So today Ben Southall from Hampshire was named the winner of The Best Job In The World. For the next six months he will be the caretaker of beautiful Hamilton Island, working 12 hours a month on a wage of £70,000. He’ll live in a rent free villa complete with its own pool.

The story has generated more than 500 articles already this morning according to Google News. And that’s on top of the thousands it has received over the course of the competition.

This has been the perfect PR stunt. Here’s why – and how you can use the lessons to generate publicity for your business.

It was packed with standoutability: This was the first time anyone had offered up a job such as this. Although an unashamed PR stunt from the very beginning, it was highly unusual. Calling it The Best Job In The World helped label it as more than just a normal competition. 

It was aspirational: In these times of financial doom and gloom, it was the perfect antidote for a public and media weary of negative news. Pictures and descriptions of a beautiful island are high in demand.

It had legs: The competition has been running for months, and it’s virtually guaranteed that Ben will get extensive media coverage throughout the six months of his job. There are many different media angles to the story. This one stunt alone has generated a year’s worth of free publicity. 

The stunt promoted the product: The product was the island and every story about the competition plugged the product.

So how can you use this to influence a PR stunt for your business? The most important of the four things above is standoutability. Do not underestimate the power of being the first to do something. This alone will determine how much media coverage you get.

And ensure you are plugging your product. It’s relatively easy to generate a publicity stunt that will get media attention. It’s much harder making sure a sell for your business is built into the stunt.