This Week #34: Week beginning Monday 24 February
What have I come across this week that’s given me pause for thought? Let’s see.
Yorkshire Tea
Everyone’s written about the tea company winning Twitter this past week. It was indeed very good, and I don’t think there’s much more to say on it, apart from the fact that people need to be really mindful of messages and signals they send out, and the knock on impact that can have on others. Including all parties who must recognise the reach and impact they can have.
Will this change anything? Sadly, probably not. This idiot thought he was being funny when actually he just demonstrated that he, and others, haven’t learnt anything from this. It was disappointing to see (but then it’s hardly like I had expectations…).
A new blog about hashtags
Back in edition 27 I wrote about a post published by JustGiving on the subject of hashtags. It wasn’t great. But to their absolute credit, they admitted as much and then got in touch and asked if I’d help make it better.
So, I did (or at least I hope I did). Have a read of the new post, with added accessibility considerations which I will keep mentioning every time I see someone not using capital letters appropriately in hashtags forever more.
Chicken > burger
I wrote last week about the mouldy Burger King burger advert — you probably saw the pics on Twitter. Sometimes brands like to have a go at other brands, and this week, Nando’s in Singapore did just that with this Instagram post. Bravo.
This is good and I do like it when people turn things around very quickly to their advantage.
Nike’s Kobe tribute
This was a really moving tribute to Kobe Bryant from Nike. That said, the final frame got me quite annoyed.
It’s just the Nike swoosh, but I became very conscious of the fact the shape is instantly recognisable and they don’t need to write their name anywhere. I think this cheapened an otherwise very nice tribute, turning it into a piece of marketing rather than something to remember an honour someone by. I don’t think I’d have felt the same way if they written their name in the same font used throughout.
I might be overreacting though, and it’s been another long week…
Hidden replies
You’ve probably all seen this; Solace Women’s Aid and their very clever use of hidden replies.
I love it when people take new functionality and do something clever with it (see this brilliant use of Twitter emoji and the app’s dark mode — I’m in love).
It’s a bit annoying that the image card doesn’t follow through with the instruction. “Click to reveal the hidden story” actually just takes you back to the same tweet, rather than the hidden replies (which narratively is fine — the hidden replies are doing a job — but from a user experience point of view it’s a little clunky.
Still. Absolutely hats off. I’m surprised it’s not done more numbers so far tbh.
Performance review
Genuinely interesting use of their Twitter account from BusinessWeek. They did not reach the million Instagram follower target in time for their performance review, but they have since got there.
Is this human, person-behind-the-brand-account thing going to become a… Thing? I worry people will take the wrong message from the Yorkshire Tea example above. It ain’t gonna work for everyone.
This
Draw your pet
Remember Mashable? Yeah. Anyway, I saw they tweeted about a fundraiser being run by the Humane Society. And it’s brilliant.
They will give you a bad custom drawing of your pet in return for a donation of $15. And that’s it. Creative, fun, and seemingly wildly successful. After raising over $12,000 submissions have sadly now closed. Have a read of their Facebook post, it’s so good.
$12,000 is 800 pictures, which is a lot. But worth the effort. A nice personalised something that I imagine people are very likely to keep (and heaven forbid, frame and put on their walls). Not often a charity gets to do that.
Adtech
This, my friends, is hideous. “Adtech is an infestation”. DHH’s feed is worth a scroll through to read more about adtech and surveillance and interesting stuff.
Slightly odd edition this week, lots to ponder and hopefully inspire.
Onwards.
