✅ Monday briefing: WaddsCon, NFT marketing, agency start-ups, Edelman distrust barometer, online literacy call, synthetic media, TikTok marketing guide, misinformation conversation, and more...
WaddsCon is seeking media relations case studies, examples of best practice, innovation, and tools
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This is your final call to pitch as a speaker for the new season of WaddsCon. We're running six sessions from February to July on innovation and excellence in media relations. Thanks to the PRCA, Reuben Sinclair and The PR Cavalry for their support.
Industry
👽 NFT MARKETING IN PUBLIC: Hard Numbers has entered the complex world of non-fungible tokens. Founder Darryl Sparey is building a market for a series of graphic characters for start-up Pandimensional. You can follow and learn by following Sparey’s Twitter alter ego @DarklySpray created for the project. Source Darryl Sparey.
🚀 SUPPORTING AGENCY START-UPS: PR Agency One has launched an agency accelerator programme for the creative sector. One Accelerator will support founders with capital, know-how, back-office, and marketing, with the goal of driving innovation, growth and creating jobs. Source James Crawford and Maja Pawinska Sims.
Best and bad practice
😭 AFTER LIFE: Fans of Ricky Gervais’ After Life should look out for 25 park benches placed around the UK. Netflix has teamed up with CALM to encourage people to sit down and gather their own thoughts or share them with others. It’s a beautiful campaign. Spotted Howard Walker.
🚂 FULL STEAM AHEAD: Geeky TikTok trainspotting creator Francis Bourgeois has been signed as the face of a new Gucci and North Face collaboration. A campaign produced by Highsnobiety sees Francis alert young fashionable types about an upcoming service. Spotted David Edmundson-Bird.
🍬 MIDGET GEMS: M&S has renamed its popular Midget Gems sweets to avoid offending people with dwarfism. They will now be called Mini Gems after a disability academic raised concerns about the use of the word "midget". The internet was not amused. Spotted Nilima Patwardhan.
👨🔧️ EQUALITY SERVICE: The AA was criticised by the internet after the car breakdown firm confirmed it does not prioritise call outs based on gender. A member who broke down 'at night in the dark' claimed on Twitter she had been told by an AA call handler that the firm treats lone women and men the same because “that's equality”. Spotted Catherine Frankpitt.
Research and insight
📝 EDELMAN DISTRUST BAROMETER: We’re living in a vicious cycle of mistrust according to the latest data dump by the Edelman Trust Barometer. Government and media are fuelling the cycle and exploiting it for commercial and political gain. Edelman suggests it provides an opportunity for business to provide leadership. Spotted Andrew Bruce Smith.
📶 ONLINE LITERACY CALL: There is limited evidence that the removal of content will limit scientific misinformation according to the Royal Society. A new report recommends wide-ranging measures that governments, tech platforms and academic institutions can take to build a healthy online information environment. Spotted Stephen Waddington.
📉 LANGUAGE RATIONALITY: The use of words associated with fact-based argument has declined since the 1980s according to a study of Google Books’ content. The trend towards emotional argument accelerated after 2007 and is most likely explained by the rise of social media according to researchers. Spotted Andrew Bruce Smith.
Social media and platforms
🤖 SYNTHETIC MEDIA: Virtual Influencers (VI) can be a force for good and bad. Meta has doubled down on the medium claiming home to more than 200 VIs, with 30 verified VI accounts hosted on Instagram. A recent malaria campaign generated 800 million potential impressions. Watch this space. Spotted Alan Morrison.
📹 TIKTOK MARKETING GUIDE: Success on TikTok for a brand is working with creators (see Francis Bourgeois collaboration above) to create authentic and uplifting content. There are a 100 million users in Europe and 67% are 25+. Dan Slee has read the TikTok For Business’ Official Guide to Marketing so that you don't have to. Source Dan Slee.
🎶 TRENDING TIKTOK SONGS: A new feature on the Trends dashboard on TikTok’s Creative Center provides a listing of the most popular songs in the app. There are more than 150,0000 royalty free tracks to repurpose. You can also spot the most popular TikTok clips and hashtags. Spotted Alan Morrison.
Events
🗓️ MISINFORMATION CONVERSATION: More in Common's Conleth Burns will join misinformation strategist Stefan Rollnick for a conversation about countering social division and polarisation at 11am GMT on 31 January. The event is being hosted by Lynn PR's Misinformation Cell. Source Shayoni Lynn.
Small print. Hard Numbers, Lynn PR, PR Agency One, and Reuben Sinclair, mentioned in this newsletter are Wadds Inc. clients.