Hails & Fails – May 6th 2022

It might have been all about the rising cost of living and spiralling utlity bills this week but that hasn’t stopped great PR campaigns lighting up the 9-5 . Sky deployed Minions across the UK, Brazen client and pub chain Farmhouse Inns gave us a cake that looked like a carvery and SpaSeekers gave us the opportunity to bathe in Pornstar Martinis. It wasn’t a great week for beauty brand Ulta though, after they had to apologise for a ‘very insensitive’ marketing email.

HAILS

Sky deploys Minions to launch ultra-fast broadband

If you spot those iconic yellow Minions in your neighbourhood over the coming days, fear not, it’s a campaign from Sky to demonstrate the speed of its Broadband Ultrafast Plus.

The yellow animated creatures appear to have infiltrated out-of-home ads across the country, including hijacking a fake Westfield ad in which a Minion’s dungarees land on a fashion model’s face. 

The ads are on TV too –  with a cinema-inspired voiceover announcing the nationwide rollout of Ultrafast Plus and Minions approaching a laptop through a cloud of purple smoke ready to take on Ultrafast speeds.

Groovy, yellow and everywhere – what’s not to love?

Sky deploys Minions to launch ultra-fast broadband

Carvery cake fools pub regulars

Farmhouse Inns customers were stunned by a carvery that turned out not to be roast beef, Yorkshire pudding and veg…but a chocolate cake.

The showstopping creation was made by Jan Foster, a ‘cake-a-tier’ at Holly Tree Farm pub in Nottingham, part of Brazen client Farmhouse Inns pub group.

When the cake was displayed next to an actual carvery at the family-friendly pub restaurant diners struggled to tell the difference between the two.

Renowned for its best-in-class carveries, the chocolate sponge filled cake was inspired by the recent Netflix series Is it Cake?

And it won headlines everywhere!

Carvery cake fools pub regulars

Bathtime with a pornstar

If you’ve ever wanted to swim in a pool of your favourite cocktail…now you can

Spa booking service SpaSeekers have made everyone’s wildest dreams a reality by launching the world’s first Porn Spa Martini Experience.

Cocktail lovers can dip their toes into this experience in the heart of Surrey at The Brooklands Hotel and Spa. 

The hotel and spa complex is located less than an hour away from central London right near Painshill Park, where scenes from Bridgerton were filmed.

The four classic cocktail ingredients of passion fruit, vodka, lime juice and prosecco don’t just taste great together – they all have beneficial properties for the body, too, apparently.

Bathtime with a pornstar

FAILS

Insensitive email clumsily references the suicide of designer Kate Spade

Beauty brand Ulta has had to apologise for sending an insensitive marketing email that referenced Kate Spade’s suicide by hanging.

The beauty retailer sent out a sales email to subscribers with the subject line: ‘Come hang with Kate Spade.’

But as outraged fans were quick to point out on social media, Kate Spade — the woman who founded the brand baring her name — died by suicide in 2018.

Horrified fans called the email ‘disgusting’ and now Ulta has responded, saying they are ‘deeply sorry.’

Jeez!

Insensitive email clumsily references the suicide of designer Kate Spade

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