Out of Scope: Issue 02
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Out of Scope: Issue 02
This week’s non-required thinking on reputation, business, and culture
Hello there! Thanks for giving us another try in your inbox.
This week, we’re taking a look at changes in social media, a rough week for The Boss, the most important five seconds of the Superbowl, and what shellin from the London pave might mean for a post-Brexit UK.
Here we go!
📡 ON OUR RADAR
Microsoft’s latest bet? Employee communications. If you can’t communicate compellingly internally, good luck doing it externally.
Something tells us that 😂 and 😭 continue to be our most frequently used emojis in 2021.
We’ve been saying it for years -- traditional PR is dying.
In case you haven’t seen it, Rachel Cargle’s Black History Month series is a testament to getting curious and doing independent research for the greater good. We hold reading and exploration in high regard here at HL, so we’re big fans of this exercise.
The story is fun, but the headline is perfect: JetBlue’s new seats are like mattresses for your butt
The Bruce Springsteen drama has taken us a couple of different directions this week. Say what you will about Jeep’s instant disassociation with The Boss, they acted swiftly and decisively. And it does turn out that the rock legend found himself dancing in the dark a bit.
You know who is a talented communicator? Taylor Swift. Normally we wouldn’t recommend using secret codes to break big news, but she’s been leaving them everywhere this year, getting fans ready to dive into her newest music. Catch us listening to the new version of Love Story until April 9! 🎧
🏆 REPUTATION WIN/FAIL OF THE WEEK: Reddit v. Robinhood
Did you catch Reddit’s 5-second spot at the Superbowl? They pulled that together in just one week. On the flip side, this week’s reputation fail goes to Robinhood. While the ad they ran probably would have struck just the right chord a few weeks ago, after the Game Stop debacle, viewers were feeling anything but inspired… proving once again that it’s essential to engage with the news in a meaningful way - even for (and maybe especially for) your multimillion-dollar Superbowl spot.
💡ON OUR MINDS
What’s your Clubhouse strategy?
Clubhouse, which has been primarily used as a medium for Silicon Valley VCs to throw out their hot takes of the day, is picking up steam with recent appearances by Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.
This begs the question… do we all need a Clubhouse strategy? Don’t be surprised when you see more and more executives across functions like HR, marketing and others begin to use the platform to network, engage with different kinds of stakeholders, and experiment with different narratives in a non-consequential way, for now.
It won’t be too long before we see media organizations roll out their Clubhouse guidelines.
“London, London, London Town / You can toughen up or get thrown around.”
Though England’s international reputation has taken a hit thanks to a botched handling of COVID and a rocky Brexit, and its status as a financial hub is eroding, it has one thing generating worldwide cred: the culture and language of the London street.
Drill music, a blend of cockney with international slang and American rap, has hip hop artists and trendy teenagers around the world imitating the way the latest generation of streetwise Londoners talk.
As Brexiters complain that London is no longer English and with hallmarks of Englishness contested in a new round of culture wars, the city’s international character is the very thing giving its native country a boost.
Languages, like capital cities, outlive their empires. For a UK that has been reckoning with declining power for two generations, the words of Samuel Johnson may prove true for the world: “If you are tired of London, then you are tired of life.”
How much would you pay for a Twitter subscription?
Scott Galloway made a compelling case for the subscription Twitter this week.
His key takeaway:
This isn’t just a money grab. Subscription encourages a firm to reorient its business around its users — who provide the bulk of the content that brings people to the platform, after all — and build premium features that justify collecting premium revenue.
As our media landscape becomes more personalized and niche, now is as good a time as ever for Jack and his friends to revisit this opportunity. It’s clear at this point that highly curated, targeted experiences net in long-term engagement.
Twitter is still as relevant as ever for breaking news, but particularly in a post-Trump era, if it wants to embody a more thoughtful platform that prioritizes knowledge and inspiration, it needs to experiment with nuanced experiences that cater to more varied kinds of users (hello, Revue)
We’ll see you here next week! 👋
HL
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