September Update: RBG, Uber Eats, KFC, & Instagram Heroes

September just happened to be a fantastic month for DMI membership as we reached the amazing total of 100,000 members and also received a recognition of Membership Organization of the Year 2020, by UK-based MemCom Excellence Awards. We're thrilled by the support and encouragement!

Still, the world moves on and the news cycle continues to swirl around the two Ps - Pandemic and Politics - and the many intersections between the two which affect the digital marketing world: one such being Google’s plan to block political ads right after the US Presidential election polls close. But we’re here to bring you some other stories of interest from around the universe.

The Fearless Woman

One of the biggest news stories this month was the death of US Supreme Court associate justice, and feminist icon, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. An arresting tribute to her was this image of her characteristic lace collar placed on the famous ‘Fearless Girl’ statue located near Wall Street. The image appeared in a full-page ad in The New York Times placed by State Street Global Advisors (who originally commissioned the statue). This interesting story of branding and public symbols is covered by The Drum who also look at the history of the statue and the high-risk campaign that launched it in 2017.

Wash Your Hands, Don’t Lick Your Fingers

When fast-food giant KFC had to halt their latest campaign just before its launch, they came up with a novel approach. Taking a poke at themselves and their own long-held branding, they managed to create a campaign that can be released in every market. No matter what stage of the pandemic a country is in, hygiene is an issue, and KFC is playing on that. Their age-old slogan, “it’s finger-licken’ good”, is visibly blurred out in the campaign images. In the words of creative director at KFC’s agency, Mother, Hermeti Balarin: "There's this sense of unity around the globe right now. It's the first time ever for at least two generations we've had everyone feeling the same about something. As horrible as the pandemic is, it has created a unique insight or context for everyone to actually riff off." Read more. 

The Natural World - Now on Instagram

Instagram will be 10 years old on October 6 - wonderful timing to also celebrate the most exciting event on the platform this year. David Attenborough, the 94-year old English naturalist, launched his Instagram account on September 24th saying “The world is in trouble”. People paid attention very quickly: in fact he actually broke a world record when he managed to rack up one million followers in just over 4 hours, beating the record previously held by Jennifer Aniston (by 30 minutes!). At time of writing, at 4.7 million followers, he still has a way to go to catch up with Greta Thunberg (10.5 million), but we’ll give him a week or two!  

There’s No Place Like Home

There is much discussion about the new normal of working from home and how 2020 has changed it forever. The increased interest in home decor and improvements is apparently typical of any pandemic as explained in this Forbes article. In Ireland, at least, there is a discernible interest in people taking the opportunity to move from urban to rural areas. Companies like Google are still considering models of home/office hybrids while we should all perhaps be aware of how some employers might be keeping an eye on their employees at home. And there was Jerry Seinfeld’s piece on how New York is still the greatest city in the world in which to work from home.

And here's a fascinating fact: Uber Eats is now more successful than Uber’s ride-hailing service - as people have stayed home. At the end of August, Uber Eats launched an in-app CPC-based ad platform for restaurants. And their most recent spot is a splashy commercial where two inter-galactic heroes face off in a… umm... duel over their choice of takeout. Luke Skywalker and Captain Picard? That's the level at which the restaurant and food business has changed during 2020.

Diversity in the Fashion World

Zebedee is a British model agency that focuses on opportunities for people with disabilities, and they have already seen success in the fashion world: namely. being behind one of Gucci's most-liked Instagram posts. "I hope it is a start - the start of a real change in how marketing campaigns are put together", says co-founder Zoe Proctor.

In Other News

• In other fashion news, high-end brands have been flocking to TikTok to find ways to promote their brands for this fall’s fashion week season. 
• In podasting news, Amazon (Audible) has announced plans to launch podcasts. so DMI is, naturally, on course to ensure our own brilliant podcast will be on the platform. 
• Lego have said they will start to phase out plastic bags in their packaging and use sustainably-sourced paper bags instead. Have a look at our own case study on Lego.
• The folks at LinkedIn have been busy: they came out with a new look and feel for the platform, and launched a Stories feature as well as video calling. Read on.
• The documentary, The Social Dilemma (Netflix) is gathering a lot of discussion about the many issues highlighted over the years about social platforms. Read more on the DigitalSpy.
• Speaking of which, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter reached a deal with big advertisers about harmful content, negotiated through the World Federation of Advertisters.  
• If you missed it: This article was written by a robot, and commented thereafter by many, many humans, on the Guardian.

And, Finally

A small village in Wales finally got to the source of why its broadband connection went down every morning at 7am, without fail. After many engineers checked everything over,  it was discovered that an old television set owned by a senior couple was the problem: everytime they'd turn it on - at 7am - the huge electrical pulse it emitted caused everyone else's connection to the outside world to crash. 

Time for someone to get them a Netflix subscription.