To be honest, reading these back… I think I’ve been in a slightly feral, overly opinionated mood this month. I blame Black Friday. And the end of year. And society. Honestly, everything. Tbh, November nearly broke me. So apologies in advance for both the sass levels and the fact this edition is a few days late – I, too, needed to hide from the internet and lie face-down on a carpet for a bit.
Anyway. Here we go! YAY!
we all survived black friday for another year
Well… we survived. Mostly. How’s everyone feeling? A little dead behind the eyes? A touch traumatised? Same. This year felt absolutely *cooked* – but also, ironically, every retailer and brand I know had a great run. Which isn’t surprising when half the internet was doing 40–70% off literally everything in sight.
But the thing that kills me every year is the “We made $X!!! Biggest day EVER!” posts… with zero mention of profit. And zero mention of what happens after December when the returns roll in like a tidal wave of regret purchases. I swear Black Friday should come with a warning label: “Revenue may be misleading. Check back in 6–8 weeks for the real story.”
What really blew my mind this year, though, was how many brands basically invented a fake Black Friday around the 11/12th of November. So many people I know genuinely thought that was the real date. It was like everyone was trying to avoid having a dead first half of the month, so they launched this huge, dramatic, “ONE DAY ONLY!!!” sale… and then turned around and did another one two days later. Bangn Body’s 40% off for three hours only – followed immediately by “Actually surprise! 30% off all week!” – is the perfect example. It was like a game of who could get their customers to spend with fake limited time offers that were just re-branded sales all month round. Poppy Lissiman changed colours every day (Pink Friday, Orange Friday, Green Friday) with the colour products being on sale that day. Brands got CREATIVE to say the least.
Tbh – the whole month felt like watching brands panic in real time. Countdown timers everywhere. “FINAL HOURS” banners that magically reset the next morning. Sales starting early, then starting earlier, then “extended,” then “extended again,” then STILL GOING right now.
Is this just what Black Friday is now? One extremely long fever dream that bleeds into Christmas and doesn’t end until Boxing Day? Because if we’re turning November and December into one giant sale period… that’s 15% of the entire year. Completely discounted.
I reckon next year is going to be an interesting one to see how brands top this years sales. There surely has to be a point where this just becomes totally unsustainable?!
shay mitchell got roasted for selling face masks for kids
Okay. An unpopular opinion incoming but honestly… people need to calm down a little bit on this one. Every take I’ve seen feels like cancel culture doing that thing where it sprints ten steps ahead of the actual situation. For those of you who haven’t seen – Shay Mitchell recently launched a kids face mask company and people lost their minds.
I’ve watched all of Shay Mitchell’s Rini content and not once – not ONCE – have I seen anything telling kids they need skincare routines, anti-aging masks, brightening treatments, or whatever else people online are projecting onto this. The marketing is clearly aimed at parents who want a fun, cute, matching moment with their kid. That’s literally it.
My niece begs to use my skincare tools every time she comes over. She wants to roll the frozen face roller all over her cheeks, she wants to stick on my eye masks, she wants to “be fancy” and pretend she’s doing what I’m doing. She’s not doing it because she’s stressed about crow’s feet. She’s doing it because she wants to copy me and spend time with me (and I bloody love it).
It’s the exact same energy as kids painting their nails, smudging your lipstick everywhere, or insisting on getting their tiny toenails painted for $30 so they can sit in the salon chair next to you (also one of my fav niece activities). We call that cute. We don’t call it “grooming children into beauty standards.”
From a marketing lens – which is what y’all are here for – my opinion is that intention matters. I get why people are sensitive about kids and beauty standards – totally fair. But Rini isn’t out here saying “your five-year-old needs retinol.” She’s saying “parents want bonding moments.” And that makes perfect sense to me. I really don’t see an issue with it.
the apple sticker ads that made me cringe
Okay… I actually laughed out loud when I saw how a few people on LinkedIn reacted to this. Hulu put ads on apple stickers to promote Abbott Elementary and marketers LOST THEIR S#%$. “Genius!!” “So clever!!!” “Apples = teachers!!!!!!” – I saw someone say it was “cultural insight at its finest.”
If you read my articles you know I have a particular issue with campaigns that are created purely for the agency’s award cabinet – and this has “please give us an award” energy all over it. I apologise in advance for this campaign take down (like I said, end of year = feral energy from me) – but COME AWWWWWWN.
Firstly – does anyone in 2025 still associate apples with teachers? I feel like that trope died out somewhere between chalkboards and overhead projectors. I don’t know a single teacher who has ever been gifted an apple. Or a single parent who buys apples thinking “Yes, this will deeply resonate with educators.” That insight feels like it came from someone who has not spoken to an actual human in 27 years+.
Secondly – WHO is inspecting fruit stickers? Who? When? Why? I have never examined a single piece of fruit in my life looking for messaging. I barely even register that the sticker exists. If I won’t notice it and I literally do marketing for a living… what hope does a normal person have?
Third – is this ACTUALLY going viral? Or is it just going viral inside the LinkedIn marketing bubble where we all clap for niche things that normal humans never see? Because outside of that bubble, I’ve seen nothing. Not one TikTok. Not one IG post. I even googled it to see if there was any news about it or articles or anything like that – nothinggggg.
And lastly (and probably most importantly) – do we really need ads on EVERYTHING? Can the apple live? Must the Fuji be monetised? Can we let produce be produce?
This one gets a hard “lol no” from me. Can we please please please stop making big budget marketing campaigns that don’t actually do anything except get applause on LinkedIn in 2026? Thank you in advance.
the “lil sis” of sky sports lasted three days
This was… a mess. A hilarious mess to watch from afar, but still a mess. Sky Sports launched “Halo,” a TikTok account supposedly designed “for women,” branding it as the “lil sis” of the main channel – which already sounds like a red flag, but anyway we shall continue to discuss my thoughts about the matter.
The content was neon pink captions, matcha references, hot girl walk jokes, and random sports clips glued together with whatever trending audio happened to be around that day. It was like someone fed “what does Gen Z girl content look like?” into chatgpt and just copy and pasted whatever it spat out.
And then it disappeared almost immediately (3 days – surely that’s a record???), leaving behind one lonely apology tile. eeeeeeek.
But in my opinion – the actual thought behind it wasn’t totally wrong. Sports content absolutely tends to be created for one type of man – the “sports guy” sterotype that broadcasters assume is their entire audience. Which is wild, because there are SO MANY other types of fans who love sport (me included), who want to engage with it differently, who want content that actually speaks to them. I really do think they had the right intentions as do so many marketers looking to expand their growth by tapping into new audiences.
But instead of doing research or listening to actual women or, like… trying anything thoughtful (ps – “women” is not a target market”)… they slapped pink graphics on videos and called it a day. And that’s the part that makes you want to scream into a pillow. There is space for reimagining sports content. There is NOT space for lazy stereotypes dressed up as strategy.
Marketing lesson: if you’re going to create content for a new audience, please, for the love of god, do not let the brief be “women = pink.” Do your research. Figure out what’s valuable to the audience. Eaaaaaasy!
georgina cox vs sweaty betty
This whole situation has been absolutely wiiiiild to watch unfold, and I feel like I Sweaty Betty has fumbled the bag harder than any brand has fumbled anything in a long time. ICYMI: Georgina Cox posted a photo with the slogan “Wear the Damn Shorts” years ago. Sweaty Betty asked to use it – multiple times – and did, always checking in, always acknowledging that it came from her. Fast forward to this year and they’ve used it again with zero conversation AND when she complained, offered her £4k to basically stay silent and let them run with it. £4k??? For a global brand? For a slogan they’ve benefited from for years? Sweaty Betty you’re having a laugh.
As you’d expect any good online persona to do, Georgina posted about it. The video blew up – 1.7 million views and counting – and then came the GoFundMe, the BBC articles, The Times coverage, TikToks everywhere, and people FLOODING Sweaty Betty’s socials with comments. Their parent company’s stock even dipped after the news. People were returning products, leaving 1-star reviews, building a full-blown movement behind her. And Sweaty Betty’s response? Allegedly threatening to sue her. STUNNING choice. Bold, even.
What kills me is how easy this could’ve been to handle differently. Imagine if they’d gone public with a “hey, we appreciate the impact her slogan has had on our community and what a big impact that has had on our business, and we’re compensating her accordingly.” Imagine the social content of inviting Georgina into SP headquarters to get her thoughts on their new campaign and give her the Creative Director for a day badge. IMAGINE how good that content would be!!! You can literally see it. The history of the slogan, bringing her in to PAY her for her ideas for the new campaign. Is this not every marketers dream scenario? The content writes itself.
That would’ve been a PR slam dunk. People LOVE when big brands do the right thing – it would’ve trended for days. Instead, we got the exact opposite, and the fallout is so much bigger than whatever number they were trying to save internally. Truly a masterclass in picking the worst possible option at every stage.
rethinking our approach to socials
I recently taught a social strategy workshop and had one of those moments where you say something you already know but suddenly it hits you (and everyone else) in a completely new way. We were talking about how people actually use Instagram now, and I said, “Most people don’t even follow accounts anymore – they follow the algorithm.” It was unscripted but it was like I even surprised myself with how great the words were. Truely impressed with my own ability to talk smack in a way that actually become quite insightful (one of my best skills tbh). Because it’s true. We don’t go to profiles. We don’t carefully curate our feeds. We open the app, hit Reels or the Explore page/FYP, and trust Instagram/TikTok to show us what’s relevant. And it does, creepily well.
So the big lightbulb moment is this: if your content is just “good” or “relevant,” that’s not enough anymore. People will see it, like it, maybe even save it – and then just keep scrolling. Because unless there’s something they don’t want to miss, there’s no need to follow. The follow button used to mean “I want more content like this.” Now it means “I need the next instalment.” It’s a completely different behaviour. They’ll get more content like that regardless.
The brands that are growing on Instagram right now aren’t the ones posting polished, aesthetic content. They’re the ones building SERIES. Something episodic. Something with characters or ongoing commentary or a joke that evolves over time. Something where the viewer goes, “I want to see what they post next.” And if you can’t do that – which is honestly fine and realistic for a lot of businesses – then you’ve got to stop obsessing over followers. Focus on reach. Focus on video views. Focus on engagement. Because that’s actually how people are consuming content now. Relevant content isn’t enough. It has to be follow-worthy. And that is a MUCH higher bar than it used to be.
And with that… the countdown to Christmas holidays is officially ON. God knows we all need it. I genuinely hope your December is nice, calm, and as drama-free as humanly possible (lol, good luck to us all).
I’ll see you at the end of January for the next round of Marketing Thoughts – because absolutely no one is getting a Jan 1 edition out of me. My thoughts on January 1 will be exclusively centred around:
- what additional food I can possibly fit in my body, and
- whether there is such a thing as “too long” to lie in the sun like a lizard.
See you then – happy holidays 🫶
