Whether you’re sweltering through a continental heatwave or suffering through the changeable and blustery weather that passes for summer in the northern UK, we hope your summer is going well.
At What’s Next HQ, we’re getting back into a rhythm after a few weeks of back-to-back holidays and impromptu trips and gearing up for a busy autumn of travel, client projects and planning for… what’s next.
Whether you’re starting to feel ‘back to school season’ productive vibes or clinging on to the slower feeling of summer, here’s this week’s round-up of marketing ideas, ads we like and tools to help your workday…
Ad of the week
Amid the political debate about small boats, safe routes and what number of migrants is ‘enough’, it can be easy to forget about the actual humans putting every penny and ounce of hope they have into making a dangerous journey to a new life in the UK.
This ad from a campaign for the charity Refugease cut through all the noise and brought home the stark reality for the people making those journeys. It’s part of a whole series, including immersive out-of-home placements aimed at commuters presumably disgruntled by the perceived discomfort of their current journey.
The placements immerse them in the disorienting feeling of being on or in the water. It left us with goosebumps …and reaching for our wallet.
Are you taking enough risks?
We enjoyed this interview with Lego’s head of marketing innovation, Cecilia Weckstrom, in The Drum. In it, she talked about how Lego embraces its biggest customers and seeks to bring the ‘super fans’ into its world, letting them create products and generate ideas for the brand.
We might not all be as lucky to have a product as beloved as Lego, but we can all learn from Weckstrom’s take on risk-taking in business. We can all recognise the fear of rocking the boat that can creep in once you have a few successful years under your belt.
But the advice that those who continue to innovate will be the long-term winners is a cliche for a reason. How can you bring an innovative mindset back to your marketing this week?
“Perhaps counter-intuitively, I’ve learned that the more wins you have, the more risk-averse people become. From a leadership and organisational development standpoint, we have to ring-fence and protect that spirit of experimentation and ensure that its part of the program remains robust.”
Find some mojo
We’ve been exploring content creation tools for a client project this week, and the Mojo app has a ton of templates for creating high-quality Reels, Stories, and TikTok videos, with trending styles and a huge collection of different styles.
It could be just the thing to make creating fresh social media content for your business feel less daunting.
The free plan offers plenty of templates to help you determine whether this will help you, and the pro plan is only £40 for the year.
And finally… YOU need a holiday 🏝️
It’s one of those adulthood lessons one has to learn over and over again—a break is good for you.
We’ve both just returned from a week in the sunshine, and feeling recovered from a tiredness we hadn’t noticed had crept into our bones.
A week abroad might not be within everyone’s reach, but please take some time to put the phone and laptop away and recharge your own battery.
It’s actual science.
And if you feel like you absolutely cannot step away from your business, read this from Lauren Currie:
