Bald and branded

Air New Zealand’s recent “billboard cranium” marketing stunt has been applauded by American Peter Shankman, author of Can We Do That?! Outrageous PR Stunts That Work for their “Tom Sawyer handing out paintbrushes” approach. Terry Gardner, 50, a legal secretary in California, was among 3000 people who shaved their heads for an advertising campaign by the airline, which hired people to display a temporary henna tattoo saying: “Need A Change? Head Down to New Zealand. www.airnewzealand.com.” For shaving their noggins and displaying the ad copy for two weeks in November 2008, they received either a round-trip ticket to New Zealand (worth about $1,200) or $777 in cash (an allusion to the Boeing 777, a model in the airline’s fleet). Gardner, whose hair has grown to crewcut length since she shaved it for the airline promotion, said some people at the time asked whether the tattoo on her head was permanent. “I said, ‘Are you kidding?’ I might be crazy, but I’m not nuts.”