Unspoken truths, the return of psychedelia, festive DPR campaigns and our friend Mr Musk

Strategy: Parents 1, Kids 0

Canadian, plant-based brand, Wholly Veggie! has launched a campaign featuring an advert that draws on an often-unspoken truth. This is that parents are happy to tell small lies to their kids if they feel it is for their own good, and may even enjoy getting one over their children, especially when it comes to getting them to eat healthily. The execution of the advert is hilarious and highly distinctive, not least due to the use of a heavy metal style song.

What this means for brands

Tapping into unspoken truths or unpopular opinions connected to a category is a great way to create communication that’s not just distinctive but also demonstrates empathy with a brand’s audience. Often brands can stray into projecting their own view of the world, but by expressing an opinion that most brands in a category don’t, your brand?can show its audience that it understands them and can help to solve a real-world problem for them.

Creative: The return of psychedelia

Interesting observation: Unique colour palettes, feel good vibes and eye-catching typography – revisiting the swinging sixties in the not-so-swinging twenties is a great way to create an eye-catching brand.

What it is: The original psychedelia movement may have you thinking of Jimi Hendrix and hallucinogens, but its bold colours, tongue-in-cheek imagery and highly illustrative typefaces are making a big comeback. The style lends itself to brands who want big stand-out on shelf – see the vibrant colours and patterns of Haagen Dazs’ new ice cream bar packaging – but can also give a distinctive twist to a more understated setup. Qandor beauty products use the typeface Digestive by Studio Triple, a font that calls itself “an alternate reality where Art Nouveau and Gothic architecture met and had a child” but whose curves and warps scream psychedelia too. Or just go all-out with it like Omsom, whose Asian meal starters are proud, loud and a little bit trippy. No wonder Pantone’s colour of the year 2022 is a powerful magenta that feels right at home with this style.

What this means for brands: Everyone’s looking for a little bit of escapism right now, and a little bit of retro nostalgia, too – this psychedelic trend hits both in one fell swoop, and packs a punch on shelf too.

Performance: Is the Christmas Digital PR campaign dead??

?Spoiler alert: no.

But it’s changed. Newsjacking and well thought-out research pieces have taken over from days gone by in which a fake product release would cut through the Christmas noise.

Journalists know what their readers want, they know that they must write a serious amount of content, and they need to make sure it’s engaged with. Digital PR isn’t necessarily just digital PR anymore; it’s coverage of stories with wider reach. It may be something that happened on TV, a real-life event, case studies of ‘this happened to me at Christmas’ or even an influencer partnership.

Apart from the influx of out of office e-mails that every PR dreads across the month of December; you’ll read about ‘The cheapest place to get your Christmas shop’ (which ties in nicely to a very real fear people have about the cost-of-living crisis), and simultaneously you’ll see culturally significant stories such as the John Lewis advert.

So, what does this mean???

Getting noticed in a journalist’s inbox is now more competitive than it’s ever been. A strong subject line, or relationship, can help get the message opened, but Digital PRs need to think about the story, what trend is it tied into? Could it be included in a relevant round-up? Journalists crave content, but readers crave something that will provoke an emotion, whether that plants the seed of an idea or is something that will pass the pub test, PRs need to keep more than just a journalist entertained; think reader and you’re half-way there.

Communications: The Musk effect

Elon Musk’s long anticipated takeover of Twitter has finally come into play, and what a scene it’s caused. Donald Trump and Ye’s accounts have been re-instated - although the former is yet to post (thankfully).

New platforms are appearing out of the woodwork and trying to lure Twitter natives to switch their channel of choice, and any Tom, Dick or Harry can buy a blue tick, completely de-valuing their original purpose.

Advertising revenues are plummeting as brands are panicking about the direction of the platform, with campaigns being paused en masse. In essence, it’s a mess.

You would hope the world’s richest man would know a thing or two about managing businesses… but, in this case, only time will tell…

So, what does this mean?

If your brand is active on Twitter, you should weigh up the pros and cons of pausing activity vs. carrying on as usual. From an organic perspective little seems to have changed – other than people voicing their fears over hate speech rising on the platform and moderation falling off a cliff edge. So depending on your sector or subject matter you can probably just sit tight.

Paid activity is slightly different. Do you want to be seen to be pumping money into a platform that’s being questioned in terms of integrity, safety and inclusivity? Think about how this could impact your brand – does the premise of Twitter still align with your brand values? Is continuing with advertising on the platform going to open a can of worms?

The key thing is not to make any rash decisions. If you’re not sure, take a breath and pause. Don’t immediately pull the plug on everything and hop over to Mastodon.