Despite being one of the most depressive months of the year (yes I’m starting on a bad note, but it’s spring soon), the one interesting thing about February is Valentine’s Day. Whilst I’m not a superfan of the holiday itself, I do always love seeing the weird and wonderful stunts that companies pull out of the bag. I only have two of note this year, but they’re gooduns! Apart from that, there’s been another good dose of great creative campaigns in February; and as ever, I am here to tell you all about them.
My Top 7 PR Campaigns Of February 2022
The Ones I Felt The Love For This Valentine’s Day
1. Chose Your Gender Pair Of Caterpillars
How greedy he is! Colin the Caterpillar takes the limelight again this month, but not because he’s tied up in a lucrative court battle this time. For Valentine’s Day, M&S launched the option to create a same-sex pairing of caterpillar cakes to enjoy with your beau. In their “first-ever same-gender pairing”, and alongside re-launching a range of inclusive cards this year, M&S offered shoppers the chance to pick their favourite pair of pint-sized caterpillars in a 2 for £10 deal.
2. Your Ex = Trash, Literally…
This one I’ve included just because it made me chuckle. For Valentine’s Day, a waste management company gave petty people the chance to name a bin after their ex; there’s not a whole lot of real reputational PR value here, but it did do a really good job of getting the business’ name out there in an innovative way, and who can argue with that? It’s giving me the old ‘name a cockroach after your ex’ vibes, and I loved that one too.
The Others!
3. Pura Pave The Road To A New Future
A shameless plug from me, but our agency Source PR has not long started working with eco-friendly babycare brand Pura and were able to get involved with sharing the news of a road they are re-surfacing in Wales, entirely from nappies in conjunction with NappiCycle. I love this for a number of reasons, and not just because I’m involved in it (come on, you know I’m better than that 😉). I really rate it because it’s a super innovative way of recycling nappies which are shockingly bad for the environment. But also, because it’s an inaugural move from the company and one I’d love to see all the big brands adopt. Supposedly, the materials made from recycled nappies are actually stronger than traditional surfaces; so winner winner!
4. Greggs Sets Up Shop In Primark
This is slowly becoming a Greggs fan account, but who can help it when they’re always pulling out all the best moves? Brand collaborations are becoming more popular, and even the weirdest ones end up yielding really good results. It’s hard to ignore! I’d have never have called a Greggs and Primark duo, but now it’s here, I really dig it. After announcing the world’s largest cafe would open in Primark’s flagship Birmingham store, both brands have now taken the whole thing one step further by revealing a clothing range just a few days later. Cleverly planned timings by the businesses meant that for several days, all anyone could talk about was Primark and Greggs. Very well played indeed. I’m coincidentally headed to Primark tomorrow, maybe I’ll go and get myself some sausage roll pants!
5. THIS Bottles The Sweet Smell Of Bacon
I’m including this one as the PR world went nuts for it, but cards on the table – I wasn’t sure… Is a meat-free company promoting the smell of *very real* meat sizzling away on brand? I don’t know. Let me know what you think of this one guys. Anyway, one thing I am certain about is that scented products (think: candles and perfumes), aren’t going anywhere. As long as the idea is wacky enough, it’s going to get attention. So THIS releasing their new signature fragrance, ‘Eau de isn’t Bacon’ (okay, that one’s on brand and I like it!) was always going to get good interest. According to Famous Campaigns, the business had over 25,000 requests, despite only producing 120 bottles.
6. The Adidas Campaign That’s The Tits
Adidas captured the hearts of many PR people and beyond this February. In a world where sadly so many feel uncomfortable at the sight of boobs, Adidas really said “we don’t care” with their bold but brilliant OOH display and social media campaign this month, which a variety of wonderfully different looking breasts. Considering half of the population have them, I love that Adidas unapologetically went against nudity advertising guidelines to pull this off; the campaign is attention-grabbing, creates talkability, is relevant to their brand and best of all, successfully markets their product in a completely clever way. 10/10!
7. BT Make All Calls To Ukraine Free
Whilst this isn’t your usual ‘creative campaign’ so to speak, I had to give BT an honourable mention for their quick reaction to the devastating situation unfolding in Ukraine right now. In an attempt to reconnect worried loved ones, the network provider made all texts, calls and data in the region free. This is the kind of empathy that all brands should learn from, and in times of unrest, it’s not about who can sell what, it’s about who does the right thing.
Follow Campaigns Faster Than I Can
And again, this is probably something I’ll remind you of every month, there are a number of wonderful industry professionals who culminate weekly, fortnightly or monthly newsletters that bring you all the best PR campaigns in the same place. 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
So do give them a follow/read too please!
Jessica Pardoe | PR, Marketing and Communications Blogger | See All Posts By Jessica Pardoe 