This blog is late with no excuses. So with that, let’s crack on shall we? It may well be halfway through the next month but I still had a handful of campaigns and ideas in my drafts from April that deserved the (albeit late) recognition for just how awesome they were. Again, sorry it’s late guys. I’d love to pull an excuse out the bag, but I guess life just happened. And with that, here’s the best of the creative campaigns that I spotted and loved in April.
My Top 5 PR Campaigns Of April 2022
1. A Bottle Of Salad Queen Anyone?
Oh my god I just absolutely loved Heinz’s idea to rebrand their sauces in keeping with Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee. I’m sure they could have come up with something a little bit more appropriate than ‘Salad Queen’ but it’s so funny that I’m glad they didn’t.
A lot of love for this one on Twitter – and I think in the day and age that ‘going viral’ is on the forefront of most brands’ minds – I think we can put a lot of weight in that. It’s witty and a conversation starter, it’s relevant and it’s product-led, which keeps the whole thing on-brand too.
All in all, I just love this campaign by Heinz and am looking forward to seeing HM Sauce on the shelves this month too.
2. A Good Sign For Chester!
Paying homage to the county I work and one I have grown to love very dearly, I wanted to include in this month’s roundup, a special mention of the ‘Chester’ sign now positioned outside of the Cathedral, which had got a lot of love since its installation. I’m not sure whether it was the work of the Cathedral itself, Visit Cheshire, or another organisation, but whoever it is – well done!
We simple humans love an Instagram moment and I can’t tell you the number of pictures I’ve taken with or of signs like this across the world in my 24 years. It’s the little things. Anything that can improve social engagement in a big way gets a thumbs up from me, and though it’s not the most creative or groundbreaking example of marketing I’ve ever seen, I love the difference such a small change can make to a city or one of its landmarks 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
3. The Un-Invitation Everyone’s Asking For
Launched on April Fool’s Day, so I thought it was a prank, but no – it’s real. This is the only April 1st content I want to see, thanks! Hitched.co.uk created an ‘anti’ invitation for couples due to tie the knot, highlighting the awkward conversations many apparently face. With this business, I would assume the main goal is traffic, and therefore this campaign worked a treat in driving exactly that.
4. Rising Benches For Rising Sea Levels
Oh you guys probably know by now just how much I love a campaign that focuses on environmental awareness (see: the nappy road work we did with baby brand Pura). Especially one that really stops and makes people look and think (see also: the selfish flickers billboard). So, this stunt by the City of Copenhagen really hit the sweet spot for me. By installing unusually high benches that would withstand rising sea levels, which are predicted to grow by up to 1m by the turn of the century), attention was captured not just in Denmark but all over the world, even here in jolly old England as I’m sat writing this from my home in Telford.
Not every campaign needs to drive home links or coverage, in fact the ability to make people think and talk is often much more powerful. And for a cause such climate change – this is exactly what we want. They nailed it, in every sense of the word. In fact, this is probably my favourite PR move of the year so far.
Flooding will become part of our everyday life unless we start doing something about our climate.
Channel TV2
5. Burned Dinner? Not A McProblem
As spotted on Famous Campaigns, McDonalds ran a stunt in the Netherlands in April whereby if you burn your dinner at home, an apt ‘Big Mac themed’ smoke detector would alert your nearest restaurant who’ll proceed cook you up some replacement dinner.
Nice right?
I feel like with a brand such as McDonalds, that’s already so well established, it really can’t be easy to keep your finger on the pulse and maintain the creativity all these years later. But somehow, along with nemesis Burger King, they always seem to manage it.
The brand is all about convenience, honestly it’s not a place you’re headed to for a sit-down meal. Maccies is where you go when you’re not in the mood for cooking, or need to grab lunch whilst you’re on the go. The brand doesn’t try to move away from this, and that serves them well. Next time (inevitably a matter of ‘when’ not ‘if’) I burn my dinner, I’ll be thinking of McDonalds, and doesn’t that just show how perfectly this campaign works?
An Honourable Mention For: Octopus Energy
I’ve been saving this tweet about Octopus Energy for this blog because it’s just a perfect indication of how to correctly handle customer relations, and how that in turn can result in good PR.
I’ve read so many horror stories of users being billed incorrectly by all kinds of companies after losing a loved one, only adding to their grief. This tweet shows how easy it is to get it right, and how treating your consumers with respect will result in the very same for you!
This PR is a really big fan.
Where Else To Find Creative Inspo?
As I mention 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. If you like this blog I highly recommend you follow and read these too. 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
- Famous Campaigns by Taylor Herring
Jessica Pardoe | PR, Marketing and Communications Blogger | See All Posts By Jessica Pardoe 
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