Hails & Fails – June 16th 2023
As the UK continues to bask in Mediterranean temperatures, brands turned up the heat with some sizzling PR campaigns this week.
Subway, McDonald’s and Burger King kickstarted a ChatGPT brag-athon, beer-maker BrewDog showed us the smell of Father’s Day and brewer Heineken got creative with bad spelling.
It was a terrible week for under fire Twitter after the social media giant was evicted from its office.
HAILS
The fast food ChatGPT brag-athon goes viral
Fast food giants McDonald’s and Burger King have spent the last week taunting each other with Out of Home campaigns powered by AI.
Each brand has been asking ChatGPT questions to prove either how iconic or big the products are and then putting the results on billboards across the country.
And now Subway has joined in the fun… and, according to ChatGPT, in terms of size, both the Whopper and Big Mac are “significantly smaller than a footlong sandwich.”
It’s a big moment for Subway with the launch of its new menu and, at least according to ChatGPT, the brand is winning in the size stakes.
Hilarious and loads of engagement too.
BrewDog creates beer-scented deodorant for Father’s Day
Punk brewery, Brewdog, has teamed up with personal care brand Fussy to create a roll-on fragrance ahead of Father’s Day.
The scent has notes of hops and tropical fruits identical to the brewery’s popular Punk IPA ale and is, according to the brand, for people whose dads love a beer and who have been in turmoil over what to buy Dad on his special day — beer or fragrance.
Now they can do both – and the story has won coverage everywhere this week.
Heineken can, even though most people can’t
Heineken marked its 150th Anniversary this week with an unconventional campaign that plays on the fact people always spell its name wrong.
The brand’s unconventional celebration of the many ways the brand has been nicknamed, misspelled or mis-served over the years is designed to showcase how good times and sparking true connections over a beer are, in the end, what matters most.
The brewer has collaborated with a behavioural scientist to create the ‘Good Times Index’ which will score the brand’s contribution to creating the perfect conditions for good times…and it has produced a whole train of misspellings of its famous name to hammer home the point.
Brilliant, fun and the media already love it.
FAILS
Only Twits don’t pay their rent
It doesn’t get any better for under-fire Twitter does it? The social media giant is this week being evicted from its Boulder office over unpaid rent.
Twitter owes three months’ rent to its landlord, and a judge has now signed off an eviction order, according to court documents.
Since its takeover by Elon Musk, Twitter’s business dealings have not exactly been plain sailing, amid reports of lots of unpaid bills. But it is alleged that the company has failed to pay rent at all for months, which suggests its operations may be in more peril than anyone expected.
Ouch!
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