I should be using my standing desk right now. Or really, my treadmill desk (yes, I have one, yes, I look ridiculous). My back keeps locking up, so then I want to sit down, but the reason it locks up is because I spend too much time sitting… yeah, I hear myself. |
BUT HEY, Happy Wednesday, as they say. Let’s talk about social media things, yeah? |
We’ve got a slightly new newsletter format for ya, with MORE CONTENT. You’ll get: |
A video case study on ChatGPT’s viral brand content A cool partnership that gets you a free & genuinely useful social report A long essay about social media characters & whether your brand needs one.
|
Happy reading, friends. |
—Jack Appleby |
|
|
|
|
What's your biggest Social Media question? We'll answer it. With data. For free.
So I'm pretty impressed with Syncly. They're a social listening tool that actually analyzes every social media video—every frame, every word, every sound—and reports on all of it.
They're gonna give you FREE consulting + a brand social media report. You get a 15 minute call with their analyst, who's gonna help you craft an insight-based question. Maybe it's about category whitespace, or competitor positioning, or a post-campaign audit, or a creator roster.
Then BOOM—they'll send you a free report with real data on your brand.
Click over here to get your time + report booked, and make sure to hit me after, I'm curious what goodness they unearth for ya. |
|
|
ChatGPT went viral on Instagram by making fun of Instagram |
I’m sure you saw Instagram’s new wordmark. I’ll bet you saw bunches of brands parody it, too. But ChatGPT pretty clearly won, generating almost 900,000 likes (?!) on a single post with a perfectly executed brand trend.
Watch my breakdown below, and follow me on Instagram—gonna do daily brand social breakdowns over there! |
|
|
|
|
Should your brand get a Mascot? |
|
|
Let's be honest, marketers. Ever since Duo The Owl hit TikTok, we've all wished our brands had social-worthy characters to make content for. That giant green fowl inspired a wave of immaculate mascot conception, with products across every category suddenly sprouting arms & legs & personalities. |
The latest birth: Niles, Croc’s new social mascot. His hatching came with a press release that makes me believe Nile’s gonna be a big social success (we’ll get to the why later). |
But what actually goes into creating a Social Mascot? How do you know if your brand has the juice? |
Let’s talk Social Mascot GOATs, how to launch a successful Social Mascot, and… a jar of mayonnaise with arms. |
 |
Watch now on TikTok |
@duolingo |
twerking through the pain #Duolingo #Dulapeep #DuaLipa #futurenostalgiatour #madisonsquaregarden |
|
|
|
What makes a great Social Mascot? |
I apologize for all the birth-related jokes, but you really do gotta treat these Mascots as living creatures if you want them to succeed socially. Let’s run through what the best all have in common. |
It’s a character, not a costume. Duolingo's Duo is the gold standard here. That damn bird hit on Dua Lipa, faked its own death, got a BBL from Dr. Miami, and had babies with Scrub Daddy. That’s not to say you gotta be completely insane for mascot success, but you’ve certainly gotta have a personality that makes someone want to follow along. Flaws, quirks, relationship, story arcs. Can’t just be a mall Santa. |
The brand tie’s gotta be obvious. Pop-Tarts sacrificed their own mascot on live TV, dropping the poor guy into a giant toaster. The absurdity & shock value were top notch, but what’s important here: that’s literally what we do with our Pop-Tarts. The character’s true to the product, completing the (I can’t believe I’m typing this) the Pop-Tart circle of life. We relate to the character and moment because we’ve experienced it. |
 |
Watch now on TikTok |
@espn |
#cfb #football #byu #poptart |
|
|
|
It makes content easier, not harder. Dunkin's Spidey D is forever my fav example. No big spend on a mascot suit, no expensive video shoots—the brand mostly just gave their fan-beloved Halloween donut a personality, then applied some clever graphic design to a mostly still-image campaign. Production wise, one of the cheapest-yet-effective social campaigns of all-time. Mascots should be a strategic solution, not a bigger challenge. |
You commit to the bit. When Crocs launched Niles, their CMO called it "a long-term investment in scalable intellectual property." That’s the energy I need if you’re gonna mascot your brand. You gotta dream big & have a spider-web’s worth of ideas on what you’re gonna do with your new character. |
You gotta keep your characters on main |
|
|
I think Niles is a winner, but Crocs launched dedicated channels for the character (@NilesTheCroc), and I reallyyy hope that's not where most of his content lives. Duo The Owl nests on @Duolingo for a reason—he’s part of the brand. |
Launching a second channel just creates double the work when Niles should be occupying a percentage of that 3.3 million follower @Crocs feed. Put him on main. That's where the audience is, and that's how you make the character and the brand feel like one thing. It’s a good character! Put him in front of your real audience, don’t try to make another one. |
The Cautionary Tale of Manny Mayo |
Now let's talk about what happens when you don't do any of that. |
No one asked for a 7-foot tall mayo jar, but Hellman’s debuted that nightmare fuel back in 2024. Keep in mind, most of their brand marketing’s pretty great, like their cologne drop that I may or may not have on my dresser.
But this is embarrassingggggg. |
 |
Watch now on TikTok |
@hellmannsmayonnaise |
Gotta turn that mindset into a grindset, twin ✨ |
|
|
|
You can’t just toss shitty memes on humanized mayo and expect anyone to care, and boy, the internet did not care. That TikTok above has 28 likes. Cringey as fuck. |
For Manny to matter, Hellman’s should’ve played into what makes mayo mayo. I’d have loved him to champion the mayo lovers (me) who constantly have to defend their fav condiment, or manically trying to convince haters to taste the spread. Or ANYTHING that shows some personality and character development. |
Should Your Brand Get a Mascot? |
You definitely don't want a Manny, so ask yourself these questions before you mascot your brand: |
Is there an obvious character already hiding in your brand? Can you give your character real personality that’s socially-compelling while staying true to your brand? Will it make your content easier to produce, not harder? Are you ready to commit for the long haul?
|
If you can't check all four, don't force it. Plenty of other content ideas out there.
What I really want is a Smash Bros or Celebrity Deathmatch between all the mascots, but uh, that has nothing to do with social strategy, so… yeah. |
|
