Out of Scope Issue 16: Martha Stewart has 21 peacocks, thank you very much. 🦚

This week’s non-required thinking on reputation, business, and culture

This week, we’re taking a look at vaccine communications across the media, experiencing deja-vu with a Kendall Jenner spot, reflecting on the optics of advice from powerful siblings, and wondering whether we’ll be returning to Soul Cycle’s studios sans-mask.

📡 ON OUR RADAR

1. PSAs for vaccine awareness, something that would’ve been handled perhaps by the Ad Council or some other public trust in past decades, are becoming a privately funded affair, with Moderna and Pfizer making their own, social media-friendly videos.

2. Since the Gates announced their divorce earlier this month, the media universe has been treated to a slew of accusations about Bill’s previous dealings with Jeffrey Epstein namechecked early, keeping the story on the front page. Caveat emptor: With billions at stake and one of the most storied reputations in American history on the line, this is no ordinary separation. We are watching not just a divorce, but an epic battle of dueling PR teams. Stay tuned. 

3. As eyeballs desert TV, are major networks going to embrace the sponsored content model?

4. Brand positioning makes a tangible difference -- for the Seattle contingent of Team HL, the hold that the Seattle Kraken has on the city is incredible, considering they haven’t played a single game yet. After announcing the name a year ago, the brand has driven major sales, and the logo appears nearly everywhere around the city. But the hype was no happy accident -- it’s the result of extensive positioning work aimed at strategically rooting the brand in Seattle history and community ethos, while still having mass appeal to sports fans everywhere. Here’s an example of their stellar branded storytelling. 

5. Absolutely essential comms this week: Martha Stewart issued a correction on her “21 of these glorious birds [peacocks] whose house is impeccable.”

6. If free donuts from Krispy Kreme weren’t enough to get reluctant people excited about vaccination, McDonald’s is hoping that their new informative coffee cups will do the trick. 

7. Masks are officially optional at Soul Cycle in NYC. Their choice of words, “we trust our riders,” is a bold communications strategy to counter worries about skipping proof of vaccination inside of their studios. So far, Equinox reports a positive response.

8. Bank of America announced its commitment to raising its minimum wage to $25 this week, communicating to the world that one of the US’s top banks believes in the potential value of their employee labor. 

9. Tinder just announced an “Are you sure?” feature that detects inappropriate language based on comments that users have reported in the past, and asks the sender to rethink the message. While this isn’t the first instance of a social or dating platform implementing tactics to reduce harmful interactions, it’s yet another example of how AI is getting more new-ish! sophisticated at helping platforms create a safer communication space for users.

10. Just because you have the legal right to operate doesn’t mean you have the unofficial license to operate from your stakeholders. Case in point: better comms from the International Olympic Committee would’ve prevented a mutiny by Japanese citizens who, despite health precautions being taken at game venues, don’t want the Olympics to happen. 

🏆 REPUTATION FAIL OF THE WEEK: Kendall Jenner (again) 

Kendall Jenner has done it again. The supermodel announced the release of 818, her new tequila brand, in an Instagram post this week with photos and videos of herself touring agave fields astride a horse while wearing jeans, a cowboy hat, and a loose cotton shirt over a tank top — what some are calling an attempt at migrant chic or “soft-core field worker.” Almost immediately, comments accusing her of cultural appropriation started flooding in, to the point where Jenner turned off the comments on her post altogether. The most mind-boggling part of this entire debacle is that this isn’t the first time this specific Jenner has been accused of being tone-deaf. When her 2017 Pepsi campaign ad premiered, critics and fans alike said that she (and Pepsi) trivialized and demeaned the Black Lives Matter movement. Much like the Batanga cocktail, a mix of tequila, lime juice, and (Pepsi) cola, these campaigns keep leaving a bad taste in our mouths. 

💡ON OUR MINDS

THE OPTICS OF BROTHERLY ADVICE

• Chris Cuomo was largely criticized this week for taking part in strategy calls advising his brother and New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, on how to respond to sexual harassment allegations.

• Our take here is that the optics appear to be worse than what actually took place. Chris has opted to take him outside of the Andrew Cuomo coverage since the initial allegations, which was absolutely the right course of action.

• Given his role (or lack thereof) in setting the narrative around his brother, it does not strike HL as ethically wrong for someone as familiar with the media as Chris is to offer his guidance.

• The optics of it may seem conflict of interest-y, but on the spectrum of cable news anchors acting out of line, Cuomo competitor Tucker Carlson would ask you to hold his beer.

VACCINE COMMS WHIPLASH 

• The CDC now says those who are fully vaccinated and also past their two-week timeframe, can “resume activities without wearing masks or physically distancing” in places that allow it, leaving many Americans uneasy.

• For over a year, the CDC has advised wearing a mask to stop the spread, but the new guidelines seem to completely ignore that the risk for Covid-19 infections among the vaccinated is dependent on the level of Covid-19 spread in a community. 

• The battle against face masks has been waging since the pandemic first started, and those who have worn masks feel like the recent announcement from the CDC will empower anti-maskers, not the other way around. 

• Should vaccinated Americans wear a mask anyway? Or should they ditch the mask and rely on everyone else to do the right thing? 

• Dr. Fauci tried to reiterate the message, claiming the public misunderstood the CDC, but the damage was done. There’s a reason why communication cadence is a tried and true practice. 

We’ll see you here next week! 👋

HL

===

The fine print:

This newsletter brought to you by an extremely muddy pup who knew exactly what she was doing.