The bear

Happy Friday,

How was your week,

Mine was filled with worthwhile times with my mother who finally got her surgery and beautifully getting back to her troublemaker old self. (like mother like daughter)

Calvin Klein has been making headlines for their boundary-pushing campaigns showcasing an inseparable duo, celebrity and controversy for over 50 years.

1980: Brooke Shield

1992: Marky Mark  

1995: Kate Moss

2013: First Super Bowl Ad

2015: Justin Bieber

2019: Shawn Mendes 

2021: Jacob Elerbi (Saltburn anyone?)

Recognizable for their polished look, showcasing sex symbols and supermodels saying raunchy lines in their underwear, these campaigns never fail to spark conversations and launch careers. 

Unsurprisingly, the latest sensation, Jeremy Allen White, is now making headlines for Calvin Klein. If you haven’t watched The Bear yet, you should, a show portraying the life of a young chef in the soul-crushing realities of the restaurant business. (Matty Matheson is in it too btw)

This week, I wanted to highlight how brands are getting good at recognizing and jumping on hot cultural conversations while remaining authentic.

Away: showcasing their washboard abs similarly: 

Or the German craft beer maker Brlo promoting its alcohol-free offering 

Both managed in a rapid turnaround (24 hrs for Away) to leverage the awareness created by Jeremy’s Calvin Klein campaign to their advantage while remaining very on-brand. 

More and more the ability for brand to:

• Have awareness on cultural hot topics and meme

• Find their authentic spin on it 

• Ability to turnaround at record speed

Will become secret weapons is no longer about mimicking the tik tok trend but making it your own where your brand current and future advocates are.

See you next week