January 2023 PR campaign round-up

During the month that brought us dreary weather, a lot of January blues, and a certain royal book dominated the news, PR teams all across the globe were fighting for their place in the leading publications. 

From viral memes to poking fun at mispronunciations, brands have already set the bar high for marketing campaigns in 2023. We’re waving goodbye to January blues and taking a look at the campaigns that gave us something to smile about during the post-festive period. 

Get almost almost* anything

The campaign left us questioning whether everything an A-list celeb does is a PR stunt. After a memorable episode of The Kardashians aired last spring showing Kendall Jenner slicing a cucumber (or at least trying to) went viral for her questionable chopping skills, the Australian food delivery platform saw nothing but potential. 

UberEats capitalised on the viral meme, which gained over 80 million views on TikTok and curated its very own viral social media challenge, creating one of the most talked about campaigns of the year so far. 

We don’t even want to think about the budget UberEats invested in this Kardashian fuelled campaign but with people around the globe talking about the ad and backlinks from leading publications such as Daily Mail, Glamour, and ELLE, we can be sure that this was money well spent. 

Take Your Holiday Seriously 

During the month that sees around 80 searches per day for ‘winter sun’, British Airways released their thought-provoking campaign advising people to switch off from work and take their holiday seriously to help live a longer and healthier life. 

It may seem like a farfetched idea at first, but it is actually backed by science. A 40-year study by the European Society of Cardiology revealed that taking a holiday could help people live longer. British Airways also surveyed their customers along with YouGov and found that 50% of working Brits do not take their full annual leave allocation. What’s more, 48% of working Brits who do take a holiday admit to checking their work emails while away, which flies in the face of research suggesting that not taking time off can shorten your life expectancy. British Airways Holidays’ survey also revealed that nearly 79% of those asked agreed that taking a break is good for their mental health.

What better way to brighten up January blues than to get you thinking about your next holiday? And even better to market it as good for the thing we take most seriously – our health.

British Airways showed audience knowledge by creating a data driven campaign with a deep resonance that most people can relate to, whilst utilising the power of timing to maximise ROI. Thanks, British Airways, as if we needed more persuasion to book an exotic holiday…

Raise Your Arches

Mcdonald’s latest ad is one that will go down in history as a perfect example of storytelling, branding and emotion used in a campaign. Utilising their strong branding, Mcdonald’s have managed to create a unique, standout campaign without using any of their products or restaurants and it has got the whole nation talking. 

In the opening scene, we see a lady wearing a yellow blouse and a red skirt which are easily identifiable as the signature Mcdonald’s brand colours. We then see a ‘M’ written on a yellow sticky note. With no food or restaurant shots and no words spoken throughout the ad, we are still instantly able to recognise which brand this ad is for which shows just how strong a brand Mcdonald’s is. 

Before the release of the ad, they released a teaser of their signature ‘M’ on social media in a graphic motion of eyebrows being raised. This got the conversation going before the ad was even released and extended the reach of this campaign on a global level. 

Although I personally jump to the remote to mute the TV whenever I hear the recognisable ‘DUM DUM’ of the theme tune, you have to hand it to them – Mcdonald’s knows how to do marketing. The raised eyebrows equating to the golden arches is, to put simply, pretty genius. Now pass me a Mcdonald’s!

ViMTO ViMPTO

This fruity drink decided to poke fun at its consumers after discovering that the majority of the nation is pronouncing it wrong. They teased that they were changing their name to ViMPTO, ‘seeing as you all pronounce it that way’. This is a great example of a brand listening to its consumers to create a simple campaign that got a conversation going. 

This campaign also brought us a stream of hilarious social media posts from the brand which added to the topic being debated online.

With the campaign becoming hotly debated online and securing links from publications such as the Mirror, LadBible and most regional publications in the country, ViMTO has highlighted the power of using your consumer insights to create a simple but conversation provoking campaign. 

What do you think, is it ViMTO or ViMPTO?
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