Living in Sin - 021
Quick & dirty this week, y'all!
Hi y’all!
Writing to you from the Amtrak up to New York for an event with United Women in Business. Please comment your favorite food court breakfast.* Also, has everyone seen that balding solutions we chatted about last week are continuing to trend?
Pride
Whew, it’s been a week. 7Deadly brought on some new contracts for spring + some crisis work. Can’t wait to tell you more about next week. On the crisis front, I’m looking forward to sharing a case study once I’m able to wrap the crisis and remove all client-identifying information.
Crisis PR is somehow draining and invigorating, challenging and rewarding, and a whole bunch of other complicated intersecting emotions. As a broad reminder, taking a human-first approach is the most successful course of action every time. Crisis is deeply personal, scary, and even threatening in some cases. Understandably, the client is usually freaked the hell out. It’s on us to lead with respect, understanding, dignity, and thoughtfulness while somehow also prioritizing a logical path forward over an emotional path forward.
Any PR rep mid crisis:
Sloth
This week’s long read to luxuriate into is only moderately long—promise! It’s an oldie, but a goodie from NYT Mag: Commonplace Books Are Like a Diary Without the Risk of Annoying Yourself. My therapist is always encouraging me to journal things out, and that just doesn’t feel like me. I appreciated this article as a possible alt for me though.
Greed
I cannot get enough of Sydney Carter’s looks. I remember her popping up on my FYP last winter and binging all her videos, but somehow she still fell out of my algorithm. I was so excited to see her back on my phone with some sponcon for bigger brands.
Really hoping to see more brands engage with her. I’d be first in line if a designer reached out to produce a colab with her. For spiritual reasons, I need cowhide print to be trending, and I’m not even a Longhorns fan.
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Gluttony
I went to a Starbucks for the first time in months this week and have been chewing on the unique PR situation they’re in right now. This Atlantic coverage is a good primer.
Controversial take, but I think they should limit the number of mobile pre-orders accepted in a 5-15 minute window. Starbucks clearly wants to bring back the hipster-humanity early 2010s vibes they thrived on, but when I went, there were dozens of people standing around waiting for their drink, while dozens of drinks were going cold on the bar at the same time. (To be fair, I live about a mile from the U.S. Capitol in D.C., so my particular Starbucks might be a bit of an anomaly.)
It felt so weird to me, like nearly 30 people all in headphones not speaking or making eye contact. The Weeds theme song was basically playing in my head the whole time. Starbucks wants more community, but it’s clear they only want a certain type of community. Bulk order those sharpies for cute touches all you want, Starbies Corporate, but the removal of lounge & work furniture across stores + updates to the bathroom policies continues to feel a little icky and classist to me.
Lust
The 80s are back, bayybeee! There is an undeniable resurgence of the 80s in style and culture. Growing up, my soundtrack was defined by the quintessential '80s jams and Madonna’s pop hits because of my mom. I feel a weird kind of kinship to the decade that’s so bright and expressive. This nostalgia is more than just reminiscence; it's a powerful force in today’s fashion and pop culture.
Have y’all been following the recent decision by Netflix to shelve the Prince documentary? This documentary wasn’t even on my radar, and now I’m obsessed with finding a screener. I’m interested in how his work transcends time and continues to resonate with both those who lived through the era and those who just wish they had.
The 80s craze also mirrors the political scene. See: the Reagan-era dynamics reemerging in the new Trump administration and parts of today's Republican Party. The '80s were marked by a distinctive political and social fervor, which seems to be rekindling in our current climate. As PR professionals, tapping into this wave of nostalgia can be a strategic move, leveraging the era's iconic elements to resonate deeply with audiences that are feeling a bit déjà vu in the face of today's political and cultural landscape.
Also, this is indisputably the best Madonna song:
Envy
At the risk of sounding insensitive, I’m envious of all the PR pros working on storytelling around the 5-year pandemic anniversary this week. I remember counseling a lot of clients from my shoebox bedroom in 2020 that there was still value in telling their story. Uber launched amid a global economic crisis, and the media will always want to tell the story of innovation leading to success. Hire me to help produce your super-duper thoughtful PR plan if your business started as a COVID pivot and you want to strategize how the media will talk about you at the 10th anniversary.
Wrath
As always, I have no time for wrath, so instead, you get a recent camera roll gem: me + a mentor
okay bye, babes!
-M
*Mine is any fried chicken biscuit sandwich obvi.