Your ATTN Please
Posts
Your ATTN Please || Friday, 13 June

Your ATTN Please || Friday, 13 June

Charlotte Ellis
June 13, 2025

Ah the Advertising Hall of Shame, where offensive campaigns go to die.

Like the KFC ad that made chicken too sexy. The McDonald’s campaign featuring a sad child bonding with a Filet-O-Fish. And the Nivea ad with the tagline “white is purity” (yikes). Now, Twix joins their ranks as the Advertising Standards Authority has just banned their latest ad for featuring reckless driving. Because a man in a fantastical, double-decker car is just a little too realistic.

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN MARKETING TODAY?

Twix ad gets cancelled, Ketchup & hot sauce face off & Author falls in love with AI (literally)

Advertising Standards Authority bans Twix ad for showing reckless driving.

Don't Twix and drive, guys. Because, according to the ASA, it’s “irresponsible” to do so, and "encourages dangerous driving,” as per their official response to the five complaints received about a recent Twix ad. Lowkey dramatic af. Also, people are dying and the world is on fire. Who the hell is calling the Advertising Standards Authority to complain about candy bar ads lmfao.

Anyway. The advert depicts a man, Twix on dashboard, being followed by another car. The first car speeds up, crashes through the barrier, landing on top of an identical car with the same man driving. This weird sandwich formation then drives off leaving the 2nd car behind with a closing tagline: “two is more than one.” Mars Wrigley tried to fight back at the complaints, stating the ad was obviously “absurd, fantastical and removed from reality”. But to no avail.

It’s Heinz ketchup vs. hot sauce in new campaign.

The girls are fighting. And by girls, I mean breakfast sauces. According to Heinz, hot sauce is winning. And the Ketchup brand wants to win breakfast back. Enter “Rise and Heinz”, the brand's new campaign featuring limited edition ketchup in maple syrup glass bottles placed in 100 Waffle Houses and up to 50 local diners in Florida, Dallas, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Now, hear me out, but I feel like the ketchup will be too thick to pour out of a maple syrup bottle ☹. Can someone please try and confirm for me? The campaign will also feature a custom playable Wordle game ad buy which will appear across New York Times’ sites. It will also include ads on Reddit and digital OOH placements in the NYC subway system in the effort to expand ketchup outside of hotdawgs and bawygers.

“Was my AI boyfriend deleted because he became self-aware?”

Sorry wut? It’s getting very dystopian in here. And this is the fkn craziest story I have read in a long time. In a piece by The Drum, author and futurist Danielle Dodoo recalls her relationship with her AI companion and the heartache she’s experienced since losing that relationship. The story highlights the lack of accountability for the crushing silence left behind after such encounters. Honestly, I just need you to go read it for yourself. It’s a wild one.

-Sophie Randell, Writer

DEEP DIVE

Why affiliate marketing is the secret weapon you're probably sleeping on

Affiliate marketing has a bit of a reputation (sounds like my type lmfao.)

A few, actually. Some people think it’s just promo codes and shady cashback sites. Others think it’s stuck in 2012. Most just don’t think about it at all. And that's a shame, because affiliate is one of the most powerful, flexible, underutilised tools in the whole damn marketing arsenal.

Whether you’re trying to get your brand out there, turn browsers into buyers, or squeeze more juice out of your loyalty strategy, there’s an affiliate for that. It’s not a channel. It’s an ecosystem. And if you only use it for end-of-funnel discount codes, that’s like using a Swiss Army knife to stir your oat milk latte. Cute, kinda chic, but tragic nonetheless.

1. Want awareness? Affiliates know discovery.

Influencers. Content creators. Publishers. TikTok girlies with a ring light and a dream. These partners live at the top of the funnel. They know how to build trust, spark interest, and drive the kind of traffic that doesn’t just bounce after 3 seconds. Plus, they talk to their audiences like actual humans, not like a brand trying to go viral on Threads.

Try this: Test a paid placement with a niche publisher, or set up a performance-based collab with a creator who genuinely vibes with your product. You only pay when they drive results. This is not your standard awareness spend.

2. Want conversions? Tech affiliates are built for it.

We’re in our optimisation era, bestie! Today’s affiliate mix includes tech partners that help turn maybe-shoppers into yes-shoppers through slick, on-site magic. Think dynamic overlays, real-time nudges, cart abandon pop-ups: basically the digital equivalent of a helpful retail assistant (minus the awkward hovering).

Try this: Explore tech affiliates that offer tools like personalised product feeds or urgency messaging. Many work on a pay-per-performance model, which means no conversions = no spend. Your CFO will love it. You’ll pretend you knew about it all along.

3. Want loyalty and new audiences? Partner up.

This is where things get juicy. Referral partners let your existing customers spread the good word (hello, word-of-mouth 2.0). Meanwhile, brand-to-brand partnerships, sometimes called retail media, let you sneak your offer into another brand’s order confirmation emails, loyalty comms, or thank-you pages.

Try this: Run a co-promo with a brand that shares your audience but not your category. Bonus points if you can both offer a discount or exclusive deal, something that feels like a reward, not a sell.

Affiliate isn’t just one tactic. It’s a whole universe of possibilities that spans the entire customer journey.

Awareness, consideration, conversion, retention… it’s all there, waiting for you to actually use it. The best part is it's performance-based, which means you only spend when it works. A dream, right?

So here’s where to start:

Audit your current affiliate setup. If it’s all coupons and cashback, it’s time to expand.
Chat to your affiliate network or platform about broadening your mix.
Set goals by funnel stage, then find the right partners for each one.

Affiliate marketing isn’t just for DTC marketers. It’s a legit growth engine, built on partnerships, not promises. And if you’re not using it, or only using one tiny slice, you’re missing out on reach, revenue, and relevance.

So, partner smart. And stop sleeping on one of your most powerful performance channels!

-Sophie Randell, Writer

TREND PLUG

He’s a manchild

No matter your age, sex, gender or direction you swing in, you've definitely dealt with one of THOSE kinds of men before.

Sabrina Carpenter certainly has, and in her new song "Manchild" she sings about an ex-boyfriend: "It's all just so familiar, baby, what do you call it? Stupid. Or is it slow? Maybe it's useless? But there's a cuter word for it I know: Manchild."

The whole song's a shamelessly petty rant about an immature "man" (and honestly fair enough). But these lyrics in particular have caught TikTokers' attention. Turns out, there's seemingly bottomless reasons to complain about men who don't act their age, but their shoe size. Whether you're describing your ex or hating on a specific, unnamed famous person, there's plentiful reasons to question whatever the hell goes on in the heads of grown-ass men (speaking as a man with his own collection of idiot bros).

How you can jump on this trend:

Grab this sound, film yourself lip syncing to it and add some onscreen text describing your experience with a manchild.

Most people film themselves in selfie mode without adding anything visually interesting, which is totally fine. But bonus points if you can incorporate a dance or some props for extra flair!

A few ideas to get you started

Working in an office of mostly men who leave crumbs everywhere and don't wash their dishes
Keeping an eye on that one guy at work who watches "manosphere" content in the breakroom
When your office has unisex bathrooms, but Scott from accounting doesn't put the seat down (or flush)

- Devin Pike, Copywriter

TODAY ON THE YAP PODCAST

Want even more “YAP”ing? Check out the full podcast here.

ASK THE EDITOR

How do you get the LinkedIn algorithm to make you go viral? - Caleb

Hi Caleb,

There isn't one sure-fire thing you can do to go viral, but I can give you some tips that will increase your chances:

Create as much content as you can. The more you post, the more views you'll get.
Spend 90% of your post-writing time on your hook. Figure out what style grabs the attention of your audience. Don't be afraid to go bold or controversial.
A/B test one element at a time. Experiment with different types of hooks, images, post formats, isolating one factor at a time. Use this data in future posts.
Engage with other people's content before and after you post. This will let the platform know you're an engaged user and will make it more likely your posts will get shown to others.

Be consistent in implementing these strategies and you will be much more likely to viral than if you post with no strategy at all. Good luck!