One of the greatest opportunities to get media coverage – for any size company – is when a national story occurs. When that national story is a tragedy or disaster, however, companies must walk a fine line with their publicity-grabbing intentions so as to not be seen taking advantage or profiting off the disaster.

HoundDogs, a Tennessee-based clothing retailer that sells a variety of licensed gear and paraphernalia for the University of Tennessee Volunteers, has just accomplished a publicity stunt that made headlines following the horrible devastation of the earthquake in Haiti. In our opinion it worked because it played off not one, but two story lines and ultimately will result in donations to help the suffering people of Haiti.

University of Tennessee football fans will never forget the name Lane Kiffin. That’s because Kiffin left the program after just one year to take a (possibly higher-paying) job as coach of the football program at University of Southern California. Many Tennessee fans are right to be upset at Kiffin, and he’s also left several recruits in the cold after they committed to the program – and him – for their college football career.

Enter HoundDogs with their publicity stunt. They’ve offered a 20 percent discount to anyone that brings in a Lane Kiffin T-Shirt so that the retailer can donate the shirts to Haiti relief programs and charities. They figure fans will rip, tear, shred and even burn the T-Shirts so why not put them to good use if people no longer want them. Genius. Even better are the national headlines and stories they’ve received.

Kudos to HoundDogs as this is an excellent example of how a small business can still generate publicity when normally they’d be lost in the crowd and clutter of the major story.

Do you know of any other small businesses making headlines like this? Please let us know. And don’t forget to download The PR Toolkit to get tips on how to get stories in the media.

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