February Update: What’s Hot in the Marketing Game

Several stories out in the world of digital marketing caught our attention this month and we’re sharing them with you here in our first Month in Review feature!  

A Tastier Pancake Tuesday?

(25th February) Innocent Drinks poked fun at themselves trying to find a reason to piggyback on this annual celebration. Already one of the masters of social media engagement, Innocent might have outdone themselves this time with their witty responses on Twitter, among other channels.

“Be a Lady They Said”

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(24th February) One of the most powerful viral videos ever took off just this week, timing well with the landmark conviction in New York of Harvey Weinstein. The video shows Cynthia Nixon (of Sex and the City and political advocate) reciting a powerful piece about the complicated, and contradictory, expectations of women today. Produced by newcomer alt magazine GirlsGirlsGirls, the video packs a real punch with dozens of stock imagery of women, contrasted against the narrated piece, which was written a few years by an undergrad blogger named Camille Rainville. It's a great example of how content can be recombined and released within different contexts, with different impacts. And how video is such a powerful medium: this piece is up to 5 million views already.

A Star is Born… in the London Underground

(23rd Feb) British instagrammer and prankster Kevin Freshwater took his latest gag to the streets of London, accosting people with a microphone and a request to “finish that song”. Most took a half-hearted attempt at this bizarre karaoke, or just turned on their heel. But he got luckier than he could have imagined when he bumped into Charlotte Awbery in a Tube station - not only did she finish singing the line he sang from “Shallow” but she launched into a pitch-perfect rendition of the difficult chorus from Lady Gaga’s Oscar-winning song. The video, and her performance, went viral. A jobbing singer-songwriter around London, her fame spread rapidly, and the Instagram post has reached almost half a million views. She made it all the way to The Ellen DeGeneres show, increased her number of followers ten-fold, and the viral video (which quickly reached 23million Twitter views) was responsible for sending “Shallow” back into the Top 40 on iTunes. Watch the entire original video on Facebook here.

In Other News

• German mobile bank N46 announced in February that it is pulling out of the UK due to Brexit. 200,000 active accounts in the UK have been given until April to move their money out. It has only operated there the last 18 months and its pulling out is an indication of how other businesses may respond to dealing in UK now that Brexit is becoming a reality. Read more. 
• Voice-related technology continues to evolve, as seen in Amazon's new offering, Polly, which helps brands create a unique voice for their Alexa, starting with KFC Canada's use of Colonel Sanders' voice. Read more.
• In the biggest bank takeover since the 2008 financial crisis, Morgan Stanley has bought eTrade for $13billion. Read more.
• WhatsApp hit 2 billion users worldwide in February. Read more.
• We gave you some tips earlier this month on how the Oscars could be used for real-time marketing efforts. Here's a look at how Vanity Fair live-blogged the entire show.
• Other February events we gave thought to this month included Valentine's Day and Love your Pets Day. Our handy 2020 calendar will help you be prepared for all the year's events. 

Stay tuned as we all leap into March! And we have no fewer than three webinars coming up in March and April, so sign up now.

The Membership Team