BRANDS VS. BORIS

In classic Newsjacking style, brands were out in force today playfully capitalising on the biggest breaking news story of the week — Boris Johnson's demise. Among the usual suspects enjoying the trending tailwind was KFC, Burger King, Brewdog, Iceland and more.

​Burger King's Brand & Communications Director was particularly proud of her team's swift 7-hour turnaround of the below creative:

​Not bad for 7-hours, huh?

Burger King's efficiency got us thinking: what could we do here at ICONS & MACHINES in a fraction of that time — in one hour, to be precise? So, we gave ourselves one hour to pick any brand we like then mock-up a quick ad that subtly references the resignation without being overly partisan. Given the limited time, we didn't at all concern ourselves with artistic merit, so we'd appreciate it if you didn't judge us too harshly on that metric either. ha. 

In the allotted 60-minutes, we assembled 3 mock-ups. In no particular order, see below for our fun output.

1: B&Q

2: Uber

3: McDonald's

CONCLUSION:

Of the 3 mock-ups, we definitely have our favourite, but there's no need to disclose which was the contentious one and which was the runaway fav because these things are largely subjective. That said, clarity, tone and strength of message are key determinants of an ad's effectiveness, so based on that, let's just admit that the B&Q ad wins. 

What do you think? : )