Cards on the table, I’ve been frankly rubbish at talking about the campaigns I love, which is what this blog used to be all about! 2022 is the year I eat that frog and get back into it. I promise I’m not making excuses, but because I used to write about all the wonderful things I’d seen being done in the PR space on my train commute into work, I’ve somehow found myself not giving enough time to this blog now that I no longer make that journey. However, I made it one of my new year’s resolutions this year to write more, but realistically. So, these blogs are going to come at you every month instead of every time I see something I like (seriously, how did I keep up with that?!). Let’s see if I can keep it going throughout the year. It’ll be December 2022 before we know it, and isn’t that a scary thought?!
Enough of me, today I’m sharing my favourite creative campaigns in the PR space from January 2022, and I truly can’t wait to see what this year brings, I have a feeling it might be one of the best yet.
My Top 7 PR Campaigns Of January 2022
1. If You’re Hit With A Key Falling From The Sky, Don’t Sue!
It’s my understanding that Connective3 conjured up this PR campaign that truly makes you say “damn I wish I thought of that”. With Good Move UK, keys are being launched from space and whoever finds one will win £10,000 towards their house deposit. On-brand and downright cool, maybe ‘launching things from space’ will be the new ‘floating something down the Thames’?
2. Benches From Netflix
PR campaigns that encourage conversations around mental health are always a winner in my eyes, that’s why I LOVED this one from Netflix which involved bringing benches to parks around the UK in line with the launch of season 3 of After Life to encourage opening up and talking. I’ve not watched it, but I believe that similar benches appear frequently in the story, making this campaign topical enough to achieve that golden BBC coverage we all dream of.
3. Boris Johnson Is A Liar, The Internet Proves It
Mark Rofe strikes again, buying out the domain liar.co.uk and redirecting it to Boris’ Wikipedia page. Doesn’t achieve much, but it’s a good laugh and frankly right on the money in the wake of all these parties at no.10 which uhh… definitely… uhh… didn’t happen… or they might have…?
4. All Aboard The Francis Train
Everyone’s favourite TikTok creator and adorable train enthusiast, Francis Bourgeois appeared as the unlikely, but strangely well suited, ambassador for Gucci and North Face’s most recent collaboration. I absolutely love it. In a recent webinar that I watched, Michael Corcoran, the head of social for Ryanair (and consequently one of the geniuses behind their TikTok videos), said we’re going to see a shift away from influencers and a move towards working with creators such as Francis. Why? Because they’re compelling and we can relate to their content, so, when we see them working with brands we know, naturally we’re going to go nuts for that. Well played Gucci.
5. The Best Billboards I’ve Ever Seen (Sorry Mark!)
Not to be dramatic, but this OOH campaign by Twitter is absolutely my favourite of the sort. Across the US and Canada, billboards have been erected depicting celebrities’ old tweets, against a backdrop of where they are now. Manifesting to the max! I love this because everyone knows Twitter, it doesn’t need to sell its services, but these displays act as a nice reminder of how it’s one of the platforms where we can be open, talk about our dreams and how people can follow along as we make them come true.
6. Butterkist Are HERE For The Party Drama, And So Am I
I will always LOVE an OOH campaign, and Butterkist really hit the mark this month by pulling up outside Downing Street as ‘partygate’ continued to unfold. As the country erupts in anger over multiple lockdown parties, Butterkist took the classic ‘grab some popcorn and follow along with the drama’ idea to a whole new level, parking up pretty much outside of Number 10. A quick and simple way to generate viral-level attention, all whilst staying on brand, nicely done!
7. Do You Want The Good News Or The Bad News First?
“You’re still thinking about the bad news aren’t you?” Well actually probably not, as McDonald’s pulled off a really impressive PR move last week in counteracting the unfortunate news of the end of their breakfast wraps and bagels, with the better news of the introduction of the first-ever Chicken Big Mac. This is communicating at its best, and I was SO impressed watching all of this unfold.
Follow Campaigns Faster Than I Can
As an end note, I just wanted to say that there are lovely people out there who do this far better than me. Though I’ve been writing about creative campaigns for nearly 5 years now (which makes me feel incredibly old), I can name off at least a handful of wonderful industry professionals who culminate weekly, fortnightly or monthly newsletters that bring all the best PR campaigns, particularly digital PR pieces too, to the same place, so I would definitely recommend you subscribe to those! They are…
- The Grapevine by Iona Townsley
- The Weekly PR by Bethanie Jane
- Work In PRogress by Abi Bennets
You can also check out…
- Creative Corner by Rich Leigh & Creative Moment
- Good & Bad PR by Andy Barr & PR Moment
If I’ve missed any, let me know on Twitter, please!
Jessica Pardoe | PR, Marketing and Communications Blogger | See All Posts By Jessica Pardoe 
Good job on bringing some of these PR campaigns to our attention.
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