Platform news

Here’s to another month of WNOS – our monthly report where we update you on the latest news, trends and tips in Social & Digital – helping to keep you constantly in the know. We’ve made a few changes to our tried-and-true recipe, and we hope you love our update as much as we do.

June Highlights

TikTok Jacket Potato mania

Food trends have always been cyclical. The very 90s Espresso Martini is back. 80s Cottage cheese. But it’s time for the timeless staple to finally have the spotlight. Everyone, please welcome to the stage… the jacket potato! But what can brands learn from this apotheosis of potato?

The humble jacket spud has been blowing up on social media with the arrival of entrepreneurs, food truck enthusiasts, and rivals, the Spud Brothers and The Spud Man. These restaurateurs are famous for their POV-videos of prepping and serving of jacket potatoes out of their food van, with toppings like chilli con carne, beans, tuna mayo, and garlic butter. Their fans queue for hours to eat the jacket spud.

In an increasingly globalised world, we can often forget that our culture is foreign to many other people. TikTokers like Britney, Charly-Ann, and Cory’s World have been promoting Britain and traditional British foods overseas. In the US, kids are speaking with MLE London accents thanks to British Grime and Drill, Guinness and #pubculture are trending on TikTok, and Doctor Who is back on telly. Are we on the verge of a new era of Cool Britannia?

At F&B, we’ve tried to remind everyone that British culture is powerful and valid on a global stage, with our work for the A-Z of Brilliant Britishness. It looks like the rest of the world is following our lead!

Instagram, again?

It seems like every edition of What’s New On Social begins with a breakdown of TikTok’s latest venture into the app world. From Gaming, to Shop, to Lemon8, to Notes, to the all-new Whee, has the social media giant finally fumbled?

Whee is TikTok’s latest attempt at creating a flanker platform, targeting fans of image-based social feeds. It follows hot on the heels of Notes, their attempt to take over the crowd from X/Twitter, and Lemon8, their Pinterest experiment. Whee’s USP is that it is solely private – you can only see and share photos between friends; you can’t be discovered.

Brands need to understand that even though they are the Online Generation, Gen Z want alternatives to the continuous doomscrolling. A safe place to connect with friends and family, without the inundation of influencers, ad campaigns, and shops, can feel like a utopia in the current internet landscape. Can you be their safe space?

Brand inspiration

June Highlights

Off-putting Oslo

Visit Oslo has put out an ad that does the opposite of what it says on the tin. It actively discourages people from coming to Oslo, pointing out how small the city is, how cold, and how parochial – all the things that people who don’t live in Oslo find utterly charming. How has playing hard to get fared?

The ad was a smashing success, going viral across the internet. The spot not only showcased Oslo, but tapped into that feeling everyone has when they see tourists visiting their hometown: why on earth would you want to holiday here?

It also taps into how you don’t see what’s right in front of you, and considers things ‘boring’ that others would think were cool. Look at TikToks of Eurosummer, and see how Americans are reacting to the fact that no one in Europe carries around refillable water bottles, walks everywhere, and doesn’t wear athleisure to see that sometimes it’s the things right under our nose that we don’t realise are what make us unique.

Many other brands have leant into quirky humour to sell holidays. Visit Iceland parodied the Metaverse in their ad, inviting people to visit the Icelandverse where “everything is real and has been for millions of years.” Or, the Visit Sweden campaign set up by yours truly, poking fun at how people mix up Sweden and Switzerland. Come for the holiday, stay for the jokes!

Flat-pack gaming

IKEA has announced that they are looking for new hires – on Roblox. Gamers will be paid to furnish their homes online in a virtual experience called The Co-Worker, exploring and working in the virtual world of IKEA.

In order to showcase the flat(pack) organisational structure at IKEA, executives launched a paying Roblox game that allows people to explore all the different roles in the company. They can change their careers and departments, growing in any direction, just like they can in the real world.

IKEA is going the whole hog with this. They have virtual interviews for their virtual shortlist, before announcing their virtual role – and they’ll be paid a very real hourly wage for the experience. It’s designed to be that first taste of a real job for many people, who perhaps didn’t think of IKEA as a viable employment opportunity.

Is this the future? Now that IKEA has set the precedent, maybe all brands will be offering work experience in the online world. Barclays offers something similar – although not nearly as cool – with their digital agency video, offering young people a chance to feel the atmosphere of a bank. IKEA is taking it all one step further.

Keeping Up

with the trends in June

Girlpop summer

Sabrina! Chappell! Charli! Billie! All of the next-gen pop girlies are releasing albums this summer, and music has never felt more alive. From critically acclaimed BRAT, to duelling No.1s Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan, to Billie overtaking Taylor as Spotify’s most streamed female artist, it really is hot girl summer.

Scandi summer

We’re seeing a huge surge in Scandinavian inspired styles this summer – and it’s not just in the Forsman offices. From pinstripe linen trousers, padded blousons, and a lot of gingham, everyone on the street is dressing up like Snufkin and Little My. We love it!

Sunscreen

Sunscreen has arguably been having a momet since 2018, with everyone and their mother insisting tha you need to wear SPF to stay skin healthy. Our favourite brand? Vacation. Their gloriously retro stylings, and their shop listing for a hovercraft, are heralding a return to the true way: the way of the 1980s.

House of the Dragon

The Golden Child of television is back. House of the Dragon, the prequel to the events of Game of Thrones, is event TV for the ages. With the last season spawning memes and discussions galore – negroni spagliato, a tipsy Milly Alcock – we’re lying in wait to see what this next season has in store.