As spooky season officially descends upon us, one social media giant is taking creativity to new realms. A Dundalk pub and a global sports brand come together for a s**t-hot collab, Iceland look to a polite bouncer for tourism support and the age-old question is answered: which chunky bear is the cutest?
Mo Chara balancing friendships with phenomenal foresight
Local Dundalk pub, Mo Chara, teamed up with US sportswear giant New Balance to release a limited edition football jersey for a charity match. Funds raised are going to Head In The Game, a local mental health charity.
This is a genius move for the local pub and shows true innovation and ingenuity… They prove that if the idea and sentiment is right, collaborations of all sizes can work very effectively. This should be a case study for our industry.
Clever collaborations always grab our attention, but when it involves a small, local business partnering with a global sporting powerhouse, vintage football jerseys AND a good cause, it may just be one of our favourite partnerships.
IT’S FAT BEAR WEEK – WHO’S THE CHUNKIEST CHAMPION OF THEM ALL?
It’s October, and bears are about to hibernate. They are hungry, sleepy, and cuter than ever. Which brings us to probably the best celebration in the world, Fat Bear Week. A unique and incredibly adorable competition, Fat Bear Week allows viewers from across the world to vote for their favourite chunky grizzly in Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve.
With live cams installed all around the park viewers can watch how these adorable apex predators devour as many as 30 salmons daily, gaining up to 230 kilograms of fat.
The competition, which organisers insist is a celebration of wildlife and nature, has drawn in one million voters for this year’s competition, showing that a wonderfully silly event can become a worldwide, viral calendar moment.
And before wrapping up… big congrats to 128 Grazer this year’s champion of the Fat Bear Week 2023.
Spookchat
In the run up to Halloween, Snapchat has launched a new immersive content series called the Phantom House, which sees a number of top creators attempt to escape a haunted house.
Viewers of the weekly episodes are encouraged to help the social media stars escape the haunted manor by actively engaging with Snapchat features including themed AR lenses and AI-generated Dream selfies to gather clues and solve puzzles.
What’s interesting is Snapchat’s promotion of the series as a premium opportunity for brands to run ads and develop their own AR experiences, with Disney+ and Maybelline already on board. For brand exposure across social media, Snapchat shouldn’t be ruled out. Recent Kantar Market Norms research showed that Halloween campaigns on the platform have a 1.6x increase in brand awareness and 2.1x the lift in ad awareness.
While the series is a leap forward in integrating creators with brands for a seasonal event, we’ll hold out to see just how much resonance this latest campaign has with Gen Z’ers on the platform.
Should you stay or should you go? (Hugi says ‘go’)
Rolled out on YouTube and across social media, a new campaign from Icelandair highlights their classic stopover offering in a distinctly Icelandic-humoured mockumentary-style.
The videos feature Hugi, the ‘Polite Tourist Bouncer,’ whose mission is to ensure tourists don’t extend their stay indefinitely and eventually reach their final destination. Naturally, Iceland’s beauty means no-one actually wants to leave, and shenanigans ensue.
Produced and directed by Guðmundur Þór Kárason, the campaign is supported by a series of content pieces and behind-the-scenes extras. It is the first in a number of spots, the next one of which is planned for early next year and promises to introduce ‘The Returning Stopover Tourist’. We can’t wait for the sequel.