David Ogilvy once famously remarked about the importance of relevance and strategy by exclaiming that if the job of communications were simply to disrupt, then placing a gorilla in a jock strap in every ad would surely accomplish the goal of pure intrusion. Similarly, we see other examples popping up almost daily of events and stunts that are founded on the fleeting notion of awareness for awareness’ sake. Intrusive? For sure. Engaging a consumer in any real way? Probably not.

In a recent post in his Strategic Public Relations blog, Kevin Dugan, weighs in on CBS’ eggs-citing maneuver to place messages about their fall programming line-up on the outside of egg shells. Yes, it’s gotten a lot of attention in the pundit press, and spun in an ad column or two. Mission accomplished? Perhaps in CBS’ eyes. The cliche version of this in PR land is the umpteenth world’s largest (you fill in the blank) ploy. There is an arena of stunt ideas lurking out there where TV cameras will indeed show up, where stories will inevitably occur, that serves the need for “wacky” news tidbits. However, this may not serve the need to truly engage anyone past the first trip to the water cooler for some morning hall talk.

So what constitutes engagement? In the old days we talked about building brand awareness. In the new age of enlightenment we’ve discovered that brands are built in proportion to their relevancy to a consumer’s lifestyle. It’s now about brand relationships and how they are constructed and maintained over time. Don’t get me wrong, you gotta love the occasional trip to the stunt well for some “can-you-believe this?” quick hits in the media bucket. We once placed over two hundred tons of snow on South Beach in Miami in the middle of July to kick start national TV attention for client, Molson Beer’s, Chiller Beach Party event. 100 markets ran our satellite feed of a freak snowstorm in Miami.

But in lieu of any real connection between an event and a relate-able experience that drives to the passions and interests of a brand’s core user, what are we really accomplishing? Buzz for buzz sake has a short shelf life that comes in with a bang and is gone forever in about the same amount of time. The litmus test of engagement begins with the idea and whether or not it hits “relevancy” square on the chin.