2020’s Creative Campaigns #2 – The Sign You’ve Been Waiting For?

I knew it was only a matter of time before I ended up talking about Mr. Mark Rofe on this blog. What one might deem a PR mastermind, Mark and the rest of the team at Rise At Seven are truly wizards at what they do, and I don’t doubt that they’re big inspirations to a lot of Digital PRs and SEOs, myself included.

So it came as no surprise to me to see Mark Rofe in the pages of the Daily Mail this weekend. Scrolling through as I typically do, I spotted a familiar face headlining an article which read…

“Desperate single man, 30, who is looking for a girlfriend buys massive £425 billboard asking for applicants”

Which proceeded a photo of a big red billboard which I’ll let speak for itself…

After purchasing the advertising spot for a cool £425 – which in hindsight now seems a pretty sound investment – Mark aimed to pique the interests of the some-462,000 weekly passers-by. What he actually ended up doing was sparking the attention of people not only nationwide, but overseas too.

The stunt has made its way not only into the national newspapers, but also to TV channels both here and in America – including BBC Breakfast and Good Morning Britain.

#TheDream

Something a lot of marketers will aspire to, when you type Mark’s name into Google, you’re met with some pretty impressive results.

This guy’s success knows no bounds, apparently.

Single Man… Reveal Yourself

Something I really admire about a lot of marketing campaigns, is not only their ability to attract audiences – but to retain them too.

Here is yet another example that does this tremendously well.

A clear call to action at the bottom of the billboard reads ‘visit datingmark.co.uk‘. When you arrive on the site, you’re met with a consistent and clear message: APPLY TO DATE MARK ROFE. Echoed throughout the website with several buttons, there’s really nowhere for interested applicants to lose that interest.

Also utilising the ‘social proof’ tactic (can you tell I’ve been reading up on my psychology in marketing recently?) there’s an interactive counter telling you in live time how many people have applied. Informing you that applying is of interest to many, and ushering you to get in before the rest – this little nugget is just yet another thing that I really applaud.

It’s the minor details that bring this whole thing together into a messy masterpiece – yes, even the comic sans.

The Campaign To Find Love That Found So Much More

So what’s the ROI from this?

I guess that’s what a lot of us PR people are asking right now. Well straight from the horse’s mouth, his Return On Investment will be no other than a picture of him and his future spouse on their wedding day.

But let’s be serious for a second.

The benefits reaped from this will far succeed the influx of date applications that Mark Rofe has enjoyed already.

When you work in PR and Marketing, getting your name out there is crucial. I actually planned to write a blog post asking: “how important is it to ‘PR’ yourself?” but I tabled that on the affirmation that it is super duper important and that there isn’t much debate to be had there.

In a very competitive industry, it’s vital that people know who you are. I could already think of no two better people who do this than Carrie Rose and Mark Rofe. Mark’s cemented this even more so with his recent virality in his campaign to find love. Though this isn’t a direct marketing stunt, it will undoubtedly place Mark as a person of note when one thinks of PR and marketing.

I also have to wonder whether this is another ingenious PR campaign by Rise… I notice that there’s only 1 external link on Mark’s whole site… It will be interesting to see whether it comes out that this was a marketing stunt all along. I can’t wait to see what unfolds.

Though Mark’s proclaimed intentions were only to get a date, I can’t help but applaud him for this too.

Let’s just hope he gets a bloody date out of it now!