Josh... are you even there?

The internet is going crazy and the biggest search of all time is on, all for a young man named Josh, who supposedly spent his New Year’s Eve in Nottingham’s Pryzm nightclub. So, the big question being, are you reading this Josh, are you out there and do you even exist?!

In and amongst the New Year’s Eve aftermath of glass bottles, sequins, regrets and cannon confetti the cleaners job was made a little more interesting when a sealed envelope to ‘Josh’ was found, directing him to ‘open at midnight’. Last week Nottingham’s Pryzm announced on their Facebook of the found letter and a week later the post now has had 15.9k shares on Facebook alone and has been reported to have reached over 3 million people.

Photo credit: Facebook- Pryzm Nottingham

Isn’t this viral spread and publicity just ideal for Pryzm, a convenient little bit of earned media to begin the new year with, all thanks to Sarah… or is it? That is the big question on many people’s minds, including my own. The letter has found many people in and amongst the believers who think this is “a strong early contender for the ‘Didn’t happen of the year awards 2019”, and as a marketing student (from Nottingham) Pryzm has managed to earn a little bit of a liking from me as I do believe the post may be a strong contender- and wow how well they have done if this is so. The weekend just gone saw many Sarah and Josh’s enter the club free of charge all night in the hope to find the famous couple, a clever promotional tactic added to the ‘stunt’ to draw all the more people through their doors.

When I think back to October during the lead up to Halloween, I remember the Nottingham Pryzm had another little viral success when they supposedly caught a ghost on their night camera’s, the video of course sparked viral conversation – how spookily relevant to the Halloween period?!

My conclusion and opinion of the both posts are that it’s a load of cr*p. Josh is not reading this, Sarah isn’t pregnant and there is no ghost in the lower parliament street club – just some very witty marketers who have gained themselves a great load of publicity! Despite claims from the club’s manager, of Josh’s letter in fact being real, I still believe this is just an excellent PR stunt from the club.

Whilst we’re on the topic of Pryzm’s innovative marketing tactics, last year the venue made dreams a reality when we saw the first ‘Pigs in blankets pop up shop’ appear in their Nottingham nightclub throughout December, and in the words of the general manager Tom Dodd “what better place to open the world’s first pigs in blankets shop than nottingHAM”. I love that and it appears so did everyone else including Connor Ball, a member of The Vamps who has 1.9m twitter followers. He shared the clubs tweet about the new shop which would have increased reach and awareness of what Pryzm are doing hugely, nothing like some free influencer posting!

Tom Dodd and his team at Pryzm in Nottingham look like they have got it going on, their marketing is a top success and all the most entertaining too, and I won’t lie, I did spend a good 45 minutes getting carried away reading all the mixed reviews of Sarah’s letter, trying to make my own mind up whether to believe the story or not (which both were made very believable too), as well as reading through the numerous people claiming to be Sarah and Josh’s claiming they were the famous baby daddy. That has easily gained them a follow from me- and probably thousands more, I’m ready to see what they will come up with next.

P.s Apologies to Sarah and Josh if you are reading this and for doubting your words Pryzm, but that envelope did look rather immaculate considering the absolute state of floor it would have been found on, you can’t normally go to Pryzm without your feet almost being super glued to the floor due to the pure pool of spilt VK.