Coronavirus may have brought much of the country to a halt over the last few months, but here at Hatch, the ‘new normal’ has remained – largely – the same as the old normal, delivering national campaigns for our existing clients, while bringing some new ones on board as we emerge from the dark days of lockdown.
August was no exception, as the Hatchlings delivered a hugely successful press office campaign for our client Hisense which resulted in a (technical term) mountain of coverage; while preparations for the Sky Bet Fan Hope survey, which launched at the beginning of September (to another mountain of coverage) kept the team extremely busy as they filtered through an abundance of data measuring the hopes and dreams of Premier League and Championship fans ahead of the new season.
With new clients such as ICB and Gen M joining also joining the Family Hatch, it’s fair to say the long lockdown summer has ended brightly, as we look forward to more success in the final months of 2020.
Of course, we don’t like to only shout about our own successes here. We’ve been keeping a close eye on other campaigns, stories and cool stuff which tickled our fancy in the month of August as well:
BrewDog trolls Aldi
Over the years, BrewDog have made every imaginable headline for their notoriously ambitious PR stunts. Some have proven to be terrible own goals – ‘beer for girls’ for International Women’s Day, for instance – but their latest effort hit all the right notes.
In response to Aldi launching its ‘anti-establishment IPA’, a beverage eerily reminiscent in name and design to BrewDog’s signature Punk IPA, the Scottish-based brand bit back with the, frankly, brilliant ‘Yaldi’; prompting a lighthearted Twitter exchange between the two brands.
It’s the kind of stuff creative directors will be drooling over, but is also a great example of brands showing consumers a lighthearted side, with neither taking themselves too seriously, and both coming out in a positive light. Now we just need some samples to judge who the real winners are.
Hotels.com enlist King Cantona for UCL campaign
As a team full of sports fans, we were excited to see Hotels.com had teamed up with Eric Cantona to offer a lucky fan the unique opportunity to watch the Champions League final with the Man United legend himself at a luxury villa in the South of France, as part of its ‘no stadium, no problem’ campaign which it ran in its capacity as an official partner of the UCL.
Sometimes the simplest campaigns are the most effective, and the chance to enjoy one of football’s biggest spectacles in a chateau with one of the game’s most charismatic figures is nothing short of magnifique.
Sam Fender plays world’s first socially distanced gig
We’re sure there’s been no shortage of socially distanced-related ideas in agency brainstorms across the country this summer, but this is one which came to fruition and looked pretty cool as well. More than 2,500 fans spread out into hundreds of small fenced-off areas at Newcastle’s Gosforth Park as local pop-star Sam Fender serenaded his North-East audience. The event at the pop-up venue, named the Virgin Money Unity Arena, was the UK’s first music event of its kind since coronavirus restrictions were introduced in March, and is purportedly the world’s first socially distanced gig in the world. I’m pretty sure all of Darius Danesh’s gigs were socially distanced, though perhaps not out of choice …
The best of the rest
Adidas teamed up with Deliveroo for a limited edition drop of trainers which are quite literally, good enough to eat. Piggy-backing on the ‘everything is cake’ viral meme, the limited edition cakes were available on a first come first serve basis to punters within a specific radius in London, and marked the launch of the brand’s new ZX 2K BOOST model.
As Notting Hill carnival went online for the first time in its history, Samsung launched its 8K campaign, bringing to life the colours of the Carnival with a series of films shot on Galaxy 20 phones and screened on the carnival’s YouTube channels, social media channels, giant outdoor screens and at Samsung KX in Coal Drops Yard.
And finally, after 64 years and a somewhat heightened sensitivity to hand hygiene among consumers, KFC ditched their ‘Finger Lickin’ Good’ slogan, cleverly supporting the move with video content and even an influencer campaign inviting influencers and their followers to come up with suggestions for a new slogan, alongside warnings on their buckets to ‘wash fingers thoroughly before lickin’ ’. It may have left some fried chicken afficionados calling Covid-correctness gone mad, but I’d say it was a pretty tasty bit of PR.
