Media expert Antony Young rounds up media news from beyond Aotearoa in a regular column for StopPress.
This week:
- Patagonia offered $100 credits to customers who helped others make a plan to vote in the US midterm elections.
- KFC UK created a reality game show where 30 superfans compete for £50,000 and bragging rights.
- Meta’s AI assistant Muse hit five million US downloads in 22 days, but the real test is whether that early interest turns into sustained use and revenue.
- Retailers are divided over AI shopping agents, with some embracing them while others limit or block access over security, fraud and data concerns.
- Caraway turned a lawsuit from bigger cookware rivals into a marketing campaign, embracing its underdog image to rally customers and generate attention.
- Food brands are going all-in on Halloween with bizarre limited-edition products designed to drive social buzz and seasonal sales.
Patagonia offers up $100 to vote
Patagonia brand is always about pushing for its values as much as its fleeces. This time they want Americans to vote.
The outdoor retailer is using its own merchandise as an incentive for customers to participate in the November mid-term election, offering $100 merchandise credit for people who encourage three friends or family members to make a plan to vote.
Dubbed the ‘11.2 Million Vote Project’, the initiative commits up to $11.2 million in credits for 112,000 participants, potentially reaching another 336,000 people. The campaign takes its name from Environmental Voter Project research estimating that 11.2 million Americans who prioritise environmental issues don’t vote.
Participants enter the details of three people, with Patagonia’s platform generating personalised voting plans covering polling locations, early voting, postal ballots and ID requirements. The company says the initiative is nonpartisan, with no requirement to support a particular candidate or party. It’s also an extension of a longstanding brand position: Patagonia has closed its US stores and offices for federal elections since 2016.
Patagonia has since confirmed that the entire US$11.2 million allocation was exhausted in just four days. More than 112,000 people participated, helping nearly half a million people make voting plans. The incentive has ended, although the voting-plan tool remains available.
Squid Game meets KFC superfans
Perhaps inspired by Netflix’s Squid Game, only in this case the contestants are chicken obsessives and the ultimate prize is £50,000 and KFC bragging rights.
KFC UK has created its own full-blown reality game show, Don’t Crack, where 30 genuine KFC superfans battle through four increasingly absurd tests to test their devotion. The 30-plus-minute YouTube production sees contestants hunting golden eggs blindfolded, resisting distractions and, in the final showdown, attempting to cry a single tear of joy while sitting in giant nests.
KFC recruited the cast via its latest campaign, which generated 9.8 million QR code scans and more than 50,000 applications. Premiering on September 30, the show takes KFC well beyond conventional branded content into a show they believe people will want to watch. The fast food chain has seen the brand on a bump with net sales up 6.4% year on year.
Meta’s muse hits five million downloads in 22 days
Meta’s new AI assistant Muse has clocked five million US downloads in just 22 days, outpacing the early growth of ChatGPT (56 days), Grok (103 days) and Claude (492 days).
Launched on September 8 in the US and Canada, Muse goes beyond answering questions, acting as a personal agent capable of booking travel, sending emails, shopping and completing tasks on a user’s behalf. Meta has thrown considerable media weight behind the launch, reportedly allocating up to 50% of its daily house advertising inventory to Muse.
Meta says the commercial opportunity extends beyond its $20 and $100 monthly subscription tiers, with Meta planning to earn affiliate fees from purchases and transactions completed by the assistant. But downloads aren’t necessarily adoption. With Meta facing projected AI infrastructure spending of $130 to 145 billion (USD) this year, the bigger test is whether consumer curiosity translates into sustained usage and revenue.
However, retailers are divided over AI shopping agents
While Meta is racing to make AI agents the next shopping interface, retailers are split over how much control to hand them.
According to The Wall Street Journal, QVC and HSN are embracing agentic commerce, allowing AI assistants to browse and complete purchases while proactively feeding product catalogues to platforms including OpenAI and Google.
Gap is taking a selective approach, approving browsing and checkout permissions case by case. Tapestry, owner of Coach and Kate Spade, allows agents to browse but not buy, citing fraud and inventory concerns. Amazon has gone further, blocking Meta’s Muse alongside agents from OpenAI, Google, Anthropic and Perplexity over security and data privacy concerns.
Amazon runs a $68 billion (USD) ad business, so an agent skipping past the sponsored listings isn’t going to fly for them. Consumer appetite is another hurdle: an NMI survey found just 3% of US adults would trust an AI agent to complete purchases on their behalf.
For marketers, the emerging challenge is twofold: making products discoverable to AI assistants while deciding how much of the customer relationship, transaction and valuable first-party data they’re prepared to surrender.
Cookware brand turns legal battle into marketing campaign
Everyone loves a David vs. Goliath marketing story, and here’s one that caught my eye.
When two cookware giants sued challenger brand Caraway for allegedly misleading consumers, the startup decided to turn the lawsuit into its biggest marketing opportunity of the year.
Groupe SEB (owner of T-fal and All-Clad) and Meyer (behind KitchenAid and Rachael Ray cookware) filed the suit in February, challenging Caraway’s advertising claims around PFAS, PTFE and the implied dangers of traditional non-stick cookware. Rather than retreat, Caraway launched a ‘Join the fight’ campaign, placing billboards near Groupe SEB’s New Jersey office declaring “Go pick on someone your own size”, plastering New York with outdoor ads and rallying more than 50,000 petition signatures against ‘Big cookware’.
Founder Jordan Nathan even changed his LinkedIn title to ‘sued by big cookware’. The dispute remains unresolved. The plaintiffs maintain that Caraway’s comparative safety claims are misleading, while Caraway argues it is defending its mission to promote PFAS-free alternatives.
The legal fight has now become a recurring content pillar, with Nathan requiring every new batch of creative to include lawsuit-related advertising. It’s a bold challenger-brand playbook, turning a potential reputational crisis into an underdog narrative. A court ruling is impending.
Food brands get freaky for halloween
It’s that time of the year where food brands embrace the weird.
This Halloween we are seeing a number of limited-edition products designed to deliver as much social buzz as seasonal sales. Here’s some Frankenstein and Friday 13th fun to enjoy.
Cup Noodles has launched hot garlic chicken-flavoured ‘Vampire noodles’ that turn blood-red when water is added, even partnering with Titan Casket to create a branded coffin that fans can win or purchase for a rather deadly US$3,999.
Hidden Valley took it up a notch further releasing its first-ever seasonal ranch dressing, turning the condiment black and packaging it in a glow-in-the-dark bottle. Oreo is getting in on the action with fudge-dipped Monster Cookies, decorated as mummies, Frankenstein monsters and cyclops, selling online for US$39.99 a dozen. Even beer brand Pabst Blue Ribbon has joined the horror show, putting Friday the 13th killer Jason Voorhees’ mask on its 12-packs.
US Halloween spending is forecast to hit a record US$13.5 billion, according to the National Retail Federation, guaranteeing that the Mummy is likely to return for years to come!
The post Around the World: Food brands get freaky for halloween appeared first on stoppress.co.nz.
Discussion about this post