I HATE Steven Singer!

Those of you who are from or are familiar with the Philadelphia area have likely seen a series of billboards on I-95. The billboards are characterized by a simple black background and the words "I Hate Steven Singer" in bold white lettering. At the bottom of the billboards reads the URL for a website: "www.ihatestevensinger.com."

It turns out that the billboards are part of a campaign for a Philadelphia jeweler who has become "hated" by men all over the city because his cheap prices and excellent selection both make women love him and make it hard for men to find an excuse not to buy. Besides being intriguing, as pointed out in a blog post by Rohit Bhargava, this series of ads is demonstrative of some important marketing lessons:

1. Use a long-running campaign
2. Fuel-- and play off of-- human curiosity
3. Own your region
4. Focus on a different audience from your competitors
5. Show personality
6. Hold a signature event

I found all of these to be valuable tips. I was particularly interested in tip #4, though, because I feel that this technique is one in which PR practitioners have a unique opportunity to add a lot of value to a campaign. As PR practitioners, we are taught to reach out to various publics by strategically researching, analyzing and targeting audiences. This campaign really highlights the fact that in addition to analyzing target audiences for our own client, we must also take into consideration the audiences targeted by our client's competitors and be careful to differentiate our client in that respect. As this campaign demonstrates, doing so can make all the difference between a successful and an average campaign.

Be sure to read Bhargava's blog post to learn more about utilizing these techniques and check out Steven Singer's website to learn more about this unique campaign!