Possibilities of using a "PR stunt" in strategic communication of higher education

"PRstunt" or „Publicity Stunt“ is a carefully planned event with the aim ofdrawing public attention to the organizers of the stunt or to another goal ofthe stunt organization. The reasons for considering the use of a promotionalstunt have a great potential for a return to investment and the"earnings" from unpaid advertisements in the media whichspontaneously reported that something interesting had happened. Apart from the media themselves, the generalpublic also significantly contributes to the spread of publicity throughstunts, so that today practically everyone can record the interesting thingthey come across via their smartphone and share it on the Internet. Highereducation, but also general education, has transformed from a traditionalcenturies-old approach where the focus was on teachers and institutions to amodern mass approach where the focus is on students and studying occurs throughpartnership and cooperation within the learning process. The emergence of masshigher education in almost all countries of the world now implies publiccriticism of factors such as: the quality of lifelong learning services, thesuccess of examinations, the management of the institution, the form of fundingand the student standard. Massification is accompanied by the expansion anddiversification of higher education, and the result of the latter is theemergence of competition among individual higher education institutions.Therefore, the importance of effectively conveying the messageof a higher education institution to a (potential) student or his sponsor ofeducation therefore becomes the subject of professional marketingcommunication. The paper provides an overview of PR Stunts in Croatia and theworld and proposes thematic guidelines for their organization.