“No eggnog!! More Kool Aid!!”
Kraft may have a viral hit on its hands after putting together its iconic Kool Aid man and rapper Lil John for the Christmas song and video “All I really want for Christmas.” The collaboration, which sees Lil John rapping about wanting everything on his list, while Kool Aid Man sticks to his catchphrase “Oh Yeah!!”, is generating plenty of mainstream coverage. “I’ve been wanting to do a Christmas song for forever,” Lil John told Rolling Stone. “I could never get the right inspiration to get it done though … I wanted to do something fun for young and old, and I think that mission is accomplished.”
KFC logs a bizarre product addition…and takes on turkey
It’s the holidays, which means (cue Andy Williams voice) chicken roasting on an open fire. At least it does if you’re a fan of KFC, which recently introduced a KFC Firelog that will fill your home with the tantalizing (or is that sickening?) aroma of 11 herbs and spices. The Firelog joins a roster of other bizarre KFC creations that includes KFC-scented sunscreen, edible nail polish and, er, the Double Down. KFC is also dishing on the other white meat with a UK print ad from Mother that uses a secondary definition of the word turkey (“something that is extremely or completely unsuccessful”) to suggest that the larger fowl’s time in the Christmas spotlight is coming to a close.
Burger King has most ‘liked’ tweet ever
A cheeky diss tweet from Burger King UK is officially the most popular of all time, having been “liked” by more than 1 million Twitter users and shared more than 270,000, according to The Drum. The super-shared tweet was posted after Kanye announced “McDonald’s is my favourite restaurant”. Burger King’s three word response: “Explains a lot”. (BK’s social agency Coolr shared a backstory to the tweet for The Drum in mid November.)
WW adds new celebs to roster
Just in time for the busy New Year advertising period, WW has added two new celebrity ambassadors—Kate Hudson and Robbie Williams—to its roster. Formerly known as Weight Watchers, WW is attempting to shift consumer perception of the brand from dieting to wellness. According to a report on AdAge.com, Hudson will appear in ads in the U.S., while Williams will be featured in ads in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Announcing her involvement with WW on Instagram, where she has 9.4 million followers, Hudson wrote: “This is not a community for people who just want to lose weight, although leading a healthy lifestyle lends itself to such, this is a community about supporting each other through a life long journey of wellness.” WW investor and board member Oprah Winfrey will also appear in WW’s global marketing.
Instagram adding new targeting tools
Last month Instagram started to let users bookmark products they like, and now it’s working on tools that will provide brands more data about those likes, according to CNBC. In other words Instagram is figuring out ways to help advertisers with retargeting. The official line from the company is “We do not currently have ads retargeting based on Saved posts.” But Layla Amjadi, Instagram product manager, told CNBC they are working what they call the “reconsideration problem” where someone likes something but doesn’t buy in the moment. “We can help with the reconsideration at the right time and the right place,” Amjadi said.
