Hails & Fails – June 18th 2021
It is the week of Euro 2020 and Father’s Day, with the annual Wimbledon tennis tournament just a few days away. As a result, there have been some seriously sporty and dad-fuelled PR campaigns to marvel at this week. M&S gave us beer whips for dads, Paddy Power has had a pop at two England footballing stars, and AVA Berries has reminded us how to eat strawberries properly. It was an odd week for Coca Cola though, as a host of star international footballers put them on the media agenda by…err…taking them off their agenda.
HAILS
M&S whips up a frenzy with dad’s day gift
Father’s Day PR can be a bit of bun fight, right? But M&S has already struck gold this year, coming to the rescue on Father’s Day with its range of foodie gifts just for dads – with the highlight being a six pack of Beer Whips.
Beer Whips are, essentially, marshmallow-filled whips shaped like a pint and filled with boozy caramel, covered in milk chocolate and topped with beer-flavoured white chocolate – a dad-shaped twist on an absolute classic that’s already getting attention everywhere. Bravo – the beers are on M&S this year, dad!
Paddy Power calls out England footballers who starred for Ireland
Paddy Power got tongues wagging again this week when they commissioned a huge mural of England footballers Jack Grealish and Declan Rice on a street in Ireland!
The two players featured for the Irish junior national sides but both swapped allegiances to England for their senior national debuts and are in the current England team at the Euros.
Leading bookmaker Paddy Power had a cheeky pop at the pair, commissioning a stunning artwork in Dublin’s Fenian St, emblazoned with the words ‘Come On You Boys In White’
It is, however, all for a good cause – as Paddy Power has a special ‘Backstabber Bonus’ where they will donate €20,000 (£17,200) to Irish football for each goal scored by the two. Hilarious and. Got loads of media coverage this week.
AVA Berries gives us a fulsome guide to eating strawberries
Apparently, we’ve been eating strawberries wrong this whole time. According AVA Berries and etiquette expert, William Hanson, millions of Brits have been eating the juicy fruit incorrectly for years.
William has explained that a ‘strawberry fork’ should be used in formal settings, to pick up the fruit and pop it in your mouth.And a spoon is only needed (alongside a fork) if cream is served with the strawberries. But you should never pour cream over the fruit, it should be served separately. There’s loads more too in this somewhat tongue-in-cheek video guide. Hilarious, ever-so-British, and perfectly timed for Wimbledon. Cue hits galore!
FAILS
Players Refuse to take Coke at Euro 2020
It started with Portuguese star forward Cristiano Ronaldo unceremoniously removing two bottles of Coca-Cola from the podium during a Euros 2020 post-match press conference.
Then Cristiano’s lead was followed by France and Man United star Paul Pogba, who also removed the bottles – and now a host of other players are doing the same.
We wonder if Coke officials are effervescent with rage about the removal of their, almost certainly, expensive product placement.
Bit of a fail for Coca-Cola? Quite probably. But, there’s also likely some truth in the old adage that there’s no such thing as bad publicity – how much coverage has Coca-Cola had this week? Media hits globally means they are the brand on everyone’s lips…albeit, a few less footballers than previously.
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