_Part 4 of the For Immediate Release series. Originally written in 2011. Re-read in the AI Communications era._ The _what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas_ campaign that opened Chapter 4 of _For Immediate Release_ did something most campaigns can’t: it created a category of customer that didn’t exist before. Buyers who hadn’t considered Vegas suddenly considered it. The campaign earned them, did not target them. PR captures customers advertising can’t reach. That is the chapter’s central claim. ## What the Chapter Says The chapter lays out tactics for capturing pop-up customers: - Treat unexpected customers as the most valuable kind - Partner with adjacent brands to access their audiences - Build campaigns that earn coverage in non-target outlets - Convert PR coverage into customer acquisition with intent Cases include Anheuser-Busch entertainment PR engagements, partnership-driven launches, and the double-barreled gun of co-marketing — when two non-competing brands amplify each other and both gain audiences neither could reach alone. The chapter argues **brands should love their pop-up customers**, not push them away. The customer who arrives by accident is the one most likely to tell two friends. ## What It Means in 2026 AI engines surface brands in unexpected query contexts. A buyer asking ChatGPT about something tangentially related to your category may get your brand as the answer — if your brand has been written about consistently enough. These are pop-up customers in the new sense: discovery that happens outside your planned funnel. The brands that win in this era treat every AI-driven discovery as the start of a relationship, not the end of an impression. The 2011 lesson holds: love the customer who arrives by accident. ## Continue Reading the Series [← Part 3: Talk Isn’t Cheap](https://ronntorossian.com/for-immediate-release-part-3-talk-isnt-cheap) · [Back to hub](https://ronntorossian.com/for-immediate-release-pr-book) · [Part 5: Authenticity →](https://ronntorossian.com/watch-your-language-tourneau-vs-wempe) **Buy the book:** [Amazon author page](https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B005DOQIPO). ## Frequently Asked Questions **What does Chapter 4 teach about new customers?** Chapter 4 argues that PR creates customer categories advertising cannot reach. Pop-up customers — buyers who arrive through unexpected channels — should be treated as the most valuable, because they convert through word-of-mouth and bring others. **How does this map to AI-driven customer discovery?** AI engines surface brands in unexpected query contexts. Brands with strong Citation Share get discovered by buyers who weren't searching for them directly. These pop-up customers are the modern equivalent of the audience the chapter described in 2011. --- **About the author:** Ronn Torossian is the founder and chairman of [5W AI Communications](https://www.5wpr.com), the AI Communications Firm. Publisher of [Everything-PR](https://everything-pr.com). Author of two best-selling editions of _For Immediate Release_.