Punters rowing around Finsbury Park’s boating lake were given a shock last week when their idyllic experience was interrupted by an unexpected visitor, with a shark fin emerging from the murky water and hurtling towards their boats. The unlikely nature of the attacks didn’t stop boaters from having a bit of a scare; human instinct clearly took over a few times as a shark fin hurtling towards you is always unnerving (thanks Steven Spielberg).

Unsurprisingly, this was not a real shark attack in the middle of London (that would be one hell of stunt), but a prank featuring a 3m motorised hand-crafted monster, created by BAFTA award winning special effects designer Jamie Campbell.

This stunt, created by House PR for the launch Shark Week on the Discovery Channel, is a classic example of  “prankvertising” – a staple of the PR diet, along with large installations and survey stories. Done well, they are very effective and this stunt has been picked up far-and-wide, with coverage across a range of platforms including national news outlets.

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