Brian Urlacher's Publicity Stunt Went So Well

Has a head of hair ever been this popular?

This is a question I'm sure Brian Urlacher and his PR team were asking themselves yesterday after the former Chicago Bears linebacker went viral. In a scheduled interview with WGN-TV, Urlacher revealed that he had a special announcement - he has hair.

It was a life-changing moment more than 8 months in the making. Recommended by a friend, Urlacher went to "Restore By Katona" in Chicago and received a $10,000 hair transplant surgery which took one day. His doctors took hair from the back of his head and placed it where his bald spots were located.

An hour later, Urlacher had another scheduled interview with WCIU-TV's "You & Me" together with the President of "Restore By Katona." By the time that interview began, Urlacher's reveal had already went viral. Football fans and bald guys alike were shocked by the transformation. And that's when the calls came coming. Fox's Clay Travis referred to him as the "media's biggest interview of the day."

Sports Illustrated's 120 Sports. NBC's The Dan Patrick Show. CBS' The Doug Gottlieb Show. Fox's Outkick The Show with Clay Travis. Yahoo Sports. ABC 7 Chicago. ESPN Radio. Comcast SportsNet Chicago.

The former Fox Sports football analyst was all over the place as Crains Chicago Business recalls in a profile of the hair transplant company:

But sharing the news that one of the most famous bald-headed Chicago celebrities would be ditching the chrome dome would have to wait. The reveal had to be big and send new potential customers toward a company in which Urlacher now has a financial stake. 

And so Urlacher went about the past year wearing hats in public to keep his secret—the hair takes around nine months to grow back in full—even going as far as shaving away his newly grown hair to maintain his famously bald appearance.

"We would check social media every day to make sure nothing had come out," said Jordan Sadoff, president of Oak Brook-based Restore By Katona. "It's been somewhat of a challenge, but it was important to us that we showed his hair fully grown." 

It worked. 

Urlacher and Sadoff made headlines nationwide today on a media tour showcasing his new 'do, quickly becoming a trending topic on Twitter. 

The result was a flood of media inquiries, phone calls and web traffic. Restore's website crashed by mid-morning. "I didn't know what phones ringing off the hook really meant until today," said Sadoff.

Restore By Katona also released a YouTube video with Urlacher telling his story and giving fans a behind the scenes look of how he achieved his newfound fountain of youth.

Now that Restore By Katona has come to the public's attention, the hair transplant company should continue to utilize social media and online video to its advantage. Hair tutorials, hair advice, other testimonials, hair product recommendations, surgery giveaways, and football prognostication from Mr. Urlacher himself should all be features that the media team at Restore By Katona include to continue user engagement.



Mr. Urlacher, who left Fox Sports not too long before this surgery, should also continue making the media rounds to promote the product. Hopefully he makes a stop in Cleveland to convince King James to participate.