Dubbed Eugene, we were all lead to believe the stunt was nothing more than a campaign to illustrate the sometimes vacuous nature of social media.
The initial image amassed more than 52 million likes, but was followed by five further pictures over the course of a month, each egg cracking a bit more. Eugene’s popularity culminated in a starring role in a Super Bowl Hulu ad spot.
However, the world’s most famous egg struggled to cope with Insta-stardom and cracked open in a video, urging others with social-media anxiety to seek help.
The concept was devised by The & Partnership creative Chris Godfrey, who told the media it was the world record Eugene coveted, leaving a few reputable mastheads with egg on their face.
Eugene’s world-record-breaking effort isn’t the first time a campaign has used a twist to generate a surge of publicity.
In PRWeek Award-winning campaign ‘L’eau de Chris’, reality TV star Chris Hughes launched a water brand infused with his own tears – later revealed to be a stunt for mental-health charity CALM, to encourage young men not to bottle up their feelings.
The PR industry loved Eugene, and so did PRWeek – even if the mental-health element of the campaign was more opportunistic than successful by design.
