Fantastic PR - The Cinnamon Club
The restaurant in question is called the Cinnamon Club. Some bright spark (I know not who they are but I take my hat off to them) came up with the idea to make the world’s hottest curry. Not an original idea, it’s been done many times before and will be repeated many times again. But if the idea was tired the execution was inspired!
The master stroke was coming up with a serious looking disclaimer form which the restaurant insisted all diners had to sign before they were served the mouth-burning dish. It was the disclaimer that really caught the press’s imagination.
Result – Jonathan Ross namechecked the restaurant on his show and waved the disclaimer around before trying the dish and offering some to guest Hollywood star Steve Carell. Both agreed it was extremely hot.
I saw it again on BBC’s The One Show – this time they had the Cinnamon Club chef on to explain all about the super hot spices that had gone into the dish. Presenter Adrian Childs again made a big deal out of the disclaimer before he and co-presenter Christine Bleakley had a taste. Yes, it was very hot.
I’ve always considered Childs to be extremely media-savvy so I was a little taken back when he asked the chef: “Why though? What’s the point?” The chef dodged the question and muttered something about the hot spices again.
Adrian – you were the point! The whole thing was a PR exercise that worked spectacularly. For the price of a few hot spices the restaurant had been featured in two (that I saw – probably more) prime BBC TV programmes and an audience of many millions now knew the name of the restaurant, where it was, and that it made curry so hot you had to sign a form to eat one. Wake up Adrian. Wake up and smell the curry.
There’s a lesson here. Making an extreme version of your product can get you noticed by the media. Make it the biggest, the smallest, the loudest, the quietest, the heaviest, the lightest, the most powerful, the fastest, the slowest. Get the punters to sign disclaimers, get a priest to bless it or ban it, get the council to complain about it. Whatever. Be different and you’ll get noticed.
What I’m Reading: I am currently reading Purple Cow by Seth Godin. The book has the strap line - Transform your business by being remarkable. Seth’s a very wise man who has recognised that conventional advertising is dead. It’s all about PR now. If your company is still spending a fortune on ineffective advertising stop right now and hire yourself someone who can create a buzz about you in the media instead. It is cheaper and much more effective.
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