As we wave goodbye to 2015, what better time to reminisce about the biggest PR and social media talking points of the last year?

Polar bear joins the London commute

You may have seen the photos of a life-sized polar bear delighting/terrifying users of the London Underground at the start of last year. The stunt was to promote the new Sky Atlantic show Fortitude. The imagery of commuters and travellers amazed by the additional passenger resulted in widespread media and social media coverage. Simple but effective.

Talk Talk’s emoji people

Staying on the Underground, emoji-faced people were spotted travelling the tube in May. The characters were a clever piece of marketing by Talk Talk to mark its research into the popularity of the emoji. It claims that 80% of people use emojis regularly, with 62% of those saying they use them more than they did a year ago. Working alongside a linguistics professor, Talk Talk created an ‘Emoji IQ’ study and quiz for emoji-aficionados to test their knowledge.

You could say 2015 was the year of the emoji: the study also claimed the emoji was being adopted faster than any other ‘language’.  2015 also, for the first time, saw an emoji being named Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year – the ‘Face with Tears of Joy’ emoji!

Snickers: You’re not you when you’re hungry

Jeremy Clarkson was at it again in 2015. This time by allegedly hitting a Top Gear producer for refusing him some food. Cue an opportunity for Snickers and its tagline ‘You’re not you when you’re hungry’. The chocolate brand simply sent a box of Snickers addressed to Clarkson at the BBC with the tagline written below and posted a photo of it to Twitter. The tweet resulted in thousands of retweets and likes.  A simple and easy social media opportunity, however, the stunt could easily have backfired due to the serious nature of the incident.

#thedress

Are you fed up of hearing about #thedress yet? Probably. But it was one of the standout social media sensations of the year.

When a photo emerged of a black and blue (or was it white and gold?) dress, the internet exploded in a heated debate. And brands were quick to spot an opportunity to jump on the bandwagon. Dominos posted photos of its black and blue uniform claiming it was white and gold and Specsavers offered eye tests for anyone confused by the photo. Another example of simple but effective reactive PR.

P.S. It was black and blue…

Christmas dinner in Hogwart’s Great Hall

A nice one to round-off the year – Harry Potter fans were offered the opportunity to experience Christmas dinner in Hogwart’s Great Hall. For one night only, the Warner Bros. Studio Tour opened the hall’s doors to allow special guests to indulge in an early Christmas dinner and Butterbeer or two. The highly sought after tickets and opportunity to dine in such an iconic set resulted in widespread media and social media coverage – a great way to boost pre-Christmas business.

Any other PR stunts or social media campaigns catch your eye in 2015? Let us know your favourites by tweeting @mucklemedia