Your ATTN Please || Wednesday, 4 June

Product. Price. Place. Promotion. AKA Marketing 101.

If you studied marketing, you were probably force-fed the 4 P’s as the be all, end all of acronyms. But kinda like the skinny jeans hiding in the back of my closet (RIP), the 4 P’s don’t quite hit like they used to. Now, consumers expect to be part of our brand’s story—not just have an ad served up to them while they’re watching late-night tv. And that means it’s time to bring the old playbook into 2025.

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

How to *actually* win on Instagram in 2025

Join our team for a 90-minute workshop to find out the exact strategies we've used to grow our Instagram following to 600k+. This workshop is not about theory. It's about giving you actionable takeaways you can implement straight away.

Learn what's working on the platform right now from:

• Jony Lee, our expert short-form strategist

• Stanley Henry, founder at The Attention Seeker 

Bring your questions and we will bring everything we've learnt spending thousands of hours on Instagram. We're not gatekeeping anything, so get ready!

Friday 13 June | 8:30–10:00am NZT | $49

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN MARKETING TODAY?

T Swift buys back her own songs, The Onion creates an agency & KFC lets kids deface billboards

After years of re-recording, Taylor Swift buys back her original masters.

Look, I'm the farthest thing from a Swiftie. But I gotta put respect on T-Swizzle for knowing her worth as an artist and ultimately winning a 6-year, multi-million dollar battle with her old record company. Some quick context: Taylor Swift lost ownership of the masters of her first 6 studio albums when her contract with Big Machine Records expired in 2019. Owner Scooter Braun sold them off to investment firm Shamrock in 2020 for over US$300 million. But since she still owned the publishing rights, she began re-recording each album as "Taylor's Version." So far, she's remade 4 of them, supporting them with the Eras Tour, the highest-grossing tour of all time.

But as of late last week, Swift has bought back all her masters from Shamrock for an undisclosed amount, penning in a letter on her website that "All of the music I've ever made... now belongs... to me." On her socials, she posted pics of her sitting on the floor with vinyl records of the 6 albums she now fully owns, adding the caption/song reference "You belong with me." Most artists don't have the wealth to reclaim their art. But it's nonetheless substantial when someone with such sweeping industry influence takes a stand against the big dogs and challenges norms on artistic freedom and who owns what in the creative process. Massive props to you, Taylor - genuinely.

The Onion launches "America's Finest" creative agency.

The satire publication is now offering creative strategy, copy, and content writing services. And yes, the agency is literally called "America's Finest." The Onion's agency arm will help brands by creating content that's as entertaining as their own. And it makes sense, given the publication already has a team of writers who are highly experienced in writing copy that stops the scroll.

According to CMO Leila Brillson, the idea of creating an agency came to her after she realised her team were writing literally hundreds of headlines like: Kohler Doing Damage Control After CEO Admits He Never Uses Toilets every week. The Onion writers are also responsible for creating the fake ads on their website (you know, the ones with copy like, "Join our email list to become a member of the last functioning part of our democracy"). Brillson says, unlike AI-generated content, her agency will bring nuance and humour into everything they create. Thank GOODNESS.

A chicken drumstick lollipop with a side of scribbles? Sure, why not?

KFC’s latest campaign in Madrid is for the kids, supposedly “by” the kids. The OOH promotion of KFC’s collab with Fiesta’s Fresquito lollipops leans into chaos with billboards that look defaced, artwork that looks drawn by kids, and a product that looks like chicken but tastes like… candy. It’s a bit strange, for sure. But that’s the whole appeal.

This campaign works because it doesn’t just target a demographic, it speaks their language. Scribbly billboards, weird candy-that-looks-like-chicken, and playful chaos aren’t “off-brand”… it’s exactly the brand when your audience is under 12 and allergic to anything that smells like adult logic! The campaign highlights that when it comes to marketing to kids, weird, chaotic, messy and fun are not only acceptable. They are the strategy.

-Devin Pike, Charlotte Ellis & Helena Masters

DEEP DIVE

Are the 4 P's of Marketing relevant in 2025?

It’s time we had the conversation.

You know the one. Your mother and I are getting a divorce. WAIT wrong chat sorry.

Today I want to talk about the 4 P’s of marketing: Product, Price, Place, Promotion. They’re like the shoulder pads of marketing frameworks. Once cutting-edge, and force-fed to all of us at uni. Now a little... outdated?

This is not to say they weren’t absolutely iconic in their day.

Coined by E. Jerome McCarthy in the 1960s, the 4 P's gave marketers a tidy way to think about what they were selling, how much for, where, and how to tell people about it. But we’re not selling powdered wigs and newspaper ads anymore. We’re building community. We’re nurturing long-term relationships. We’re co-creating with our audiences.

So, are the 4 P's still helping us or holding us back?

Why the 4 P’s might be feeling their age (same, sis)

Today’s marketing landscape is loud, fast, and full of nuance. The classic 4 P’s don’t quite cover:

• Influencer marketing

• Purpose-driven brands

• AI-generated personalisation

• Direct-to-consumer everything

• Communities as marketing channels

In short, the 4 P’s are a little too tidy for the freaking messiness of modern marketing. They focus too much on what you are doing, and not enough on what your customer actually wants, feels, or expects.

Well then, what on earth do we replace them with?

Glad you asked. Enter: the New 4 P’s. There are a few versions floating around, but here are two contenders we love:

Option 1: The Empathy Set

• People: Understand your audience deeply.

• Purpose: Know what you stand for.

• Personalisation: Speak directly to individual needs.

• Participation: Let your audience play a role in your brand.

This version puts the customer at the centre. It’s about listening, responding, and co-creating, not just pushing out messages.

Option 2: The Business-Outcome Set

• Positioning: Where do you stand in the market?

• Proof: How do you build trust?

• Platform: What channels do you own and activate?

• Performance: What are the measurable outcomes?

This one’s a CFO-pleaser. It maps brand-building to business metrics, tying squishy concepts to solid impact.

The 4 P’s are still a foundational framework.

They’re useful when launching something new or explaining marketing to non-marketers. But if you’re operating in a digital, brand-driven, trust-based economy? You’ll need to evolve. If the original 4 P’s were about crafting the offer, the new ones are about crafting the experience. And in 2025, experience is everything.

Marketing isn’t static, and our frameworks shouldn’t be, either. So let's give the 4P’s the makeover they deserve.

-Sophie Randell, Writer

TREND PLUG

And the winner is....(you!)

Today's trend is inspired by the trending sound's song's title "The Winner Is..." by DeVotchKa.

Life has its beautiful way of putting us right where we need to be - even when our past selves thought we would never see our life as it is today! And this trend is the time to remember how far we've come. Creators are using this sound to showcase how they've truly won at life after reframing their past negative thoughts or experiences into gratitude for how life has turned out for them.

How you can jump on this trend:

Start with the sound. Then, take B-roll footage that you have in context about what you are going to reflect on. For the first frame, your OST should be a negative outlook you once had on life, your career, or your relationship. The second frame should be you enjoying your life now. Over this footage, use OST that expresses a positive outcome or mental reframe that's brought you a better life.

A few ideas to get you started:

• "I don't feel like myself lately" to "I must be growing"

• "I can't wait to retire" to "I finally found my calling"

• "They said I shouldn't do it" to "I finally did"

- Jony Lee, Creative

TODAY ON THE YAP PODCAST

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

ASK THE EDITOR

I’m creating content for my coaching business. How do I get my audience to engage more with my posts? - Charis

Hey Charis!

First of all, I'd encourage you to spend some time on social media, paying attention to what stops your scroll. Analyse the hooks that grab you, then think about how you can use those as inspiration for your own content.

Second, think about how relatable your content is. I know you're targeting a specific audience. But if you want to grow your following, your content can't be too niche. So if you find your content isn't accessible to the average person, ask yourself how you can speak to a broader audience.

Lastly, you need to make more content. Posting more often will not only make you more visible on the platform. It will also give you more data, which will help you improve your content faster.

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

Not going viral yet?

We get it. Creating content that does numbers is harder than it looks. But doing those big numbers is the fastest way to grow your brand. So if you’re tired of throwing sh*t at the wall and seeing what sticks, you’re in luck. Because making our clients go viral is kinda what we do every single day.

WHAT DO YA THINK?

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