Silence, Brand!

🦀 Instagram just announced that photos and carousels with music will appear in the Reels tab and they are recommending adding native text and stickers within the app 🦀 A shining example of a platform rewarding users for using new features [...sounds like they're coming for tiktoks bag tbh 👀] --- Get a twice-weekly internet culture and marketing newsletter written by unhinged marketing professionals in your inbox when you subscribe to silencebrand.substack.com 🦀

🦀 Semi-thirsty edits that no one asked for are going viral, Simu Liu respectfully declines investing in a boba company, and the "Klandle" scandal 🫴 here's five 🖐 things that happened this 👇 week 🗓 on the internet 💻 from Silence, Brand! 🦀 𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐮 𝐋𝐢𝐮, 𝐛𝐮𝐛𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐚, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 '𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐬' 𝐃𝐞𝐧': 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐓𝐢𝐤𝐓𝐨𝐤 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐫 🧋 Clips from Canada's Dragons' Den went viral after guest Simu Liu called out bubble tea business Bobba for cultural appropriation. Dragon Manjit Minhas withdrew her $1 million investment offer, and Bobba is now facing criticism online. Liu is calling for calm as the controversy continues to unfold. 𝐎𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐚 𝐑𝐨𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐨 𝐅𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐚 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐩 𝐃𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞, 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐩 💪 Olivia Rodrigo took a tumble through a stage trap door during her concert in Melbourne, Australia, but emerged unscathed and even called it "fun." The singer is currently on her Guts world tour, with upcoming shows in Australia and the release of her tour film on Netflix scheduled for Oct. 29. ‘𝐒𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞-𝐎𝐮𝐭’ 🪐 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐑𝐞𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐃𝐚𝐲-𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 Only 70 out of 1200 applicants made the cut for the International Space-Out Competition in Hong Kong, where participants compete to stare into the middle distance for 90 consecutive minutes without engaging in any activities. The competition, started by South Korean artist Woopsyang in 2014, has since expanded to cities around the world, including Tokyo and Rotterdam, with the objective of promoting relaxation and doing nothing together. 𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭 🎥 TikTok user @bachbuquen made a thirst trap edit that wasn't particularly thirsty and wasn't requested by any of his fans. Other users are riffing on this format by making semi-thirsty edits (that no one asked for) and include text on screen that reads "Please guys make an edit" accompanied by the same music featured in microwave edits. 𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐃𝐈𝐕𝐀? 💜 Threads users are taking a popular TikTok comment trend and using it on the platform to relate to their buyer persona by sharing how they implement their product during their day. 🦀 this issue was made possible by these contributors: RYAN ✨ BENSON, Dayna Castillo⚡️, Lenny Leithauser 🪩, Dejaih Smith, Benton Williams, & Janine Davis, MS Read all this and more at 🦀 silencebrand.substack.com

No matter how creative brands think they are making a branded phone case, their efforts will always be overshadowed by someone saying: “Remember when Rhode did that?” Read this Silence, Brand! Deep Dive from Dejaih Smith at silencebrand.substack.com 🦀

🦀 Green Day leans into nostalgia with Dookie Demastered, AI Baby Fashion Shows take over TikTok, and now you can wake up with Nintendo's Alarmo 🫴 here's five 🖐 things that happened this 👇 week 🗓 on the internet 💻 from Silence, Brand! 🦀 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐃𝐚𝐲'𝐬 𝐃𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐧𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐠𝐢𝐚 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐓𝐞𝐝𝐝𝐲 🧸 𝐑𝐮𝐱𝐩𝐢𝐧, 𝐁𝐢𝐠 𝐌𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐁𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐁𝐚𝐬𝐬 🐟 Green Day celebrates the 30th anniversary of their album "Dookie" with a new limited edition release called "Dookie Demastered," featuring reworked tracks playable on nostalgic and obsolete items like Teddy Ruxpin and MiniDiscs. Fans can listen to all 15 songs at dookiedemastered.com and enter a drawing for the chance to purchase the unique items. 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 "𝐋𝐢𝐞𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐃𝐚𝐧" 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐇𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐭 ⛵️: "𝐈'𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠" Joseph Malinowski, known as "Lieutenant Dan," chose to stay aboard his small sailboat during Hurricane Milton. Despite his boat being slammed against the harbor wall, he described the experience as "pretty mellow." His decision to remain despite mandatory evacuation orders went viral on social media. Malinowski insists that he will continue to stay on his boat during future hurricanes. 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 '𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 🙏, 𝐁𝐞𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐜é' 𝐓𝐢𝐤𝐓𝐨𝐤𝐬 TikTok users have been thanking Beyoncé for everything from Thanksgiving to their dog not having cancer, sparking a lighthearted trend. While some tie the trend to baseless conspiracy theories about Beyoncé's power, most participants are simply having fun expressing gratitude to the iconic artist. 𝐀𝐈 𝐁𝐚𝐛𝐲 👶 𝐅𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐬 AI babies have escaped Facebook and are now strutting down runways on TikTok in outrageous outfits. 𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐬𝐡𝐞'𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 🙀 TikTok pet owners are using the familiar "she sees her baby girl, I know she's gonna scream" bridge from Chappell Roan's Pink Pony club, but then they cut the audio off before she sings "god, what have you done" to leave room for their animals to make a sound. 🦀 this issue was made possible by these contributors: RYAN ✨ BENSON, Dayna Castillo⚡️, Lenny Leithauser 🪩, Dejaih Smith, Benton Williams, & Janine Davis, MS Read all this and more at 🦀 silencebrand.substack.com

another crab joins the cast 🦀🦀🦀

💎 there’s some gems in here https://lnkd.in/gVDHhjBF 👀 👾 Tumblr x Archrival

🦀 Missing leftover cake saga concludes, Dua Lipa's interesting Diet Coke concoction, and ICYMI Keanu Reeves is a race car driver now, plus SEA MOSS 🫴 here's five 🖐 things that happened this 👇 week 🗓 on the internet 💻 from Silence, Brand! 🦀 𝐌𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐐𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐌𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐄𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝’𝐬 𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐂𝐚𝐤𝐞 🎂 A New York City man apologized after accusing an upscale steakhouse of eating half the cake he made for a friend's birthday, but later found out the restaurant had forgotten to serve a portion of the cake. The saga went viral on TikTok, leading to internet sleuths targeting the restaurant with negative reviews and comments, but the man ultimately resolved the issue with the restaurant and urged viewers to chill out. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐇𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧... 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐬? 🎃🎄 Spirit Halloween is expanding its seasonal footprint by transforming select stores into "Spirit Christmas" locations after Halloween. These pop-ups will open in 10 locations across the Northeast, offering holiday decor, gifts, inflatables, and apparel. Visitors can enjoy Santa meet-and-greets and festive photo opportunities, with some stores opening as early as October 18 in New Jersey and others in early November. This marks the company's first foray into the Christmas season, extending its retail presence beyond Halloween 𝐒𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 🧊 In 2024, "still water" became a popular meme on TikTok after viral urban exploration videos exaggerated the danger of stagnant water, spawning parody content and ironic references to brain-eating parasites and amoeba. The trend started with a video by @tp.urbex exploring an abandoned hospital and finding still water in the basement, which garnered over 19 million views and 1 million likes. 𝐃𝐮𝐚 𝐋𝐢𝐩𝐚 𝐃𝐢𝐞𝐭 𝐂𝐨𝐤𝐞 🥤🌶️ Pop star Dua Lipa shares her viral new drink recipe of Diet Coke, pickle juice, and jalapeño juice. 𝐄𝐥𝐨𝐧 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐤 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩 𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 💻 Elon Musk made a high-profile appearance at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, alongside Donald Trump on October 5th. Musk announced he was "Dark MAGA" urged the crowd to vote for Trump, warning that if Trump loses, it could be "the last election." The Internet quickly took to X and relentlessly shared photoshopped images of Musk. 🦀 this issue was made possible by these contributors: RYAN ✨ BENSON, Dayna Castillo⚡️, Lenny Leithauser 🪩, Dejaih Smith, Benton Williams, & Janine Davis, MS Read all this and more at 🦀 silencebrand.substack.com

✌️two ➕ more 🔁 subscribers until 👹scary 🔢 number 🖐️ five ➕ more 🔁 subscribers until 🍆 💦 sexy 🔢 number (nice) let us send you emails twice a week with the most unhinged marketing news 🦀🦀🦀 silencebrand.substack.com please? 🥺👉👈

🦀 At the core of Fat Bear Week's success lies a simple truth: the internet loves to vote. Read this Silence, Brand! Deep Dive from Benton Williams at silencebrand.substack.com 🦀

is gen alpha hardwired to have elsagate nostalgia? 🦀 silencebrand.substack.com