Cuil Becomes a Google-Killer Thanks to the Power of PR

Brand: Cuil (source) Agency: Manning Selvage & Lee The Blog PR community has been feverish about the launch of Cuil - tauted by press as 'a Google-Killer' (yawn). One blogger goes onto ask - Wow, How Did Cuil Get So Much Publicity on Day 1?!

Well here's my hacked up answer:

1. Timing- let's face it, we're pretty bored of Google, aren't we?

2. The guys who set it up are Ex-Google, giving the press a nice 'Son of Google' story.

3. It's the revival story from the Seven Basic plots - my Bible for PR stories.

4. Conflict- the press were happy to say Cuil is a Google-Killer. See other things such as BlackBerry-Killer, iPhone-Killer, etc. etc.

5. Ridiculous figure- Cuil scared the hell out of Google by announcing triple the number of pages indexed. I once launched a brand called Webaroo who claimed to have a way of downloading the Internet. This also created press. See and http://valleywag.com/5030151/google-afraid-of-cuil--no--google-afraid-of-cuils-press-releases--hell-yeah. It's failed one test though - this blog is nowhere to be seen on it. Shame on you, Cuil!