Five things worth sharing from the last week or so, brought to you by a different member of the Browser Media team every Friday.
This week’s My Five is by Matt.
1. Whisky business
BrewDog is not unfamiliar with bad press. Whether it’s being sued for sex discrimination or using its corporate muscle to bully small businesses, the brand is never far from controversy.
This week the brand made headlines for a slightly different reason.
In a recent Tweet, BrewDog co-founder James Watt shared a design concept for the brand’s new ‘Young Blood’ whisky:
It’s punky, it’s black, it’s #edgyAF… and people hate it. In fact, the reception was so negative that the Tweet was subsequently deleted.
There’s a lesson to be learned here, and that is don’t share half-baked work on social media unless you’re willing to face the wrath of some very harsh (but, in this case, correct) critics.
2. … From Facebook
Word on the street is, Facebook is planning to stamp its ownership on Instagram and WhatsApp by changing the name of both apps. The rebrand could mean the apps officially become “Instagram from Facebook” and “WhatsApp from Facebook”. Catchy.
This feels like a risky move, given Facebook’s dwindling reputation following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which 87 million people had their personal data compromised.
Adweek reports:
“While Facebook’s ownership of Instagram and WhatsApp is common knowledge in the social media field, the same is not necessarily true for the general public. A DuckDuckGo survey of 1,153 random U.S. adults last year found that 56.9% of respondents were unaware that Facebook owned Instagram, and a similar DuckDuckGo survey of 1,297 random U.S. adults found that 50.4% of respondents who had used WhatsApp in the past six months were unaware of its relationship with Facebook.”
This will be an interesting story to watch over the coming months.
3. 30-50 feral hogs
If you’ve been anywhere near Twitter this week then I suspect you’ve noticed a sharp rise in the amount of hog-related content in your feed.
Confused? I know I was.
This all came about on Sunday when musician, Jason Isbell, posted a reaction to the previous weekend’s mass shootings.
If you’re on here arguing the definition of “assault weapon” today you are part of the problem. You know what an assault weapon is, and you know you don’t need one.
— Jason Isbell (@JasonIsbell) August 4, 2019
Naturally, the Tweet had some very mixed responses. But one reply, in particular, has garnered a lot of attention.
Legit question for rural Americans – How do I kill the 30-50 feral hogs that run into my yard within 3-5 mins while my small kids play?
— William McNabb (@WillieMcNabb) August 4, 2019
Some of the reactions are brilliant.
Your children unable to just safely walk into the house on their own, are sprayed as well if not with bullets, with the blood, guts and brains of slaughtered hogs. (I’m not sure how close the hogs are, in your minds eye) Ears full of gunfire and panicked squeals. That’s healthy.
— fletchrw00 (@fletchrw00) August 7, 2019
**Immiedately starts a group text looking for 29 to 49 friends to complete Halloween costume.**
— Ben Landowski (@benlandowski) August 7, 2019
The only way to withstand the daily hog assault pic.twitter.com/ChgMjfanv4
— CowardLegend (@CowardLegend) August 7, 2019
More in-depth analysis at Vice.com.
4. Brand loyalty
New research by BuzzFeed and Wavemaker has revealed some interesting insights into brand loyalty. Most notably, that 72% of consumers say they only consider two to four brands before making a purchase.
The top factors that keep consumers coming back to the same brands are products being worth the price (30%), brands providing superior quality products (24%) and brands doing what they say they will do (22%).
More in the infographic below.
5. McNSFW
McDonald’s Japan has released a new set of plastic cups to promote its new McFizz drinks.
Cute, sure, until the cups are empty.
Remember kids, nuggs before hugs.