Pride, Recovery Speaking Points & Plant-Based Goodness 🌈 📣 🌱

Temperatures are rising and neighborhoods across the U.S. are starting to simmer. It appears we’re all in for a fast, furious and frightfully hot summer. Record-breaking temps are bringing the first heat waves before summer even officially begins, and most downtowns are scrambling to amp up their marketing efforts, drive business to merchants & ratepayers and stay ahead of the curve. It’s like we’ve been jolted awake from a delirious slumber and suddenly everyone is rushing to pull the trigger and get “back to normal” as quickly as possible. But there are simple pitfalls you’ll want to avoid with your MarCom and messaging, plus interesting trends to note as you dive into June. We’ve rounded up some thought-provoking pieces this edition, and also want to wish you all a VERY Happy Pride!

– Your Bright Brothers Team

Boom! As quickly as everything shuttered some fifteen months ago, it feels as if the world is on fire to get up and running again – especially here in the States where 63%+ of adults have received at least one vaccination so far. While the pent-up demand is real, and many districts are roiling to welcome back locals, visitors and their wallets – we highly caution against the use of “Welcome Back” campaigns! We know you need to support your stakeholders (and to start wearing pants again), but in the rush to clear the dust, there are some simple mistakes to avoid, and a few pertinent playbook pointers to note. Get the full picture on our Resources page or by directly downloading Bright Brothers Strategy Group’s “Recovery Trends for Summer 21”.  Happy #hotvaxsummer, y’all!

June is LGBT Pride Month and that means a month of celebrations of love, parades, balloons, feather boas and Speedos – and also corporate rainbow washing. One point of pride that really inspires us is this crowdsourced map project created by a 22 year-old Concordia University student called “Queering the Map”, that features user-generated stories associated with (Google) Map pins telling pertinent LGBTQ narratives. Documenting queer history in this manner makes complete sense, and by clicking a pin, you can indulge your curiosities by learning about a tree where a gay couple first kissed, or the spot where someone realized their love…etc. Search the map here and feel free to share some of your favorite local stories in social, your e-blasts or simply some hilarious, heartfelt and endearing anecdotes from the community.

Photo credit: Queering the Map

…its v cheugy for Millennials to wear skinny jeans? No cap! For those of you who may need a primer on current slang, vernacular and manners of speech made popular on TikTok, we present this insightful, yet hilarious article by USA Today for your linguistic consumption. One of the top apps worldwide, TikTok’s pervasiveness is creeping into all age groups and demos, as reported by the Pew Research Center. So much so, it may become part of your district’s media mix soon. IYKYK. Periodt. And this piece has been living in our heads rent free for over a week now. It’s a real bop and we’re absolutely Ded 💀 over it.

Photo credit: Team Fredi, Unsplash

Two second-tier players have really amped their game this summer with some stellar campaigns and innovative initiatives. We’re not sure who their agencies are, but both Burger King and Pepsi are killin’ it post-pandemic! Fast food giant BK announced it’s switching to eco-friendly and plant-based packaging with a Miami-based pilot aimed at reducing paper waste and up to 500 million straws annually in the U.S. (equivalent to -910 metric tons of greenhouse gasses per year!), as well as launching its first-ever all-plant based restaurant in Cologne, DE.  And from the marketing front, we’re giving kudos to Burger King Belgium for this clever campaign featuring items that had been left in its restaurants before the pandemic. Super cute, creative and engaging! Not to be outdone when it comes to creative MarCom + burgers, we’re tipping our hats to this crafty creative by Pepsi that had us exclaiming, “Well, hot damn!” this spring. Ready for an Impossible Whopper meal with a Pepsi right about now?  We are!

Photo credit: Pepsi

For this edition, we’d like to honor an amazing individual who’s done so much for her locale. For nearly two decades, Toni Smith has been the driving force behind the MarCom strategy, steward and voice of the Tempe Tourism Office – and that’s quite a tenure! Over the last 19+ years, Toni has adeptly, dutifully and skillfully held the helm and driven outstanding results for the “little college town that could”. She’s assisted the tourism office in driving hundreds of thousands of pieces of earned media, brokered amazing relationships, built rapport and awareness of Tempe, and given her all to help make this blue bastion in a red desert shine. Full disclosure, the Tempe Tourism Office is one of our consulting clients, and we will markedly note the absence of Toni’s effervescent presence moving forward, while wishing her the absolute best in her new role as a PIO for the City of Chandler, AZ.  Kudos and brava, mama!  Onwards & upwards!

Photo credit: Tempe Tourism Office & Toni Smith