The past two months have provided the public relations and marketing industries a case study on spontaneous marketing opportunities in the form of New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin. “Linsanity,” the nickname given to Lin’s meteoric rise in the NBA, once dominated both the front and back pages; however, it has gone from a loud roar to a quiet hush as Lin is sidelined with a bum knee for the rest of the NBA season.
But as PR pros and marketers wait for the next big thing in sports and pop culture, the question remains with spontaneous marketing opportunities: Should companies jump on the bandwagon right away, or take a wait and see, measured approach?