stars to establish, products to sell, or opinions to change, “Selling the Circus” provides a practical and inspirational template. It bravely ventures into areas where only those who have genuinely explored have the authority to comment, and by so doing, becomes more absorbing than previous texts on the subject. Indeed, in addition to legitimate media and public manipulation methods, an entire section is dedicated to propaganda, deception, and the fastest growing area of public relations, sabotage.
And if you think "Selling the Circus" only relates to expense accounts and red carpets, think again, for they may be little more than convenient settings to illustrate something much more sinister that already affects the foods we buy, the politicians we elect and the stars we think we choose to support.
Topics covered include but are not limited to:- Communications integration with marketing and branding : Live Brands and the creation of brand personality : Recruitment – a different perspective on assessment and the personal attributes necessary for success : Public Relations functions, messages and strategies : Counteracting unwelcome exposure : Propaganda, misinformation and legitimate deception : Organising and maximising effect from publicity tours, press conferences, seminars and location visits : Arranging effective media interview appearances and performance tips : Benefits and dangers of inviting media into the sanctum – a rock tour case study : Media promotions : Branded entertainment, product placement and endorsement : The final case-study draws previous chapters together in a blow by blow account of an integrated launch of an everyday product with a major movie.
Selling the Circus :- ISBN 13: 978-1466278134
Library of Congress 2011917846
Social Science/Media Studies
Business - Marketing and Communications
Entertainment - Marketing and Publicity
