What got people talking this week — 16 July
Originally published on O2’s Workplace 16 July
1. Channel 4 released its new TV ad for the Paralympics and it’s another epic one.
It’s so great to see the level of investment going in generally to Channel 4’s coverage and that 70% of the presenters will be disabled.
C4 do an ace job on promoting Diversity & Inclusion, and have just announced the return of their C4 Diversity in Advertising Award, this time to tackle ageism. It’s a challenge to the advertising industry to the inauthentic and clichéd portrayals of different age groups within UK advertising.
2. Racism in football — Following the Euros final loss, disgusting online hate and racism was targeted at members of the England team
At Virgin Media O2, we have signed a letter of solidarity led by the Conscious Advertising Network calling for social networks to do more to make their platforms safe for everyone.
Many leading brands and companies in the advertising industry have joined too including giffgaff, KFC, British Gas, Direct Line and Mars. More info here.
ITV launched a reactive campaign in support “Together we will never lose. Stand with England” in a similar black and white style as its reactive ad supporting Diversity and Britain’s Got Talent.
Pizza Express took a less subtle approach with a tweet wishing good morning to its followers “except those racially abusing at Rashford, Saka and Sancho…You can get in the bin, and stay there”
3. The billionaire space race is underway — Richard Branson’s flight took off without a hitch on Sunday, while Jeff Bezos plans to take off 20 July. However, space fans usually declare SpaceX, Elon Musk’s venture the frontrunner.
Fed up with their association with Branson, Branston Pickle launched a new campaign “We are Branston. Not Branson. #BranstonNotBranson”
Fans seemed to like the gag and it created conversations including:
“Please blast the smooth version into space! Pickle should have lumps.”
“I didn’t think you were him/ I love Branston pickle. I sometimes have it on its own as a Branston pickle sandwich. I discovered, although awesome with cheese, it doesn’t really need any cheese.”
“Aha but they DO have sandwiches in space! They just have to use tortea Flatbread instead of bread Bread because crumbs in microgravity can get in your eye or accidentally inhaled.”
4. As we gear up to the new Freedom Day on 19 July, cases and self-isolation alerts are sadly on the rise.
NHS is encouraging young people to get vaccinated with a spoken word TikTok ad whilst in France the approach is cheekier with a kissing couple!
Let’s see what next week brings — will there be an onslaught of ads welcoming the opening up of the world?
Bonus
- Pizza Express launch new OOH “Oh Balls” — inspired by O2’s Oops ads?
- Fast & Furious 9 (yes it’s still going) disruptive ad
- Greenpeace dump 625kg of plastic waste outside Downing Street in stunt — it represents what is dumped overseas by the UK every 30 seconds
- Cute new copy on packaging from Diet Coke — “Recycle me. Nice to see you. Let’s do this again”
- New emojis to launch including including a pregnant man, melting face, multiracial handshake and pink bubbles
- ITV recreate new Saturday night game show The Void in Fortnite
- GB News viewers boycott channel over presenter taking the knee. With shows attracting zero viewers the spokespeople gave mixed messages on freedom of speech and whether this violated their standards
- Impressive support acts — have you ever discovered music’s next big thing?
- YouGov’s Recommend Rankings is out (measures the percentage of a brand’s customers who would recommend it to a friend or colleague). Surprisingly Brewdog at number 7 despite all the bad press of late
- US Intelligence Agency Raises Brows For Photoshopping Image To Look More Diverse
