{"id":8648,"date":"2018-02-06T12:04:02","date_gmt":"2018-02-06T17:04:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/?p=8648"},"modified":"2018-08-20T14:22:09","modified_gmt":"2018-08-20T18:22:09","slug":"three-pr-lessons-learned-from-stranger-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/2018\/02\/06\/three-pr-lessons-learned-from-stranger-things\/","title":{"rendered":"Three PR Lessons Learned from “Stranger Things”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Courtesy of giphy.com<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Strange human experiments, Russian espionage or supernatural phenomena? What happens in the secretive National Laboratory in Hawkins, Indiana? These are the questions running through the minds of the citizens in the fictional town of Netflix\u2019s smash-hit \u201cStranger Things.\u201d Hawkins National Laboratory is a central aspect of \u201cStranger Things,\u201d and those running the lab made quite a few PR blunders (among other terrible things) that led to trouble for the town.<\/p>\n

PR students can learn a thing or two from the lab\u2019s leader, Dr. Owens. His choices teach us what not<\/em> to do. So, I\u2019ve got 3 tips to help improve Hawkins National Laboratory\u2019s PR strategy that will be\u2014as fan-favorite character Bob Newby said\u2014 \u201ceasy-peasy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reach out.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Deep in the secluded woods of Hawkins, an ominous government structure can be seen squatting in obscurity, bordered by an impenetrable barbed-wire fence\u2014keeping the townsfolk of Hawkins ignorant of the secrets within. That\u2019s the image of Hawkins National Laboratory and it\u2019s not a good one.<\/p>\n

To fix the image, Dr. Owens should reach out to the community and try to become a part of the town. Remaining a government mystery may bring unwanted attention; i.e. Nancy and Jonathan working to expose the lab\u2019s secrets in season two.<\/p>\n

One suggestion is to get involved with Barb Holland\u2019s family. Let\u2019s be honest, it\u2019s the lab\u2019s fault that Barb died. Since no one else in the town cared to look for Barb until season two, Dr. Owens and the lab could reach out and show solidarity. Maybe then people would start to trust the lab.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pay attention.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rotting pumpkins covered in strange slime were red flags for Chief of Police Jim Hopper but Dr. Owens refused to believe it was related to the lab\u2019s work, endangering the town. What\u2019s the lesson? Always engage in environmental scanning. You never know when the next crisis could occur so be on the lookout for troubling trends and potential PR complications.<\/p>\n

Now Hawkins National Laboratory is responsible for the deaths of people and<\/em> pumpkins\u2014they can have fun cleaning that mess up.<\/p>\n

Partner with opinion leaders.<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s one thing we can all agree on\u2014Jim Hopper is great. Most of the town thinks highly of him too, including Dr. Owens. However, the friendship between these two is not public knowledge. If the people of Hawkins saw the lab and Hopper working together, then opinions about the mysterious government scientists might improve.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t have to be a sketchy government agency to put these strategies into practice. All good PR managers should focus on developing mutually beneficial relationships with the public, scanning the environment and partnering with opinion leaders.<\/p>\n

Didn\u2019t believe there were lessons to be learned from Netflix? Well, stranger things have happened.<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jake Gulisane\u00a0is a senior at Brigham Young University studying public relations with a business management minor. He loves science fiction novels and movies that make him think.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Strange human experiments, Russian espionage or supernatural phenomena? What happens in the secretive National Laboratory in Hawkins, Indiana? These are the questions running through the minds of the citizens in the fictional town of Netflix\u2019s smash-hit \u201cStranger Things.\u201d Hawkins National Laboratory is a central aspect of \u201cStranger Things,\u201d and those running the lab made quite a few PR blunders (among […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":8649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1696,2851,2739,40,2850,2852],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8648"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8648"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8652,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8648\/revisions\/8652"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}