Around the World: American governor Newsom employs a Trump-inspired social strategy

Media expert Antony Young rounds up media news from beyond Aotearoa in a regular column for StopPress.

This week:

• California governor Gavin Newsom’s comms team has employed a bold social media strategy with a Trump-inspired style.
• Wimbledon’s content marketing team share how they coordinated their social strategy for this year’s tournament.
• How a simple logo refresh landed dining and country store Cracker Barrel in a national PR crisis.
• Netflix has gone full horoscope hottie with a Zodiac Watchlist that promises to curate your watchlist based on your star sign.
• A recent AANA survey suggests that people don’t want junk food ad restrictions – rather a more proactive and positive approach to tackling obesity.
• Duolingo is hiring for a new head of social media – a position worth up to $580,000 NZD.

Governor Newsom trolls Trump as part of a coordinated social media strategy

The New York Times reports how California governor Gavin Newsom’s comms team has employed a bold social media strategy with a Trump-inspired style on X (formerly Twitter).

The content mimicks the president’s Truth Social style with all-caps rants, dismissive nicknames, AI-generated images and over-the-top boasts. Originally intended as a one-off joke, the approach portraying Newsom as “AMERICA’S MOST FAVORITE GOVERNOR” went viral and significantly boosted engagement, growing the account’s following by 250,000 since August 1.

Supporters see it as “fighting fire with fire,” countering Trump’s bombastic communications and energising liberal audiences, while critics, including the White House and conservative commentators, call the tactic childish, weird and politically risky.

Newsom’s team claims the strategy reflects the realities of today’s internet-driven politics, where humour, speed and spectacle dominate attention, but the shift raises questions about whether he’s positioning himself for the presidency or simply trolling for effect.

Wimbledon six-love when it comes to social media

This interview with Wimbeldon’s content marketing team is well worth the read on how they augment their social media strategy behind the SW19 event. Over the course of the month leading into and during this year’s tournament they produced nearly 6,000 posts and generated over 2.7 billion video views.

Any marketer would be left jealous at the resources they have behind the event: a social media team backed up by four videographers and an army of photographers function like a fast-moving digital newsroom. I loved a couple of their guiding principles “posted is better than perfect” and “emotion over production.”

They categorise content into a campfire, bonfire and firework moments.

Campfire content delivers high-frequency, low-lift posts like game highlights. Bonfire content uses elevated creative storytelling to reach beyond core audiences. Meanwhile, firework content focuses on high-impact, “big bang” moments that spark conversation globally.

Wimbledon managing editor of digital content Will Giles details their need to balance creativity, scale and strategy to maximise reach and impact. 

What was all the fuss about Cracker Barrel?

A simple logo refresh you wouldn’t expect to garner even a footnote in the marketing press but US dining and country store Cracker Barrel found themselves in a full-blown national PR crisis after its new logo sparked controversy.

Much ink has been expended already but this article by Angus Nguyen at FullIntel is a good summary of what took place and has some lessons for marketers. Cracker Barrel attempted to update its logo by removing its long-standing “Old Timer” figure, a core symbol of its nostalgic identity.

The simplified, text-centric digital friendly design aimed to attract younger demographics immediately sparked an intense backlash on social media, with critics calling it “generic” and “brand suicide.”

It escalated into a culture-war flashpoint when Donald Trump publicly urged the company to revert to its original logo, amplifying political and media attention.

Under mounting pressure, Cracker Barrel reversed course last week, reinstating the old logo. The saga wiped nearly $100 million off the company’s market value before partially rebounding and damaged consumer perception, with 29% of US adults reporting they were less likely to dine there. 

Netflix best recommendations are in the stars

Netflix has officially gone full horoscope hottie. The streaming giant’s new Zodiac Watchlist feature promises to curate your next binge based on your star sign.

A chaotic Aries will want to watch Squid Game, and a Leo with “main character energy” clearly deserves The Crown. Forget algorithms, these lists are handpicked by Netflix’s “member experience team.” With astrology booming on TikTok, Netflix is betting big that your birth chart will do what autoplay couldn’t: keep you watching. 

AANA survey finds consumers don’t want junk food ad restrictions

In April, I reported of increasing pressure on Government to introduce junk food ad rules which appears to have prompted new research just released from the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA).

A study conducted with Nielsen reveals that Australians want the government to take a more proactive and supportive approach to tackling obesity rather than imposing stricter advertising bans on “occasional foods.”

Surveying over 2,000 consumers, the study found that the key drivers of occasional food consumption are convenience (44%), taste (43%), lifestyle factors (31%) and affordability (29%), not marketing or advertising.

Most respondents surveyed (71%) are satisfied with existing ad restrictions, which limit advertising to children and near schools, and prefer solutions focused on health education, subsidies for healthy foods, physical activity promotion and improved nutrition labelling.

AANA CEO Josh Faulks emphasised that international ad bans have failed to reduce obesity and called for government collaboration with the advertising industry to promote healthier choices.

AANA are urging state and federal governments to work with industry on education-driven initiatives rather than reactionary restrictions.

Social media manager role that pays over half a million dollar salary

Global language learning app Duolingo is advertising for a new head of social media that is offering an annual salary of up to NZ$580,000! The role is to replace their outgoing director Zaria Parvez.

Parvez transformed Duolingo’s TikTok presence from 50,000 to 16 million followers, and helped kill off their mascot and owl called Duo, a moment which exploded on social media generating 1.7 billion impressions in two weeks. Parvez was initially hired out of college and has been with the company just five years.

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