Newsjacking the Royal Baby

 I am really “fascinated” by the idea of Newsjacking.  Newsjacking, as defined by marketing guru David Meerman Scott, is the “process by which you inject your ideas or angles into breaking news, in real time, in order to generate media coverage for yourself or your business.” To be successful at newsjacking, marketers must know their audience really well, and be able to react to news in real-time. That’s exactly what Pampers did on July 22.

On July 22, Prince William and his wife, Kate, welcomed a healthy baby boy, Prince George Alexander Louis, into the world. That same day, Pampers tweeted “Every baby is a little prince or princess.WATCH http://youtu.be/XXzg_TcE04k & SHARE pics of yours at http://www.pamperslovesleepandplay.com #PampersLoveSleepPlay.”   The tweet led to a YouTube video titled  Every Baby is a Little Prince or Princess. It’s as simple video but it plays to the heartstrings of thousands of proud moms and dads around the world.  See full video below.

So far the video has received 128K views on YouTube.  It’s too early to know the revenue impact of Pampers' newsjacking efforts, but what Pampers has achieved is to remain top of mind with thousands of moms and dads, who believe their kids are little princes and princesses. I personally feel that the advantages of newsjacking far outweigh the disadvantages. Some of the advantages include:

• Relevant, timely content  leads to increase website traffic and social media interaction
• Earned media. There is nothing better than free media. Well, I guess leads are better but earned media is up there.
• Increased brand awareness
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What do you think about Pampers newsjacking efforts?