Aja Dorsey Jackson Freelance Writer

PR Lessons from Antoine Dodson

Posted by Aja on August 30th, 2010

Antoine Dodson

If you haven’t heard of Antoine Dodson, his infamous on-air rant, and subsequent rise to semi-superstardom, you might want to poke your head out a little from the rock you’ve been living under. The short recap: In July an intruder attempted to attack Dodson’s sister by breaking into the family’s home at a housing project in Huntsville, Alabama. Dodson defended his family and sent warnings to the intruder in a news interview that was a curious blend of a sad and disturbing stereotype that is somehow hysterically funny enough to make you really ashamed for laughing.

Dodson is one of many to have humiliating videos go viral. However, unlike the others, who simply got laughed at millions of times over, Dodson has been able to parlay his five seconds of fame into fifteen minutes that has been profitable for him and his family. The original rant spawned the song “Bed Intruder” which has become an itunes hit and made the Billboard top 100. Dodson appeared on the Today Show, became the topic of a New York Times article and created his own website where he sells t-shirts featuring his own catch phrases from the interview like “Run Tell Dat”. According to Dodson, the money that he has made as a result has been enough to move his family out of the projects.

Regardless of the controversy surrounding his recent fame, Dodson’s experience is a testament to the ever changing rules of marketing, media attention and PR. He may not have known that his 30 seconds of local air time in Alabama would have made him a national sensation, but the level of coverage that he has received by accident is above and beyond what many companies achieve after months of hard work.

Youtube, blogging, twitter and other social networking websites have shifted the balance of power between the media gatekeepers and everybody else. The traditional methods, like sending press releases, are still important. But the ability to broadcast yourself in endless ways on the web, gives you another opportunity to draw attention without waiting for a reporter to run a story or spending a ton of money on advertising. You certainly don’t want go make a fool of yourself on camera thinking that is about to bring you the same results, but there are a couple of lessons that we can learn from Dodson.

• Understand social networking media. Ten years ago, Antoine Dodson would have likely appeared local Huntsville television never to be seen again. In this age of viral video, he was catapulted to short-lived fame. If you are featured in any type of newspaper, magazine etc., use social media to broadcast that media hit to a larger audience.
• Collaborate Dodson’s fame grew when a band turned his rant into a song. By coming together, attention for the band and Dodson increased. Combining forces can help you look bigger and more likely to receive attention.
• Capitalize The difference between Dodson and the other You Tube sensations is that he took a little attention and turned it into a lot. Build on the momentum from the hits you get from media coverage with other incentives to hold customer’s attention.

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