Whether we like it or not, pop culture is everywhere. Literally everywhere. We are living in a time defined by addictive and incessant entertainment in this orb of pop culture, which continues to influence various aspects of society. As PR professionals, we’re constantly monitoring for pop culture-inspired trends that have the masses talking and thanks to new age technology, advancements in the digital world and of course, good old social media, they’re more accessible than ever. We’re surrounded by pop culture at all times, which means we’re constantly in the know about what’s currently relevant to the mainstream population. By scrolling through Facebook for two minutes, you’ll know what’s happening in the world of politics, the shows everyone is watching, the latest must-have gadgets, the buzzed-about food trends, the hottest celebrity fashion… I could go on, but I think you get the gist.
So how do we get our clients into the mix and make them part of the conversation? Well, it boils down to creativity, quick wit and the ability to make a clear and unique connection to the topic. At Fish, some of our best media placements have come from off-the-cuff pitches that leveraged things that were going on in current pop culture. One of my favorite efforts came from a story we stumbled on a couple years ago about Adele’s hilarious reaction to being bit by a mosquito on stage a concert. The moment we saw it, we knew there was an opportunity for our client, Mosquito Squad. We used the Adele story as the timely hook and tips from the company to develop a fun pitch about how to repel mosquitoes.
The Mr. Appliance team also knew they struck gold when we found out that Jack Pearson’s death on This is Us was caused by faulty a Crock-Pot that set the house on fire. The revelation had viewers wondering if they too could be at risk and while it might have just been silly paranoia, people were talking. So, we put together a pitch with tips from Mr. Appliance that naturally fit into the current narrative and would help ease the minds of Crock-Pot users around the world.
Most recently, the return of Game of Thrones has sent people into a black hole of conversation about Night King theories, Tormund crushin on Brienne, Bran and Jamie Lannister’s reunion and so much more. While Game of Thrones chatter never really died during the off-season, it’s now back in full force and with the character-defining hairstyles always being a hot GOT topic, we jumped on the opportunity to plug our client Blo Blow Dry Bar into the conversation by pitching styling tips so people could get the looks at home.
Pop culture is here to stay and so is society’s obsession with it, so we may as well get on board and figure out how to use it to our advantage!
