A couple of months ago, a video circulated on various social media platforms about a young lady proposing to her boyfriend at Ahwak restaurant. The video reached 8 thousand viewers on YouTube in its first week and prompted controversy among Lebanese citizens who had never seen a public proposal initiated by a woman. This, however, was no ordinary proposal! It was a stunt devised by Pencell PR & Events and Stro'berry d-zines to create a hype in Ahwak restaurant on Valentine's Day, while at the same time promoting gender equality in the Lebanese community.
Pencell PR & Events Beirut was approached by Lebanese branding boutique agency, Stro-berry d-zines, to come up with an out-of-the box PR stunt for its client Ahwak restaurant. Pencell team came up with the idea of having an unconventional wedding proposal during Valentine's celebrations and have the woman propose in public and not the other way around. The proposal was real, and the guy had no idea about the whole stunt, which added a factor of surprise and spontaneity to the activity.
"The communication industry is becoming so saturated with ideas and concepts that we, agencies, are constantly challenged to outdo ourselves and always think outside the box, for the brightest ideas are not necessarily the most sophisticated ones", said Nadine Maalouf, General Manager of Pencell PR & Events. "This activation was so simple and so spontaneous yet very well executed; and this is what turned it into a successful campaign", she added.
We wanted to create a hype and generate word of mouth in an unusual way. As you know we are bombarded by so many PR ideas, in order for us to be distinguished and special we thought of doing that other way around proposal and we succeeded", said Nadine Maalouf, Pencell's General Manager. "This event was considered as a call for equality between men and women" Nadine added.
The whole activation was prepared in 4 days. On the big night, a table representing the agencies was sitting across from the couple in order to initiate video and photo coverage, which other people from the restaurant immediately imitated. Videos and photos were then shared by Pencell PR & Events and Sto'berry d-zines teams on social media inviting people to view, share, and engage. The stunt went viral overnight and was quickly picked-up by several news websites, bloggers and even by local radio and TV. The young lady who did the proposal was also interviewed by several radio stations and magazines.
