Newsjacking: the good, the bad and the ugly

Jill Golden and Jess Skitzki discuss newsjacking and how it can be great PR for a brand, or a terrible mistake if not executed properly. We discuss some well-known brands including Dunkin Donuts, Kit Kat and KFC and their newsjacking successes with popular events and social trends including the Royal Wedding, the gold and white dress and the Area 51 raid. We also share some feelings on one brand that made quite the mistake when creating a newsjacking tweet. We share some insights on the best way to newsjack for your brand from the book The New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott.

At 1:00 we start by briefly defining newsjacking and what it actually is.

At 1:16 we discuss the Royal Wedding and how some brands used this huge event to newsjack, such as KFC creating a new chicken bucket design and Dunkin Donuts creating a new donut.

At 2:37 we define newsjacking more in depth from the book The New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott. We talk about the importance of timing when newsjacking in order to be successful. You can find the graph we talk about by clicking the link below.

At 4:23 Jess talks about one of her favorite newsjacking tweets: Kit Kat dissing the iPhone 6 after the phones started bending.

At 4:50 Jill shares a Facebook post from a smaller company, the Oklahoma City Animal Welfare, that created a viral Facebook post regarding the Area 51 raid which was a popular social media discussion this past summer.

At 5:55 we talk about Norwegian Airlines newsjacking the Brad Pitt and Angelia Jolie’s break up with a clever paid advertisement.

At 6:55 we discuss The Salvation Army’s newsjack about domestic violence and the gold and white/black and blue dress.

At 8:17 we get in to a bad newsjacking example from DiGiorno pizza and the #WhyIStayed hashtag regarding domestic violence in relationships.

Sources:

Royal Wedding - KFC and Dunkin Donuts https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/royal-wedding-marketing-campaigns-newsjacking

Newsjacking graph - David Meerman Scott
https://www.newsjacking.com/what-is-newsjacking-newsjacking?hsCtaTracking=9c032988-3e0e-4427-80a7-47073fbd8332%7Cc506e229-95b1-409f-ae10-8929928bc256

Kit Kat - bending iPhone https://twitter.com/kitkat/status/514817515177123841?lang=en

OKC Animal Welfare - Area 51 raid https://www.facebook.com/OKCanimalwelfare/posts/2321815751241021

Norwegian Airlines - Brad is single https://www.traveller.com.au/brad-is-single-ad-norwegian-airline-cashes-in-on-brangelinas-split-with-cheap-flights-ad-grp6r4

Salvation Army - Gold and white dress https://www.agilitypr.com/pr-news/uncategorized/newsjacking-how-to-hit-the-bullseye-even-if-youre-coming-in-green/

DiGiorno - #WhyIStayed https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanhatesthis/digiorno-whyistayed-you-had-pizza