In October 2021, Mutant Communications’ Heather Seet and Victoria Brown won Gold at ICCO’s inaugural Next Generation PR Word Cup, beating out global teams to bring home the top prize. Heather writes about the journey, and how they secured the win.

On the morning of October 21st 2021, Victoria and I were sending each other GIFs on Slack. Technically, we were sending one specific GIF, multiple times: 

We were in the Zoom waiting room of the ICCO Next-Gen PR World Cup virtual announcement ceremony,  and we were joking about the best ways to react if we didn’t bring home an award. But we never got around to testing the opposite, and when our names were actually called as the Gold Winners, we were almost too excited to speak.

But let’s rewind to the beginning. 

When Mutant first nominated us for the competition, I thought to myself: we’re in different countries, how are we going to pull this off? 

For a competition with a time crunch, it was going to be tough developing ideas with one of us in Singapore and the other in Malaysia. And while it definitely added a challenge, it reinforced the importance of clarity in communication, organisation in thought, and a robust approach to brainstorming.

The competition came with a hefty ask: create two award-worthy campaigns in very short timeframes. We had to come up with a regional consumer campaign in 48 hours, and a global corporate campaign and video pitch in five days.

Here’s how we did it: 

Rely on digital tools 

When Victoria and I first started working on the regional project – a consumer campaign for Singapore Kindness Movement to encourage a ​​kinder digital world – we sat on a Zoom call, unsure of the best way to enter a collaborative brainstorm. I had some things scribbled on loose paper, and she had some ideas typed up on a Word doc.

Instead of limiting ourselves to linear thought by sticking to a document, we got creative and searched for tools that would best suit our needs. After considering several digital tools, we eventually settled on using Google Jamboard, which allowed us to collaborate easily, as well as express and organise our thoughts.

Ultimately, we ended up with this:

Our Jamboard brainstorm for The Power of Words, our winning campaign for Singapore Kindness Movement

 While narrowing down which digital tools to use, Victoria and I found that the best tools are the ones that help to visualise processes, and allow streamlining of thought to distil the best ideas.

Say “yes, and…”

It’s a familiar phrase in improv acting, but it’s also extremely applicable to the brainstorming phase. We threw together all our wild, wacky ideas – even the ones that we thought might not have belonged. That said, we kept our objective clearly in mind, and when we found  ourselves veering off course, we didn’t just axe the route – we found a bend in the road to bounce off each other, and strengthened our ideas by saying “yes, and”.

After 30 minutes of pure ideation, we moved to grouping and categorising our ideas. This is the point  where the far-flung concepts got deprioritised, and our clearer concepts rose to the top to paint a coherent picture.

How we grouped our brainstorm session to identify consistent themes and progress areas

Messy is good, but only the start.

My personal favourite Jamboard slide is the one that depicts my true calling as an artist.

“Untitled” – Heather Seet, 2021

Once we started to prioritise the things that mattered, we took the time to clean it up. Not for the format – brainstorming is only a means to an end – but for clarity, so that we could clearly understand our flow of thought, and see how our process from start to finish responded to the brief.

This is also how we organised our final flow when planning the global-level corporate campaign which presented us with a challenging corporate brief from the International SOS Foundation. The campaign needed to educate C-Suite executives about Duty of Care. After our initial, messy brainstorm and the clean-up process, our Jamboard looked like this: .

Our thought process for Speak Up: Duty of Care, the winning campaign at the ICCO Next-Gen PR World Cup

With our brainstorming finished, our Jamboard organised, and our campaign goals clear, we were then in a great place to start taking these ideas and turning them into full-fledged campaigns.

Bringing our campaigns to life:

First up: The PRCA Next Generation PR World Cup APAC

At the regional level, our campaign for the Singapore Kindness Movement consisted of two phases: 

• The first phase focused on raising awareness about cyber-hate in Singapore through a ground-up hashtag campaign.
• The second phase moved to enact behavioural change through an interactive physical and digital art installation. 

Rooted in engagement with key stakeholders, our campaign focused on powering the dialogue on cyber-wellness, influencing conversations from individual activism to policy recommendations.

Our plan on a page for the PRCA Next Generation PR World Cup APAC

The Second Challenge: The ICCO Next Gen PR World Cup

Once we passed the regional phase and made it to the global level, we decided to switch campaign phases up a bit by turning the tables and starting from the ground up. By empowering the everyday workforce with the tools they would need to contribute their perspectives on employee health and wellbeing within their companies, we could enable them to speak up – and speak upwards – to key decision makers who could make a difference.

Our four-phase approach aimed to drive business leaders to implement organisational change, transforming their Duty of Care processes to create better workplaces that inspire confidence, peace-of-mind and employee satisfaction.

Our plan on a page for the ICCO Next-Gen PR World Cup

It was an incredible journey and an honour to represent our region and be awarded Gold as the inaugural winners of the ICCO Next-Gen PR World Cup. Holding our own and coming out on top in a global industry competition will always be a career highlight for me – and it wouldn’t have been possible without Victoria on my team, Mutant behind our backs, and some powerful brainstorming.

Need help with launching PR campaigns? You’ve come to the right place: hello@mutant.com.sg

No matter how hard we may hang onto our favourite pair of jeans and go-to hairstyles, changes in trends are inevitable: what’s fashionable one year may not be fashionable the next. Trends ebb and flow, and the same goes for fonts – every year, new fonts and font trends come to light, promising us new ways to express ourselves.

Quirky fonts have reigned supreme in the last two years, and we expect that 2022 will be a little calmer – consumers are looking to be reassured, and brands can easily stand out if they use fonts that comfort and soothe. But calm doesn’t mean boring – and it seems that the font trends in 2022 will offer us a very exciting year of typography. From soft-edged to retro, here are some typefaces we think will popular in the coming months:

Varied Versatility: Cotford

A contemporary serif from Monotype Studio’s Creative Type Director Tom Foley, Cotford is a languid serif with a wide range of weights. From delicate thin typefaces that bend like flower stems, to bold heavy weights that command the page and screen with confidence and vintage charm, Cotford’s layered versatility is a treat for designers.

Foley set out to create a soulful, modern serif typeface for designers to experiment and play with, and Cotford’s changeable font opens up a wide range of visual expression, allowing designers to experiment with different weights, contrasts, and optical sizes until they find the ideal weight, contrast, and optical size for their project. With its classic paradigm of three text and five display weights, it’s a great choice for brands looking to create online reports, brochures, as well as larger physical designs including books and billboards.

It’s Grooooooovy: Quinllyk

We’re going back to the 1970s with Quinllyk, a retro serif font series with thick, curved lettering. Assertive and cheery, Quinnlyk conjures spinning records, bell bottom jeans, and questionable hair products. 

With its expansive terminals and fillagrees, this font conveys a fantastical, adventurous atmosphere thanks to the font’s flowing curves that give it a sense of life. The  broad serif and unique shape make this typeface suitable for a wide range of projects, including  branding, logos, wedding designs, social media posts, commercials, product packaging, and any other projects that require a touch of handwriting.

With over 50 alternative characters and ten ligatures, this typeface offers something for everyone. 

In The Heights: Flexible

One of the most innovative fonts we’ve seen so far, Flexible is a modern, changeable, all-caps sans serif font. Its mixed-width typographies have a fun, graphic appeal that make them a variety of designs – product packaging, book and report covers, and so on.

Created by art director and illustrator Art Grootfontein, Flexible was inspired by late-19th century gothic typefaces from broadsheets and with animation in mind, the versatile uppercase designs come in eight widths and e heights, as well as a changeable version font that promises endless font possibilities. Using variable font technologies, designers can easily tinker with each letter height and width.

To maximise the font’s legibility, use a chunky sans serif font  and use high-contrast colour palettes to make your message stand out. This font family is ideal for eye-catching design work, and it’s well-suited for both print and digital applications including advanced web design or kinetic typography. Use mixed-width fonts for tasks that demand a little quirkiness.

Soft and Smooth: Visby Round

Looking for a fuss-free font? Visby Round’s rounded sans serif style communicates honesty and openness, making it ideal for product and brand logos, mobile apps, digital brochures, and advertisements. 

Once reserved for the domain of children’s products, rounded sans serif fonts have experienced a shift away from the world of all things kid-friendly thanks to their ultra-legibility, especially on digital screens and for visually challenged readers. The more mature renditions of the rounded type design that have emerged find the ideal blend of pleasant naïvety and geometric flair.

If you’re looking for a little smooth sans-serif deliciousness, Visby Round’s warm, approachable design  is the font for you – especially since Latin and Cyrillic scripts are included. This font looks great next to contrasting, sharp serif typefaces like Artifex CF and Addington CF. 

Though these are a few of our favorite new fonts, this is by no means an exhaustive list of what 2022 has in store. If the previous years have been any indication, new and innovative typographic breakthroughs are always around the corner — we just need to keep our eyes peeled. 

Need help selecting fonts for your business? You’ve come to the right place: hello@mutant.com.sg

“What are your pronouns?” 

Found everywhere from social media bios and university classrooms to medical intake forms, this now common question has generated confusion, celebration and outrage in equal parts.

The controversy this question courts has to do with the definition of gender as opposed to sex, and how ideas about gender have evolved from two options – she/her or he/him – to include gender-neutral options such as they/them, among others.

Proponents of the (grammatially correct!) they/them and other gender-neutral pronouns believe these additional options provide a more accurate way of referring to people who identify as queer, non-binary, or gender non-conforming, as well as a more sensitive default option when you’re unsure of another person’s gender and chosen pronouns.

Like everything, language evolves over time – and as the language we use to express gender identity publicly broadens to be more inclusive of people’s personal choices, brands should reflect these changes, too. 

How inclusivity differs from diversity

You may be wondering, “Okay, but what do pronouns have to do with advertising campaigns?”

Or maybe it’s more along the lines of, “But we already showcase diversity in our campaigns – what do pronouns have to do with that?”

Inclusivity goes hand-in-hand with diversity – both are incredibly important, and while many brands have worked very hard to become more diverse, both internally and externally, inclusivity is sometimes more elusive.

The difference is this: diversity reflects the characteristics that make everyone different from each other while inclusion treats everyone equally and respectfully, regardless of what you can or cannot see about them – such as their personal pronouns. Paying attention to a person’s chosen personal pronouns and respecting how they wish to be addressed is just one way to be inclusive of others. 

The easiest way to ensure that your brand is both diverse and inclusive is to make it look like the world around you, showcasing a wide array of people and lifestyles.

It really is as easy – and as difficult – as that.

A great example comes from what might be an unexpected source: Hasbro’s Potato Head. Mr. Potato Head and Mrs. Potato Head were classic toys that many of us grew up with, but in 2021 Hasbro decided it was high-time to make some changes: the company dropped the gendered “Mr.” from the Potato Head brand name and launched gender-neutral family sets that include a variety of accessories kids can choose from when playing with the toys, allowing them to dress their Potato Head family up as they see fit. It’s a smart solution that is as clever as it is inclusive.

How to become an inclusive brand

Let’s say you’re a heritage babycare brand. It’s a safe bet that your target audience is mothers. Because of this, the look and feel of your brand is likely crafted to appeal to the traditional idea of mothers – which is to say, heterosexual women who exhibit traditionally feminine gender characteristics. Everything from ad creative to copy on your website, in campaigns, and on social media is likely anchored in what you believe will make a mother stop and pay attention.

It might sound like moving away from this decision is a complicated one – but it’s actually quite easy. The quickest way to make the change and become more inclusive is to shift your brand’s mindset from appealing to mothers to appealing to parents. 

From there, consider who parents are these days – their age range, their sexual orientations, their genders, and their ethnicities are absolutely core considerations and can help you begin to reflect the world today. For example, parents include heterosexual couples, working parents, single moms, same-sex couples, stay-at-home dads – the list goes on and on. 

Another key component of inclusion is to highlight different lifestyles. Consider how these parents express themselves as individuals, what aesthetics appeal to them, what their interests are, and then incorporate these details into your campaigns.

For example, choosing to feature a mother who has a full sleeve of tattoos, a heterosexual couple who have adopted a child of a different ethnicity, or a single dad who uses a wheelchair is a great start. The next step is to adapt the copy you use to include mothers, fathers, families, and parents and to weave in a variety of pronouns that those people might use. These changes will help ensure your brand is not just diverse, but inclusive.

With one change in mindset, you’ve suddenly unlocked a treasure trove of opportunities and begun to appeal to not just traditionally feminine mothers, but parents of all stripes.

How agencies can help

A recent survey by R3 found that 40% of agencies across Southeast Asia said their client briefs never include diversity and inclusion specifications. Beyond this, 44% of the advertisements included in the report’s review had narratives driven by a male perspective and showed women in domestic, familial, or maternal roles.

This goes to show that there is still much room for improvement across the region and that agencies can help be a catalyst for change by speaking with clients about diversity and inclusion and making proactive recommendations that can help steer them in a more inclusive direction.

Change isn’t always easy – but inclusivity is worth it

When your brand embarks on inclusive campaigns, it is possible that you’ll ruffle some feathers along the way and may even encounter calls for cancellation. It can be hard to come under fire – and even harder to withstand it. But ultimately, reasserting your brand’s perspective and displaying inclusivity is never a bad move.

Singaporean jeweller Poh Heng Jewellery has been lauded for its inclusive campaigns, such as 2018’s “A Journey of Trust,” which included images of real couples including two gay couples, and 2021’s “Created for Love,” which featured three brides from different ethnic backgrounds and religions.

While it is important to consider market demographics when building a campaign, it’s more important to consider your brand, your target audience, and what you stand for as a company. Even if there is backlash to a new, inclusive direction, you’ll be appealing to a group of people who perhaps have never felt acknowledged by your brand before – and there is immense power in that.

This article first appeared in Campaign Asia.

Need help with inclusive language? Talk to us: hello@mutant.com.sg

Many moons ago, Greek philosopher Heraclitus famously quoted “the only constant in life is change” – and he was right. 

The world around us is constantly evolving and the only way to keep up is to change. On a personal level, we’re always changing something or the other – be it a snazzy haircut, a new diet or a whole new career direction.

The same logic applies to businesses as well. As companies grow and navigate changing circumstances, they need to make certain alterations along the way to remain competitive. Rebranding a company can be an opportunity to showcase these changes to the wider community and stakeholder network – but this is a huge (and sometimes risky) endeavour to undertake. 

So how should one go about this?

The psychology of branding

Before we discuss whether or not a company should rebrand, there’s a more important question to address first – what is a “brand” anyway? Famous marketer David Ogilvy described it as “the intangible sum of a product’s attributes”. In simple terms, it refers to the first thing that consumers think of when they hear the name of a company’s product or service.

Brands — much like people — have a distinct personality in the public eye. For instance, Apple is the cool guy with the latest gizmos, while McDonald’s is like an old friend who’s comforting and consistent. These associations develop in our minds over time and form the basis of our attachment to brands. They result from a combination of many things, but essentially it all boils down to three key factors – name, logo and colour. 

Don’t believe me? Ask anyone for the first thing that comes to mind when they hear Apple and McDonald’s and it’s very likely to be a half-eaten apple and a red-nosed clown.

Why change?

Over the years, many companies have made significant alterations to their brand identity in various ways. From Starbucks to Coca-Cola, many of today’s iconic brands started out with very different aesthetics.

More often than not, the main reason for a rebrand is because business leaders feel that the brand identity is outdated, creating a disconnect from its audiences. This happens when consumer preferences have changed and the brand’s persona needs to catch up in order to avoid losing market share.

Getting it right

One thing to bear in mind though is that rebranding exercises are not always successful. Marketing history is rife with examples of brands that have failed in their attempt to pull off a successful rebrand – and many have ended up losing customers or damaging their reputation.

Changing brand aesthetics barely scratches the surface of what needs to be done in a successful rebrand. From a communications perspective, the work starts with deep changes to the brand’s positioning and core messaging. But words are not always enough, which means that the company also needs to develop actionable steps to showcase their commitment towards transformation.  

Rebranding is an important business that needs proper time, attention and resources to meticulously plan and execute. Last year, we worked with brands including Singapore’s second largest telco M1 and leading Voice AI start-up AI Rudder to guide them through this process & secure epic results.

Get in touch at hello@mutant.com.sg to find out more about how we can support your rebranding plans and efforts!

It’s easy to believe that nothing bad will ever happen to a business…until it does. 

A good crisis communications strategy is one of the most valuable assets a business can have, but is often overlooked and set aside – until there’s an issue. 

To better understand why a crisis communications strategy is essential for any business, let’s look at what qualifies as a crisis.

What is a crisis? 

There are many well-known instances of businesses going through crises, including the infamous BP oil spill, the tragic disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH307, and the Cadbury scandal in Malaysia. However, even if the situation is more subtle, it can be considerably detrimental to an organisation. 

Generally, a crisis can be classified as any instance that threatens public safety, the reputation of an organisation or its industry, finances, and internal and external stakeholders.

There are many crises that could occur, ranging from internal conflicts and instances that become known to the public  to external circumstances such as natural disasters. These catastrophes  tend to occur with little to know warning, giving businesses short notice to react. Whether the crisis was caused due to internal or external circumstances, it’s critical for businesses to take control of the situation and  navigate the storm effectively. 

The importance of a well-rounded crisis strategy

When you think about crisis management, it’s likely that you are only thinking about public relations.  However, that’s just one piece of the puzzle. In a crisis situation, it is not only the public that is affected, but  everyone within the organisation too. A well-developed crisis management strategy conveys accurate information and key messages to all key stakeholders, including the CEO, stakeholders, and not to forget – all employees. 

If all communications are targeted at external stakeholders, there is always a possibility that employees themselves are misinformed. This poses a serious risk to the business’s reputation, which is why it is key to brief all stakeholders.

Key steps in a crisis management strategy 

Of course, the best thing to do is avoid a crisis, if possible. While some things are out of our control, other  crises only occur when an issue is not dealt with appropriately from a communications perspective, and then gets blown out of proportion. 

Hence, the first step to successfully resolving a crisis is having a good crisis management team onboard, consisting of communications professionals,  stakeholders, and designated spokespeople. By having a crisis comms strategy and team in place, many day-to-day problems can be managed quickly, correctly and seamlessly, before any major reputational damage can occur.

Of course, in the case that a crisis really cannot be avoided, it’s important for businesses to keep the following framework in mind: 

• Assessment 
  • Adopting a “shoot first and ask questions later” approach can feel right at the time, given the time and external pressure but it is one of the most detrimental approaches to a crisis.

Ensuring the situation is investigated and assessed is key to get to the bottom of the issue, and the first step in creating an effective messaging to navigate the storm. 

• Developing key messaging and stance 
  • Previously, we discussed the importance of all stakeholders being aligned –  and developing a crisis-specific key messaging framework and stance is the most effective way to do this.

Developing a clear and simple messaging will help all spokespersons and stakeholders get on the same page when representing the organisation and help reduce the chance of conflicting messages.

• Identify appropriate communications methods 
  • There are many ways to communicate during a crisis situation, and it is important to find the right channel to address all stakeholders. Identifying your audience will clarify how they need to be addressed. 

While a well-crafted press release can sometimes do the job, other situations would require letters, exclusive interviews or even press conferences to address stakeholders in an impactful manner. 

• Monitor and improve 
  • No matter how flawless your communications methods might be, not everyone is going to be onboard with it. It’s important to derive key learnings from crisis situations and continuously improve your crisis communications strategy. 

Need help navigating a crisis? We can help: hello@mutant.com.sg

While businesses across the globe have faced their fair share of challenges over the past two years, their customers and clients have had the same amount of time to reflect on and re-evaluate their beliefs, habits, and stance in many areas – and their relationship with brands is no exception.

In fact, a staggering 94% of consumers globally find that it’s important for brands that they engage with to have a strong purpose. This is particularly true for the APAC region, as consumers are found to be significantly less forgiving of brands, with 91% of Malaysian consumers and 89% of Singaporean consumers stating they would act against brands that they disagree with. 

This focus on reputation is echoed in the ICCO’s World PR Report 2020-2021, which summarised corporate reputation management as a key opportunity for PR professionals; it has seen the highest growth rate of all areas surveyed, with a 41% increase. After all, if a business’ reputation is accurately, appropriately and honestly communicated, it will show in their bottom line. The World Economic Forum says one quarter of a company’s market value can be directly linked to its reputation, and 87% of executives think reputational challenges are more important than other strategic risks. 

The problem is that nearly 40% of consumers state they distrust traditional advertising which ultimately requires social media to pick up the slack and drive a company’s marketing and communications efforts. 

Whether consumers trust social media or not, the reality is that people have grown increasingly reliant on organic and authentic testimonials – and social media is the quickest and most accessible gateway to exactly that. This then creates the true task for communicators – how do we nurture organic feedback and authentic conversation that is in line with our brand’s key messages and goals? How do we work together with our clients to create a reputation so strong, relatable, clear, and truthful that our customers are proud to carry our flags for us?

I believe that this is where the future of communication lies, and this is the conversation to be having with our clients. 

When customers choose which brand to engage with, they are influenced by a variety of factors, many of which we can safely say fall under the umbrella of ‘reputation’. Apple, for example, does this very well – dominating the consumer technology market for years now with devices that are priced at a premium, having gained the reputation of creating reliable and cutting-edge technology.

Tapping into the trendy green agenda, the company  recently removed the chargers from their new devices to reduce plastic waste (to the annoyance of pretty much everyone) – but carrying an iPhone is so closely tied to a superior lifestyle, that ultimately it doesn’t matter what they do. As the World’s Most Admired Company for the 14th year in a row, the status symbol its products carry continues to drive sales. 

While this is a great example of a solid and well-managed reputation that does all the work for the brand, let’s look at the potential disaster coming Dior’s way. 

French fashion house Dior has one of the most established reputations in the luxury fashion world, having delivered class and elegance since the 1940s. However, brand love is about to be put to the test, as its entire next men’s collection is a collaboration with Travis Scott – the youth-culture icon and rapper who is being at least partially blamed for his role in multiple deaths at the recent Astroworld festival in Texas. So far, Scott has released a brief statement, and there are more than 30 lawsuits pending against Scott and the festival organisers. 

So, where does this leave Dior in regards to managing its reputation? The company has yet to address its plans, but there are really only two options: proceed with launching the men’s wear line that is already in production, and prepare for the devastating social media backlash; or pull the plug. 

If it were my decision, based on the core principles of the future of communications – the increasing need to foster authentic, organic feedback that supports our brand’s reputation – the answer is very clear. Dior is all about class, and the classy thing to do is to pull the plug, all while communicating to the brand’s audiences that they simply could not proceed to support Scott, given the recent devastating events he has been a part of, despite the financial impact this will have on the business. 

While it’s a decision that will incur substantial monetary loss in the short-term, the long-term effect on Dior’s reputation will be positively received by Gen Z’s touchscreen warriors. It presents an opportunity for Dior to establish themselves among a new generation as a brand that is true to its values. 

So while consumers play the biggest part in developing a company’s reputation, the need to manage corporate reputation will never disappear –  and it’s our job to effectively communicate this to our clients and help them understand the importance of the work that we do. By helping them accept these new consumer realities, the importance of building a well-loved brand and a fail-safe crisis management strategy, as well as the financial benefits of building a solid and celebrated reputation, we will continue to establish great PR as one of the most valuable assets to businesses.

For communicators, the new reality is about becoming even more vigilant, attuned and proactive than ever, beating the media and information evolution to the punch with authentic messages and actions. 

Our strategies, relationships and landscape knowledge need to continue evolving to give us the biggest chance of ensuring client success. This means reimagining the way we communicate and being brave enough to advise on some tough decisions. 

While that is undoubtedly a difficult task, if it were easy, it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun. 

This blog was the winning entry for the PRCA APAC Future Leader’s Award 2021, and first appeared here.

Want to manage your brand’s reputation better? Talk to us: hello@mutant.com.sg

Coke versus Pepsi. Nike versus Adidas. Apple versus Android. 

Chances are you immediately picked a side. Here’s a question: hand on your heart, what makes these so different?

Sure, you could make a case for minor  variations between each product — Pepsi cola for example is known to be a bit sweeter than Coca-Cola – and you might even have a few valid points. But the differences themselves aren’t enough to substantiate how wildly divisive these brands can be. So what gives one an edge over the other? 

Two words: your brand. Brand marketing is powerful, and even more so in today’s world, where digital consumers are constantly bombarded by brand messages and advertising. According to PWC, 70% of consumers consider brand trust to be an essential factor in their buying decisions. 

Businesses know this — that’s why so many of them consider customer engagement and advocacy a top priority. But while that outward perspective is important, it’s equally crucial to turn the focus inward and think about your internal customers — your employees.

Whether it’s C-suite leadership living out brand values, or the impression your intern leaves with after their first day of work, being an authentic brand means truly living out your values through every interaction, and through every employee. 

Because when people trust your people, they’ll trust you.

Here’s how you can make that happen:

Start at the top

Talking the talk and more importantly, walking the talk is crucial to building authenticity. And this is especially necessary for your leadership team that represents the company in every interaction. Whether it’s in real life, media interviews, or even interactions with your customers on social media, authentic leaders pave the way for authentic brands.

A great global example is Walmart CEO Doug McMillion, who has almost a million followers on LinkedIn. McMillion uses the professional networking platform to share significant corporate updates in engaging ways. His Facebook page is filled with similar examples, such as this image of himself signing long-service certificates for Walmart staff. The post organically garnered many positive comments about his warm and authentic leadership, and how much he cares for his people.

As the individuals with the most public profiles, your C-Suite can benefit from proactive reputation management and strategic public relations (PR) and social media support. In fact, a report found that more than half of consumers want CEOs to have a personal presence on social media, allowing them to feel more accessible and human. If your C-Suite leadership succeeds in being authentic, personable, and believable, they can change the way consumers think about your brand.

Context matters

When it comes to inspiring brand trust, showing your customers that you care about their specific needs goes  a long way. This is particularly important for brands with global teams, who need to connect with and understand regional markets to capture local consumers. 

We’ve seen this play out in our work with global SaaS company Zendesk, where we helped build their share of voice in the region by developing hyper-local narratives from global flagship reports, clinching key interview and commentary opportunities in our media landscape. 

In the last year alone, we achieved a 40% increase in year-on-year coverage across top-tier mainstream and trade media titles, driving Zendesk’s global business messaging in our regional market.

Overall, a hyper-localised context plays a key role in resonating with local audiences. Tuning in to the demands of the region shows that you care about, and are deeply rooted in the immediate community, building a sense of solidarity between customer and brand.

The not-so-silent majority

While targeted PR solutions for key leadership and spokespeople can help build trust and credibility for your brand, your biggest potential for brand advocacy is, and will always be, your everyday employees. 

When you ensure that your employees feel valued at work, and that they are able to live out the brand values at the core of your organisation, you create the most compelling case for authenticity. The organic nature of this advocacy instills deep trust among your people and ultimately, in the people around them.

We work hard to do this at Mutant everyday, and were recently recognized as the Best Agency to Work For (mid-sized) by PRWeek Asia. And while the recognition is nice, it isn’t essential. If you value your people, it will show in the way they champion your brand. That’s how you build brand authenticity at every level.

Want to add to this conversation? Chat with us at hello@mutant.com.sg

COVID-19 disrupted everyone’s lives and prompted businesses to restructure – while some had to change their business strategies, others were forced to pivot and diversify to stay in the game.

But some businesses took a different tack: rebranding in the midst of the pandemic. Rebranding is generally not the first strategy considered when execs need to steer their companies back on track – but it’s one the Mutant design team often advocates for.  So when we noticed all this branding, we asked questions like, “Why did they rebrand?” and “How would a brand refresh help them navigate through the pandemic?”

Rebranding in such turbulent times is a big move. Let’s look at three businesses that  it did and the key lessons we can learn from them:

The Self-Discovery of Burger King

Image credit: Designboom

Okay, Burger King revealed its fresh (retro?) look in January 2021,but the work most likely began in the middle of 2020. Though the fast-food chain has never stopped releasing head-turning ads over the past 20 years, its visual identity has suffered since the last rebrand. In our opinion, it was outdated, unmemorable, and unappetizing. So, yes – it was time to rebrand before it lost top-of-mind awareness  from its increasingly visually-driven audience. 

The question is, “why now?”

Here’s what the brand and its agency said about their rebranding exercise:
“For Burger King’s first global rebrand in more than two decades, we set out to make the brand feel less synthetic and artificial, and more real, crave-able and tasty. We were inspired by the brand’s original logo and how it has grown to have an iconic place in culture. The new logo pays homage to the brand’s heritage with a refined design that’s confident, simple and fun.”

This retro-inspired visual identity is a stroke of genius; the logo and brand typeface are so lovably chunky and the revised colour palette evokes a juicy and delicious burger. We could almost taste a Whopper when we looked at the new design. In a time when we interact with screens more than ever before, there’s no doubt that Burger King made the right choice.

Go Daddy Gets with the Times

Image credit: Creative Bloq

Go Daddy had its fair share of controversy in its early years, most notably for their suggestive commercials. There was a time when “sex sells” was an acceptable way of generating interest for businesses, but times have changed for the better – and Go Daddy needed to change its brand messaging or risk being canceled. And change it did.

In 2020, GoDaddy unveiled its new look and voice. According to the company’s own tweet, “Our new logo, the GO, is all about empowering you—the everyday entrepreneur—to do what you love. Go after your dreams and make ’em real, knowing we’re here to help every step of the way.”

Visually, GoDaddy’s new look may not be groundbreaking, but the shift in the brand messaging is a fine example of a holistic rebrand: from a loud, shouty web domain provider that made unsavoury impressions to a brand seeking to empower “everyday entrepreneurs”. Some might say GoDaddy lost its quirk and personality, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Everyone grows up.

Julie’s Shot in a Rapidly Digitised World

Image credit: The Drum

Let’s look at a brand closer to home. Julie’s is a 35 year-old biscuit brand from Malaysia, and whether you like their biscuits or not, it’s considered a household name in its home country. So it’s safe to assume that everyone noticed the makeover. The question is, why?

According to its brand director (the son of the brand’s founder), the pandemic spurred the brand to futureproof itself by going digital. The result of this rebranding exercise resulted in a total makeover and a reorganisation of their product portfolio. 

Visually-speaking, Julie’s was long overdue for a facelift. We believe that the new look is more digital-friendly and appealing to the younger generation, and we’re excited to see how a legacy brand like Julie’s will leverage a new look to achieve  brand vitality that will help it stay present in local households.

Now that the global pandemic is slowing, you may be wondering, “is this the right time to rebrand?” The answer is simply, “it depends”. Did you rediscover what made your brand so lovable during the pandemic? Have recent events caused you to reevaluate the marketing direction that worked in the past? Did your company experience an organisational change that brought along a new set of goals and values? If your answer to any of these questions is “yes”, then yes, you should consider rebranding.

At Mutant, we can do more than just giving brands a makeover. Our team can help you troubleshoot your brand and find out what connects with your audience. Drop us an email at hello@mutant.com.sg to learn what we can do to help.

Though Halloween is just behind us, we’re still thinking about witches, ghosts, and scary stories. However, brands are probably worried about something more terrifying — campaigns gone wrong. 

These monsters, unlike gremlins and other spooky creatures, consume your money, and harm your brand’s reputation, keeping you awake at night. While these campaigns may or may not have achieved their goals, they left an indelible mark on the public that is difficult to forget years after they were launched. 

Every business has a marketing budget that it spends on hiring the best and brightest in the advertising industry to create campaigns that drive leads. While it sometimes works out nicely, other times they fail miserably.

Some setbacks are easy to overcome while others might lead to the demise of a company. To understand how to avoid such a scary situation, let’s look at campaigns that have resulted in terrifying results. Think of them as cautionary tales.

Pepsi’s “Live For Now–Moments” commercial with Kendall Jenner

Brent Lewin / Getty Images for Pepsi

Pepsi received a lot of criticism for its now infamous commercial in which Kendall Jenner hands a can of Pepsi to police officers on the front lines of a protest. The commercial, released during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, was supposed to convey a message of peace, unity, and understanding, but instead seemed to imply that if protestors were nicer to police officers, there might not be clashes during protests. Ultimately, the commercial was panned for not only being tone deaf, but trivialising social justice protests.

Krispy Kreme’s “Krispy Kreme Klub”

Krispy Kreme UK / Facebook

Corporate community programs have long been a popular way for businesses to interact directly with customers, while also providing a free service or product. But when Krispy Kreme UK decided to put together a week’s worth of entertaining events for families during school vacations in England, somehow no one noticed that the activity planned for Wednesday was regrettably dubbed ‘KKK Wednesday’. 

The brand was so caught up in the idea of ‘Krispy Kreme Klub’ – which is what the KKK is supposed to be an acronym for here –that the clear reference to the notoriously racist hate group, the Ku Klux Klan slipped through the cracks and was promoted on Facebook. Though Krispy Kreme quickly deleted the commercial and apologised, the harm had already been done: parodies and Photoshop photos of Ku Klux Klan members enjoying Krispy Kreme doughnuts, quickly circulated across the internet.

Amazon: The Man in the High Castle

Katherine Lam/Pix11 News

Amazon drama The Man in the High Castle debuted in 2015 and presented a dystopian future in which Nazi Germany and Japan govern the United States after World War II. Amazon chose to promote the show in a New York City subway station and in a subway train – there were 260 posters in the station and the train’s seats, walls, and ceiling were covered in a rendition of the American flag, with the stars replaced by a German eagle and iron cross. 

The ads were supposed to run for 2-3 weeks until early December, but they were yanked hours after New York Mayor Bill de Blasio contacted Amazon to request that they be removed because they were “irresponsible and insensitive to World War II and Holocaust survivors, their families, and countless other New Yorkers.”. The lesson learned: even when fictionalized, historical events are nevertheless sensitive and using real imagery from such a devastating world event is a very bad idea.

Here are some valuable takeaways: 

Always double-check your work before submitting it

When you’re deep in a project, you sometimes can’t see the forest through the trees. Create a procedure for developing, editing, and proofreading content before you hit publish and get a lot of eyeballs on it.

Consider the zeitgeist

The majority of these marketing strategies failed because they were tone-deaf. Always think about the consequences of your work and how it may affect others. Examine your marketing messages and content  from all angles, and have a think about how people of other ages, cultures, sexualities, genders, and socioeconomic situations might interpret your work.

For instance, if you want to run a humorous campaign, avoid making content that’s tacky or tasteless. Do your homework if you plan to incorporate pop culture references and make sure you don’t include offensive or insensitive content. 

Being funny is a great way to engage people, but don’t let your brand’s values and convictions get lost in the shuffle. Remember that comedy is a subjective experience. Even if you don’t plan to offend your audience, you risk inviting  backlash that will affect your business and image if you discuss a sensitive topic.

Pay attention to what’s going on in the world right now

Sometimes, what might otherwise be a perfectly fine campaign is released at precisely the wrong time. To avoid this type of situation, it’s important to pay attention to emerging trends and breaking news so that you can postpone a campaign that might suddenly be considered offensive or insensitive before it goes live. 

On the flip side of this, consumers are smart — they can tell when a campaign is jumping on a bandwagon.  If you’re simply trendjacking or looking for clout rather than genuinely joining in, they’ll see straight through your efforts and what you’re really after: a PR opportunity at the expense of actual people.

Isn’t it true that any publicity is good publicity?

While we’ve all heard this adage, we should probably re-examine the statement in the content of modern-day marketing campaigns. The businesses mentioned in this article wanted to establish their brand by employing one-of-a-kind marketing initiatives — but their efforts did not go as planned. While they are now a part of online discourse, it’s at the expense of their reputations. Clearly, going viral isn’t always a positive thing.

Looking for a partner that can help you plan content and campaigns that aren’t hair-raising? Drop us a line at hello@mutant.com.sg