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- The Colab Brief - 154: A New Age of Stunt PR
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“When there’s blood in the streets, buy property” - Baron Rothschild
Baron probably wasn’t thinking about PR when he said that, but the sentiment translates surprisingly well. Chaos creates opportunity, especially in media.
We’re living in an era of engineered chaos. Trump's 'Flood the Zone' strategy keeps media attention permanently locked on the White House. Add the breakneck pace of AI news, climate crises, culture wars, and geopolitical instability… and it’s hard to stand out amidst all the noise.
But some brands are riding the outrage waves to stay in the headlines and build customer loyalty.
For several years, corporations and execs have been hesitant to make polarizing moves or statements. But in the last couple of weeks, a few brands have leveraged national outrage to land really impactful press:
TheSkimm:
When Trump took reproductiverights.org offline, the Skimm purchased reproductiverightsdotgov.com and redirected readers to a reproduced version of the original resource
This move aligned with their mission and drove coverage across MSNBC, Marie Claire, and Axios; ideal publications for their target audience
They moved quick. This was all executed within 24 hours.
Andreessen Horowitz:
Recently announced their controversial hire of Daniel Penny with an exclusive in Bari Weiss's The Free Press
The hiring decision was contrarian; the publication choice was contrarian; their core audience ate it up
The move was covered in The New York Times, Fortune and TechCrunch
Duolingo
When the TikTok ban was looming (remember that?), hordes of users downloaded a Chinese alternative called Rednote
Duolingo released data showing a 217% surge in Mandarin lessons, landing coverage in TechCrunch, CNBC, Fast Company and more
Duo’s PR team combined cultural relevance with their core mission of language learning to drive great press
As any brand marketer will love to tell you, "If you're for everybody, you're for nobody." By taking bold stances aligned with their values, these companies are landing great press, and maybe also writing the comms playbook for the next few years.
5 Lessons for Stunt PR
So, can any company pull this off? With a point of view, and a little creativity, we think yes. Here are five things to keep in mind when you’re trying to land bolder headlines:
Flip the common narrative
Most companies are trying to evade the question about automating away employees’ jobs. But not Klarna — they proudly admitted automation is their aim, and landed a NYT profile about it.
Know your values
The best brands choose their fights carefully. A cybersecurity startup might skip weighing in on the RFK hearings, but can leap into conversations about DOGE infiltrations and data breaches.
Prepare ahead of time and move fast
One thing about the Trump admin is that they don’t keep much close to the chest. If you’re a climate tech company, and you know the administration is gutting the EPA in four days, you’ve got time to build a landing page to support dismissed employees connect with mission-driven climate startups. Just move fast because news cycles are short.
Dig through your data
Duolingo didn't dive into politics—they saw what reporters were covering and offered relevant supporting data. Sometimes the best PR moves leverage what you already have.
Publication choice matters more now
Your publication choice now signals as much about your brand as the news itself. With independent creators bringing stronger points of view, think strategically about who best amplifies your message.
As always with brand stunts, authenticity matters most – these moves work best when they genuinely reflect company values and target audience beliefs.
As social and political tensions rise, I hope we see more brands abandoning neutral positioning in favor of PR that drives both headlines and customer loyalty.
📱 New in non-traditional media
Tracking the newsletters, podcasts, and creators reshaping media influence.
📰 In the news
Alex Konrad leaves Forbes
Following 12 years at Forbes, Alex Konrad left the publication to ‘build something new’.
Lachlan Cartwright launches Breaker Media
Lachlan Cartwright and Ravi Samoiya (formerly of The Hollywood Reporter and NYT) announced Breaker Media—a newsletter and podcast covering New York City's media, culture, and power dynamics.
Alex Seitz-Wald joins Maine news startup
NBC national politics reporter, Alex Seitz-Wald, departed to join a local news startup in Maine.🎤 Spotlight on fintech creators
Looking to round out your coverage with more newsletters and podcasts? Here are some favorite non-traditional media outlets to pitch your next story [fintech edition]:
Series of newsletters, podcasts and events
24 person team covering fintech updates around the world
True deep dives into policy and trends affecting fintech
Weekly newsletter and curated links
🎧️ Bank On It
Weekly episodes
Interviews execs from just about every fintech you can think of
Twice-weekly newsletter and weekly podcast
40k+ newsletter subscribers
Weekly newsletter and sometimes podcast
Analysis on business models, challenger banks, consumer lending, regulatory developments, open banking, and more
⭐️ Favorite story of the week:
AI Company Asks Job Applicants Not to Use AI in Job Applications - 404 Media
This one made the rounds on X and LinkedIn this week when 404 found out AI giant, Anthropic, bans AI on job apps. More proof that contrarian points of view make the best stories.
🎧️ Industry chatter
Lizzy appeared on Communicating Capital with Jessica Starman to discuss narrative development, media research, and relationship building in PR. Listen here.
⚡️ Steal this pitch
When you’re light on news, tie your spokespeople into current events. Here’s the exact pitch we used to land our client as an expert commentator on the environmental impacts of AI:
Pitch:
The explosive growth of artificial intelligence comes with an environmental price tag. Each month, a single AI system like ChatGPT generates carbon emissions equivalent to 260 transatlantic flights. Now, as the U.S. launches its landmark $500 billion AI infrastructure initiative, experts warn data centers could soon consume nearly a tenth of America's electricity.
Available for interview: [NAME], COMPANY on:How America can lead in AI without compromising climate goals
Breakthrough solutions in green data center technology
The role of federal policy in sustainable tech development
💫 Client Wins
Our clients are making headlines. Check out coverage our clients got this week in Forbes, Reuters, and InformationWeek.
Want coverage like this? Say hello.
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