It’s official: I’ve worn out my screenshot button.
Since the last newsletter we’ve lived through a month where the White House shared a thirst-trap Reel about Daddy-Trump, Instagram forgot what business it’s in, and Aperol turned Domino Park into the world’s brightest pop-up bar. My phone battery is at 8%, my coffee intake is at an all time high, and my notes app looks like a conspiracy theory wall.
Oh and PS – Happy EOFY to all those that celebrate! Let’s dive in.
daddy’s home and i’m concerned
The official @whitehouse Instagram account posted a Reel of Trump at the NATO summit set to Usher’s Hey Daddy and I don’t even know how to process that. My first reaction was to laugh – because, come on. It’s absurd. But then it hit me. The official White House account is making meme videos about global diplomacy and I kind of wanted to scream into a pillow.
Because once we go full meme, where do we go from here? This is the actual government’s comms channel. If the big strategy is “make people laugh so they stop asking about actual policies,” then… it’s working. But at what cost?
It’s kinda like every brand that’s so focused on getting a viral moment, they forget to include the product. Except instead of pushing skincare, it’s nuclear alliances and international diplomacy. No explainer slides. No follow-up carousel. Just ✨vibes✨.
I know I’ve said it before in my political edition, but I’ll say it louder this time: social teams can – and should – be creative. And I truely do love a meme. They’re such a good way in. A great entry point for people who might not normally engage. But what’s missing is the follow-up. Where is the explanation of what happened at NATO? Unfortunately, the only follow up we got was this post basically saying “don’t stress guys everything’s all g!” followed by a video quoting Team America. Gah. If we’ve truly given up on making people care about the substance, then that’s… kinddaaaaa terrifying. You’ve got everyone’s attention – now do something with it.
From a metrics angle the social team probably hit the brief – views through the roof, press coverage, culture points. But what’s the actual goal of the social accounts? Like the ACTUAL goal? I am literally shaking my head as I write this as my confusion continues.
PS – Usher asked for his audio to be removed from the vid so it’s now muted lolol.
kookai x hawthorn FC – a collab that actually solves something
I love a good brand partnership. But I really love one that starts with a genuine problem – not just a pitch deck. Hawthorn Football Club realised their female staff were all wearing oversized, unisex polos that didn’t fit properly. Not a huge scandal, but a pretty clear example of what happens when workplaces aren’t designed with everyone in mind.
And then Kookai got involved. Not to throw a fancy event. Not to style an influencer box. But to design new uniforms that actually fit.
It’s such a small shift, but it has huge flow-on effects. Staff feel seen. The workplace feels more inclusive. Confidence goes up. Retention probably does too. And the media coverage? Icing on the cake. What I love most about this is that the media moment came after the internal fix. It wasn’t a campaign about looking good. It was a partnership that made things better, and then earned attention because of it.
We need more of this. Partnerships that don’t just exist for the press release, but for the people who show up to work every day and deserve a uniform that fits. 11/10 Kookai and Hawthorn – no notes.
Ps – This was technically announced in May, but the media attention didn’t come until later, so it’s made it’s way into my June recap.
instagram’s “anyway” campaign misses the mark (imho)
Instagram launched its biggest campaign in 15 years and the whole message is basically “just post anyway.” As in: ignore the haters, forget what people think, share what you love.
Which is #cute. But also… completely at odds with the platform they’re promoting.
Instagram is literally built on the premise of caring what people think. Likes, saves, shares, views – every post is tracked and ranked and served back to you in algorithmic judgment. You can’t just post freely. That’s the whole problem.
I get the intention behind the campaign. But if people are feeling overwhelmed, anxious, or hesitant to post – it’s not because they forgot how to have fun. It’s because Instagram made it high-stakes. High-pressure. High-comparison.
And I really feel for the creative agency that had to deliver on this brief. Because that is HARD. You’re being asked to shift perception without shifting the product. That’s not strategy – that’s a magic trick.
You know what’s actually helpful? The new features they barely promoted – like Quiet Mode (so you can post without notifying anyone) and Trial Reels (to test your content with strangers first). Those are real solutions. They take the pressure off. But instead, the campaign leans into motivational quotes and ignores the structural stuff.
If you want people to use your platform more, make it feel safer. Calmer. Easier. Not just louder. In my opinion – Product matters more than campaign. If people aren’t using your product, maybe start there.
a reminder that not everyone speaks fluent Instagram (or fluent anything)
A client told me recently that one of her customers saw “link in bio” on a post and genuinely thought it was a brand. Not a prompt. Not a feature. A brand name.
It made me laugh (and I actually didn’t believe her at first lol) – but it also made me think about it a lot more. Because we throw around phrases like “link in bio,” “swipe through” “save this post,” assuming everyone just gets it. But often, they don’t. And that doesn’t just happen on Instagram. Last week I ended up on a 37-email-long onboarding thread because a client didn’t know how to open a Google Doc or sign a digital contract – no matter how many times I tried to explain it a different way, it just didn’t land. Not because they weren’t switched on – but because that kind of workflow just wasn’t familiar to them.
Not gonna lie, It nearly broke me. But it was a helpful reminder: Yes clarity is important, but clarity isn’t about making your messaging work for everyone. It’s about making it work for the people you actually want to work with. The people your product or service is designed for. That client? Lovely. But not my ideal customer. And that’s okay.
So every time you write a little line of copy – on a website, in an email, in a post – do a quick sense check: would my customer know exactly what to do next?
If the answer’s no, tweak it. Because clear beats clever. Every time.
someone hire the social team from the project
The Project wrapped up last week – and their social media team clearly decided to go out with a bang (with the approval of management… I’m sure). Not in a bad way. In the most chaotic, glorious way possible.
For two weeks it was like the account became self-aware. Captions like “boss should’ve changed the passwords lol,” jokes about crying in the control room, behind-the-scenes content that felt raw and emotional and real.
And it truely WORKED. The audience loved it. Because it felt human. Not branded. Not strategic. Just real people, dealing with a real ending, in real time. A very good reminder for me and everyone reading this that the best social media isn’t always polished. Sometimes the mess is the message. And when the team behind the posts gets to show up as themselves, it makes the content land 100x harder.
Note to brands: let people be people. Don’t wait until the ship is sinking to let the social team have a voice.
aperol said “let’s do a billboard but make it chaos”
Aperol rolled out an IRL activation in NYC recently that had everything: bright orange uniforms, branded Vespas, waiters handing out spritzes, QR codes offering $5 Uber credits to the nearest bar. It looked like the set of a movie and people went bonkerrrrrs for it.
What I love is how clearly it was designed for shareability. This wasn’t just about the people who saw it in person – it was about the thousands who saw it secondhand, on stories, on TikTok, in group chats. The cost? Probably similar to a billboard buy across the city. But the impact? Way bigger. Because people filmed it. Talked about it. Wanted to be part of it. It literally stopped them in their tracks and made them take notice.
Same with Canva’s recent billboard campaign. Traditional out-of-home ads, but designed so well that they were popping up everywhere online.
I really do think that these days matter what type of outdoor advertising you’re doing – billboard, stunt, poster, whatever – don’t just think about who’s seeing it IRL. Think about the shared version. The reposted version. The phone camera version.
And that’s the wrap! Hope this month is full of headache-free tax returns for all.
See you next month 👋
– Jordan
