Wow. Is it really the 4th edition? I’ve been writing these blogs for 3-years now, and I still love every second. So much so that I created the Reactive Marketing: Best campaigns & tips for creating your own book. But publishing the book doesn’t mean my annual blogs are over. In fact, I’m more motivated to continue.
This time, I’ve added some key things to look out for to help create your own reactive marketing collateral.
Let’s start with one of the campaigns that made reactive marketing a thing. Wagatha Christie. It was the trial that rocked the nation. In 2022, the court case officially ended with Colleen Rooney coming out on top as Rebekah lost the libel case. It was Butterkist’s turn to get their creative juices flowing with this courtroom sketch depicting how the spectators and social platforms were watching on like it was a movie.
RyanAir Sabotage
The term ‘cancel culture’ is rife on social media. Simply put, ’cancel culture’ is the phenomenon of promoting the “cancelling” of people, brands and even shows due to what some consider to be offensive or problematic remarks or ideologies. The latest victim, and rightly so, is TikTok’s Andrew Tate. His videos promoted misogyny and targeted women. With the uproar from social media users, Meta, TikTok and YouTube eventually decided to ban him from spouting his poison on their platforms.
Like any trending topic, brands will create content surrounding it, as we’ve discovered over the past editions of the blog. A bit like Ryan Air did here.
They’ve taken two trending topics, Tate and BA’s flight cancellations and posted this brilliant tweet throwing shade at their rival company. We love the drama!
Andrew Tate ? British Airways flights
Getting cancelled
— Ryanair (@Ryanair) August 23, 2022
BrewDog’s Bojo Beef
The previous reactive marketing examples have included political slander of the Government and in particular, Bojo, and it continued throughout the year as Boris announced that he would be resigning as Prime. BrewDog was quick to make their feelings known with a typical plug of their beer, this time calling for people to decide what their leaving party, or “work event”, beer should be named. They included, Boris Lie-PA, Bojo Bogo, Resignation Nation or Bye Bye Big Dog. Well done to BrewDog, who always get their reactive marketing timing just right!
Is it too early to start prepping for the leaving party*?
(Sorry, work event)
Tell us which of these beers we should brew… if enough of you are keen, we'll make the damn thing pic.twitter.com/aWHzWPcUhG
— BrewDog (@BrewDog) July 6, 2022
Anne Marie’s Trip at the BRITs
The BRITs are no strangers to some controversy or spectacle. This year was no different.
Only the night’s second performance grabbed everyone’s attention when Anne Marie did ”a Madonna” and fell down the stairs. The singer took to Twitter to react to the mishap, saying ’I didn’t need my ankle anyway’.
This kicked off some of the brands joining in, including the NHS and of course, Specsavers had to join, too, replying to Anne Marie’s Tweet. Even the back and forth from the general public was all good fun.
Women’s Euro’s 2022
Another top moment of 2022 was the Lioness’s triumph at the Euro’s. It brought the country together, and everyone celebrated the uplift and recognition of the game.
The famous ‘It’s Coming Home’ featured on many brands’ content, e.g. The Metro and Royal Mail. There were other posts from the likes of Domino’s and Weetabix. This showed there is still a place in print marketing for this kind of content.
The Sainsbury’s billboard advert took me a while to get it, but I got there in the end. To view more of the Women’s Euro’s advertising campaigns read this article by The Drum.
Wordle
The word game that got us hooked. You have six attempts to guess a valid 5-letter word. After each guess, the colour of the tiles will change to show how close your guess was to the word. It’s a daily challenge and people get a kick out of putting their scores online. Every. Single. Day. IKEA and Guinness put their unique spin on the word game, plugging their products.
The creativity behind some of these social media posts and campaigns is brilliant.
Wednesday, no, not the day of the week
Netflix show, Wednesday, hit the streaming service in December 2022. The show quickly became a hit across the internet, with people re-enacting one of the dance scenes on TikTok. Numerous brands were doing their best to relate to the trend in any way they could. Ikea’s campaign jumped out at me. So simple, yet effective. I’m not quite sure what people would use the hand for, but hey, it got me thinking about their brand.
How can you start joining in with the marketing fun?
Reactive marketing is all about timing as trending topics only last so long before they fade away. As promised, alongside example campaigns, I’m listing what you can look out for so that you’re ready to jump on the reactive marketing bandwagon.
Sporting events
Events such as the Olympics, Euro’s, World Cup, Super Bowl, Tennis tournaments etc. bring around some of the best campaigns and messages before, during and after. Keeping up-to-date with events like these will surely help craft some good content.
A great example is this one from KFC. They could have been even more clever and copied Specsavers in on the fun, but nonetheless, it still made me chuckle. Poor France.
— KFC (@KFC_ES) December 18, 2022
Movie & TV
New shows, like Wednesday, Squid Game, Stranger Things, and Dahmer, always have the internet in a spin. Reality TV shows like Love Island, I’m A Celebrity, and one of my favourites returning this year, Big Brother, are guaranteed to start some trends. Make sure you’re ahead of the game by tuning in. Or at least keeping updated on social media.
Celebrities
There’s always drama surrounding celebrities, so make the most of it as Innocent did with Wagatha Christie. They are always bound to slip up.
TikTok
You could scroll for hours and see numerous trending videos and sounds. If you don’t have a TikTok account yet, download it and join the fun.
Twitter is probably the best place to keep up to date with the latest trends. You can join in others’ reactive marketing by replying. Take the #FreeCuthbert or Specsavers sagas. Many major brands joined in and added their tuppence worth to the original post.
Will there be a reactive marketing blog in 2024? Of course, there will be!
Stay tuned and send any of your favourites of the year to me below.
Some other good reactive marketing of 2022
