In this op-ed, Taylor York, national head-earned thinker, and Saynaree Oudomvilay, head-earned thinker at Thinkerbell, dive into the campaigns that created real magic in 2024!
Everyone says they do ‘PR’ and are presenting earned ideas – media agencies, creative agencies, social agencies and PR agencies (some still not as well as they should be). In a year of more agency mergers, the disruption of indies, and media silos melting even further, one thing became very clear: the magic of owned and earned-first creativity is becoming more essential.
Suddenly, it feels like businesses have woken up to the true power of earned media. PR agencies are flexing their creative muscles beyond earned, ad agencies are launching PR arms, and clients are taking a more strategic, systematic approach to integrating paid, owned and earned.
Why now? Maybe it’s tighter budgets, the ongoing mash-up of editorial and advertising, or the consolidation of media channels. Whatever the reason, the result is worth celebrating. So, let’s take a look at the campaigns that stopped us in our tracks and got people talking (and hopefully drove behaviour change or created real business results).
Uber Car Share x Valtteri Bottas (Poem)
Following Uber’s acquisition of Car Next Door they partnered with F1 legend Valtteri Bottas’ to create and launch his very own ‘second car’, a ute custom made with mullet aeration technology, a meat pie warmer, an esky to keep my drinks cold, a bike rack, detachable hills hoist, freshwater shower, in-built sunscreen, and bug repellent dispensers.
An earned/social first idea, the video went viral and drove headlines nationally. Great to see an earned-first idea winning a few ‘best TV of the year’ awards too. Kudos to Poem for making this a reality.
Australian Bananas x Banana Pass (Thinkerbell)
We believe ideas come from anywhere at Thinkerbell and this concept was a seed from our paid media team at first and reflected our earned-first philosophy. To celebrate National Banana Day we turned every banana into a free gym pass to over 300 gyms nation-wide. Widespread news coverage, mass paid and owned reach and an uptick in bananas sold. A behaviour change masterclass.
Yo-Chi x HiSmile
The three words every marketer hates to hear: make it go viral. However, the folks at Yo-Chi and Hismile managed to do just that with the launch of their toothpaste flavour collaboration. Capitalising on the hype of Yo-Chi, they engineered a faux break-in which was so believable it even made the 6pm news. By capturing and releasing their own CCTV footage of the “thief”, they set social media buzz with theories on who it was and why. Once it hit the mainstream, the true story was revealed. A clever way to use content, tap into culture and use earned-adjacent channels to nudge their way into the new cycle (pretty sure they sold out quickly too and drove a head of brand fame/salience).
Bunnings Rave
In further proof that anyone with a phone can make news, Sydney-based producer DJ Kaila created an online movement with a humble TikTok calling for a petition to host a massive rave in Bunnings. The music industry soon caught on, with the likes of What So Not and Peking Duk jumping on board with their support, before it quickly snowballed to mainstream news. In the ultimate act of reactive PR and newsjacking, Bunnings rose to the challenge and committed to seeing it through (we reckon they’ve been trying to find a way to target younger Aussies in their comms, and this was the perfect way). Their reaction showed that online moments don’t have to be fleeting and the internet can exist in real life.
