Football icons, controversy and Google updates | Vol.7

Welcome to your latest dose of Vit EE, from the team here at Edson Evers.

This month our social media and digital experts have been looking at Google's partnership with Reddit and its decision to add social media updates to Google business listings. The PR team have been looking at the latest controversy surrounding Nike's new England kit, whilst our creative lead has been looking at a more positive campaign for a former England legend.

Playing around with tradition ??

It's been hard to miss the recent controversy surrounding Nike's decision to change the colours of the St. George's Cross on the new England strip - designed to inspire and unite.

National newspapers covered the story and fans have been divided over the decision, but is there anything wrong with the changing of the colours or should Nike not have had a kick around with the tradition of the flag?

Expected or not, the change sparked some backlash and Nike released a statement explaining their decision, stating: "It was never our intention to offend, given what it means to England fans."

"Together with the FA, the intention was to celebrate the heroes of 1966 and their achievements. The trim on the cuffs takes its cues from the training gear worn by England’s 1966 heroes, with a gradient of blues and reds topped with purple. The same colours also feature an interpretation of the flag on the back of the collar."

Recent years there’s been a big resurgence in retro trends, which people, especially the younger generation, have got on board with. Nike has embraced this, tapping into the nostalgia feeling with a nod to the 1966 team. Despite some initial negativity, we're interested to see if this will affect the performance of the sales. What did you think about the colour changes to the flag?

‘A taste worth more’ ??

The footballing legend David Beckham has partnered with Belgian beer Stella Artois in a new global marketing campaign, designed to ‘humble’ the superstar.

Conceptualised by the creative agency GUT Miami, the campaign is designed to convey a ‘humbling experience for one of the world’s most recognisable men.’

The food and beverage industry are under constant pressure to gain consumers attention, whether that be from the price tag, or being classed as a ‘premium’ product. However, the code for a product being premium has changed - brands now need to prove their worth to consumers at an emotional level.

The campaign celebrates the importance of genuine moments with family and friends that’s no better commemorated with the distinctive taste of Stella Artois. An instantly recognisable brand, served ice cold in a gold-laced chalice, brought to you by a familiar tattooed hand. A very smart move.

The campaign also appears to subvert the tired notion that beer drinkers are all male. The brand can and should be enjoyed by all without the stereotypical judgement of beer being for ‘men’. The stout brand Guinness also reported that they have seen a 24% rise in the number of women drinking Guinness in the UK.

Let your brand take the forefront of your marketing, that’s the key ingredient to success. Clean cut marketing, that doesn't involve rocket science should be the way forward in 2024.

Google ?? Reddit

Emma Stone's performance in Poor Things was most definitely Oscar-worthy, and once the credits started to roll, I curled up in my seat and typed in 'Poor Things explained Reddit' into the Google Search bar. This little corner of the internet provides the best deep dives into any subject in the world. Got a niche question? There are already thirty Reddit threads discussing it in detail.

In fact, an increase in users appending their searches with "site:www.reddit.com” is so commonly used that Google has announced a partnership with Reddit in a bid to improve search dominance by bringing Reddit info into Search. This $60 million deal gives Google access to the rich conversation pool on Reddit, which improves its topic visibility and trains Google models on a more diverse selection of human dialogue and writing styles.

Although this partnership takes into consideration the need for more authentic search results, it could lead to SEO manipulation. Users could create false content in Reddit to exploit the search system - will Google impose measures to distinguish between genuine conversations and artificial content?

The digital giants are being proactive to keep up with the likes of TikTok. It's clear that users want real, honest information in under 60 seconds, with visuals and a host of comments, so they make an informed decision. In a world full of information, lead the way with clear, concise and easily accessible content.

Google helps brands to share more with social ????

A brand's social media account shouldn't just be a place to showcase its products or services.

Although that's a result of the content created for the channel, a social media account should provide brands with an opportunity to share more about what the business is all about - its values, brand image and, ultimately, what they stand for.

Whilst our social media teams spend hours tailoring content to appeal to each brand's target audience, it's great to hear Google is supporting social media with its most recent update...

Back in October last year, Google announced that it had expanded its access to allow more brands to be able to add social media profiles to Google Business listings. This means that when a potential customer sees a brand on Google, its social media content could appear alongside this.

With more and more businesses utilising the many benefits of social media, this was a great step forward and something we love to hear as social media managers!

But, as of a few weeks ago, Google has since added another feature to make business social media profiles stand out on the site...

It's now been revealed that Google Business profiles will soon have a 'Social Media Updates' section, which shows the latest posts shared by any connected social media accounts.

Brands can connect a range of social media accounts including Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube and X, and social post previews are populated automatically based on the profiles linked to the business.

Brands can manually link brand social media accounts whenever they wish too, but Google has also confirmed that it will add social links to eligible Business profiles automatically.

So, in some cases, without lifting a finger, your brand's social media content could be shown on Google to potentially pull in a whole new audience and fanbase - sounds like a win-win to us! ??