Happy New Year, and welcome back to Out of Scope - Hirsch Leatherwood’s weekly newsletter on reputation, business, and culture. This week, we’re looking at PBR, New Year’s marketing decisions, Taylor Swift’s mark on 2022, and catching you up on the last few stories from 2021.
💡ON OUR MINDS
New Year, New You?
What is a new year for, if not marketers and companies peddling new avenues of self-improvement?
Marketing’s “fresh-start effect” and the new year often go hand in hand, as it's prime time to encourage consumers to buy their way to meeting their self-improvement resolutions. But Omicron is throwing a wrench into existing plans, causing some to believe consumers are just too burned out to want to better themselves this year around.
But that doesn’t mean all are disinterested – who needs resolutions when you can undergo a total rebrand? In an apt start to 2022, some individuals are following in major companies' footsteps, taking to TikTok with their plans for a refreshed image and lifestyle. While some had fun envisioning a more aesthetic lifestyle a la matcha lattes and daily yoga classes, others took issue with the trend’s use of “rebrand,” arguing that it equates individuals to objects – though some would say “personal branding” on social media already does just that.
While some are using the new year to revise their financial goals or outline healthier daily habits, for others, a change in hair color is all they need. After a few difficult years with the pandemic, hairstylists predict a mass exodus from blonde to brunette hair to reflect the warmth we all need a bit more of in our lives.
Some industries are starting the year by inviting new consumers into the space with a new attitude. Gymshark’s latest campaign features eleven notable athletes on their own journeys, making the company more relatable and inclusive than ever before.
Is Veganuary the new Dry January? What started in the U.K. in 2014 has spread to more than 200 countries and recently picked up some steam in the US with celebrity proponents like Alec Baldwin, Paul McCartney, and New York City’s new mayor, Eric Adams.
Now boarding: 5G
Anyone who has attempted to fly over the holidays knows that airlines have had a tough couple of weeks.
After sludging through thousands of canceled or delayed flights caused by staffing shortages from COVID-19 and weather problems, the battle over 5G’s rollout is now coming to a head.
On Monday, Verizon and AT&T agreed to delay rolling out 5G to allow the aviation industry to better prepare for its impact. The airlines say that this technology will interfere with electronics that enable planes to tell how close they are to the ground when visibility is low.
But 5G and planes already coexist in nearly forty countries with no accidents reported, leading some to question whether this is just a lack of coordination between the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
🏆 BRAND FAIL OF THE WEEK: Pabst Blue Ribbon, what have you done?
Warning: This section references some inappropriate language and questionable social media management.
Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR), known for tasting a tad better than the likes of Bud Light but still in the family of crushable beers, started off 2022 with a bang. In response to “Dry January,” the trend of abstaining from alcohol for the month, PBR decided to promote the opposite: Wet January. But they went about it… oddly.
The brand tweeted this blatant sexual reference with, notably, no mention of Wet January. Predictably, the Twittersphere had a field day in the comments, where many questioned what the h*** was going on. Instead of removing the tweet immediately, the PBR social media manager continued unchecked in replies to comments.
Hours later, PBR deleted the tweets, claimed that an associate with “poor judgment” was responsible, and said they were handling the matter internally. Though PBR’s spokesperson insists that this came from one “rogue” employee, anyone who has worked in social media may wonder whether it was really the result of a botched internal approval process.
Regardless, brands on social media are getting more and more wild to attract engagement (looking at you, Duolingo). But adopting the cheeky social personality schtick, made popular a few years ago by Wendy’s infamous roasts, comes with dynamic and usually avoidable communications challenges. So it remains to be seen: will this debacle scare other brands away from being interesting online, or does it show that there isn’t much upside to a brand making risque jokes?
📡 ON OUR RADAR
Biden announced that Americans would receive 500 million free rapid tests in the mail. But is it too little too late? Now that the holiday season, when travel and parties famously peak, has passed, the spread is already underway.
PSA: TikTok is officially more popular than Google in terms of traffic to the platform in 2021.
The old adage misery loves company appears to be especially true in the era of social media. Now that everyone has a voice online, they’re gravitating towards others of similar feelings. According to this Atlantic piece, which explores the spread of misinformation and its impact on societal well-being, negative reactions spread like wildfire online. But so would positive messaging, if we could find a way to put those stories front and center on newsfeeds. Food for thought as brands create their editorial calendars for 2022.
Church attendance is waning and pastors are hoping to recruit believers, or those in need of an intervention, with Big Data’s help. Per a damning Wall Street Journal article, over 30,000 churches are using Gloo, a data growth and analysis platform, to identify Americans most likely to join congregations, in part by analyzing personal data around mental health. Who needs confessional when Gloo’s one step ahead?
Hades is the first video game to win a Hugo Award, which traditionally honors books. While it's partly that tech has improved to allow for deeper storylines, it also shows that society is moving toward considering video games an art form.
Peloton revealed their entire teasing strategy for their highly anticipated Taylor Swift artist series of workouts; a very traditionally Taylor move!
Speaking of Ms. Swift, “I'm feeling 2022” isn't just an amazing and timely reference- it's a full-blown marketing campaign, from TikTok trends to merch to Twitter tags. One of HL’s favorite podcasts, ICYMI, discussed the details:
New York’s newest mayor Eric Adams is going with “swagger” as his messaging for what he brings to the table.
Crypto.com is back in the news again. After taking over the naming rights of the once-beloved Staples Center, renewed interest in the company led some Twitter users to resurface a months-old campaign spot featuring brand ambassador Matt Damon. Users immediately began mocking Damon and the campaign slogan “Fortune Favors the Brave” for comparing investing in crypto to traversing dangerous terrains like space or a snowy mountain summit (perhaps a poor strategy for conveying risk mitigation).
New year, new diseases: Welcome flurona, the latest pandemic buzzword that refers to a combination of the flu and Covid-19.
The buzziest event in Silicon Valley came to a close this week as a jury found the disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes guilty of conspiracy and fraud. Many have interpreted the verdict as the end of an era in the tech industry. In a culture that has often rewarded ambition that goes beyond what seems possible, Holmes seems to have shown just how far is too far. Meanwhile, we can’t stop thinking about this tweet:
In recent weeks, Latino groups and elected officials have come down hard on the term “Latinx,” arguing it’s a form of virtue signaling rather than empowerment.
The Bachelor franchise has seen its fair share of criticism over the years for its storytelling that has long relied on stereotypes. Its last season made history with a final four made up entirely of people of color, but producers seem to have made a left turn. A new season premiered earlier this week, and fans are not happy with the choice of Bachelor, claiming that the show passed over last season’s finalists in favor of a white former football player from Missouri. Not to mention, fans aren’t happy about the latest Chris Harrison replacement host who, like the latest Bachelor, is also a white former-NFL player. The scatteredness of the franchise’s recent decisions has us questioning what’s in store for the franchise and if they can ever get it right.
The New York Times is officially set to buy The Athletic for $550 million.
Big news in the media industry this week as The New York Times media columnist and former Buzzfeed EIC Ben Smith announced that he will found a new media startup with Justin Smith, chief executive of Bloomberg Media (Justin is also stepping down). They’re being cagey on the details, which is inspiring some confusion and some laughter.
Leveraging data is an essential part of a communications professional’s toolkit to elevate brand storytelling. However, when a media outlet runs a brand study verbatim without analysis, that story loses some credibility. Take this Bloomberg piece that shared a study from De Beers about how lab-grown diamonds don’t conjure the same emotions as real diamonds… An unsurprising take from the very brand that coined the phrase “diamonds are forever.”
For vaccine mandate messaging, consistency is key – otherwise, what is the point if it’s not being enforced? This contradiction is why the world was surprised when the Australian Open granted tennis player Novak Djokovic a medical exemption to travel to Melbourne, meaning the assumedly unvaccinated World No. 1 will be able to compete despite strict vaccine requirements. Many fans were critical that this sends the message “the rules don’t apply to celebrities/top players.” While the tournament hasn’t commented on the backlash, they aren’t promoting his attendance, either.
RIP to one of the early innovators in mobile communication. This week Blackberry officially retired its beloved keyboard phones for good. Despite a passionate minority of consumers who were still highly engaged with the product - including a fan base that spanned some of the biggest celebrity names from Kim Kardashian West to President Obama. The company’s sales have been in a deep decline since 2011, leading them to a strategic pivot into the cybersecurity space. The lesson here? Nostalgia can only get you so far, so evolve – or else.
🥊QUICK HITS: BYGONE DECEMBER EDITION
In case you missed these stories from the last two weeks of 2021.
Will the metaverse amplify online harassment? Probably… and companies are trying to figure out what to do about it.
TikTok is turning its viral food videos into a delivery service. Are we getting that much closer to smell-o-vision?
Here are Bloomberg’s top picks for what business leaders should read from 2021.
Related, Bloomberg released its annual “Jealousy List,” aka the best pieces of journalism from the past year that they didn’t write.
Just like fashion trends recycle, so do desserts. Jell-O cakes are back, but this time, they’re ~aesthetic ~.
What happened every day in 2021.
We’ll see you here soon! 👋
HL
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The fine print:
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