Talk Like a Pirate Day: PR takeaways

Proving that anything can be celebrated, today is Talk Like a Pirate Day.

According to the  Talk Like a Pirate web site, "Talk Like A Pirate Day is an original concept created in a moment of temporary insanity by John Baur and Mark Summers."

These blokes broke into the Yahoo! home page today. And, shiver me timbers!, someone’s hoisted up a Pirate Video.

What’s the PR lesson here?

Silly wins. Silly gets links. Silly is fun. Silly snags promos in other places. Silly is viral. Silly gets newscasters to talk like pirates. Silly gets the gold. 

That’s the pirate piece.

Social media loves viral stuff.

So do the search engines – and the media.

A search on Google News Talk Like a Pirate Stories brings up 310 stories.

Then there’s the website and the video.

Check out how everyone from hospitals to kindergarten teachers plan to celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day.

In the unlikely event you don’t know how to talk like a pirate, the site tells you how to talk like a pirate.

Anyone can proclaim any day an international day and get free publicity. If these guys can, you can, too. Here’s how.

Think of something fun, silly and easy to do – like talk like a pirate – that goes with your brand and attracts attention. Obviously, imitating the mates from the Golden Pearl is best ventured with others who appreciate a pirate’s life.

Or, declare a day of education, awareness, action, recognition or remembrance that coincides with your services, products or organization’s initiatives.

Yesterday, September 18 was National Woman Road Warrior Day. According to the site this is a, "Day of recognition for the nation’s traveling businesswomen, who now account for nearly 50% of America’s workforce: of the 38.3 million business travelers in the U.S. in 2004, almost half were women."

Although I am occasionally a woman road warrior, I am not a pirate. But I can talk like one.