Your ATTN Please || Saturday, 29 March

Cat haters, beware - WHISKAS is coming for ya.

The cat food brand’s rolled out a campaign to convert all you anti-cat sickos (we respect your opinion, but kinda not really). Their “Cat Conversion System” gives Australians a cat ownership trial run that hopefully ends in adoption. Not gonna lie - with over 39K homeless cats across Australia, this is some conversion we can get behind.

- Devin, Guest Editor

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN MARKETING TODAY?

Whiskas swats at cat haters, Lego Pokémon’s coming soon & Lorna Jane never gives up with new vodcast

Whiskas looks to prove cat haters wrong in new campaign.

Look, if you’re a cat hater, just unsubscribe now. This is a PRO-CAT newsletter and also you have no love in your heart. WHISKAS, the iconic brand of cat food, agrees. But with a more forgiving outlook, because instead of writing you off like I would, the brand aims to change your mind. Through an innovative new program, Whiskas is turning self-proclaimed cat haters into cat lovers in the Cat Conversion System, hoping to increase cat adoption.

New research by the brand shows that one in six Australians admit to disliking or outright hating cats. Imagine hating a fuzzy little baby that smells like cookies and vanilla and purrs you to sleep??? Insane behaviour. Also, for no REASON. Because 74% reported never actually having owned or lived with a cat, meaning their opinions are based purely on perception rather than experience. In Australia, more than 39,000 cats are in need of loving homes, with shelters unable to accommodate for such large numbers. Check out the playful, heartwarming hero spot here.

Lego Pokémon is finally real and coming next year.

Everybody STFU because this is the best news I’ve heard all year. If you think that makes my life sad, you don’t care about Pokémon enough. Or LEGO. And I think that makes your life sad. Anyway. Last week, The official Pokémon account on X posted a teaser of yellow bricks and lightning strikes that could only resemble one iconic tail. “Electrify your imagination in 2026 and get ready to build something we’ve never built with Lego bricks before,” read Lego’s flavour text, as I damn near fell off my seat.

The collab is a match made in heaven for fans on both sides. It makes so much sense, I’m shocked it hasn’t been done already. However, the Pokémon franchise is set to release its next upcoming game, Pokémon Legends Z-A, at the tail end of this year on the Nintendo Switch. So the timing of this union is impeccable (if I do say so myself).

The philosophy that led Lorna Jane to pioneer a fashion category is now the title of her vodcast.

Never Give Up. I know it sounds corny. But before you be a Judgy Judy, hold your bloody horses alright? Because this is the whole mentality that helped Lorna Jane Clarkson, one of Australia’s most beloved and successful businesswomen, turn her side hustle into a 35-year, global category-creating brand. So yes, take a seat.

And now, the mogul has launched her vodcast, titled “Never Give Up,” in which she speaks about the grit and determination is takes to actually run a business alongside life’s ups and downs. “People often ask me what the secret to Lorna Jane’s success is, but the truth is, there isn’t one. Success doesn’t happen overnight; it’s built over time with a whole lot of hard work, resilience and a relentless commitment to your vision. It’s about turning up every day, even when it’s tough and pushing forward because you believe in what you’re doing,” Clarkson told Marketing Mag. If there’s one thing we love, it’s a resilient queen.

Anyway, that’s all folks!

- Sophie, Writer

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN MARKETING TODAY?

Netflix, Tony Hinchcliffe, & the art of political shapeshifting

Netflix just gave Tony Hinchcliffe a three-special deal under his Kill Tony brand.

If this is a surprise to you, it really shouldn’t be. If it feels like a deliberate move to tap into a certain audience, you’re absolutely right.

In fact, Netflix isn’t alone in this pivot. Amazon Prime Video has just announced it will soon be streaming several seasons of The Apprentice, the NBC reality show that helped cement Donald Trump’s public persona in the early 2000s. Coincidence? I don’t believe in coincidences. Not when there’s millions of dollars involved, anyway.

Streaming platforms don’t make content decisions in a vacuum. If anything, they’re more politically attuned than most institutions. After all, they’re in the business of feeding people exactly what they want to see. And right now, what they’re seeing is an America that is, once again, swinging right. So, naturally, the content follows.

If we rewind a few years, Netflix was deep in its Woke Era.

Shows and specials leaned hard into social justice themes, representation was at an all-time high, and the company was very publicly positioning itself as a progressive brand. It was the era of Hannah Gadsby’s Nanette, of diversity-forward corporate statements, of cutting ties with talent deemed "problematic".

But now? The winds are shifting. The culture war is in full force, and Netflix, ever the savvy opportunist, is adjusting accordingly. To be clear, this isn’t about Netflix suddenly embracing right-wing ideology. It’s about Netflix doing what it does best: chasing the money.

And the money right now? It’s telling them that there’s a sizeable audience of disillusioned, anti-woke, politically exhausted viewers. People who feel underserved by Hollywood’s left-leaning content machine. Netflix has done the math and realised that appealing to Trump voters—or at least to those adjacent to that sphere—is a profitable move.

This raises an interesting question: Is it better for a brand like Netflix to stand firm on a political stance, or is it smarter (read: more lucrative) to adapt based on the cultural tide?

Because right now, it’s clear that Netflix’s ideology is whatever sells best in the moment. And if that means platforming one kind of content today and the polar opposite tomorrow, so be it. But at what point does this kind of ideological flexibility start to feel like cynicism?

Consumers might accept (even expect) a certain level of corporate pragmatism. But when a brand swings too wildly between extremes, it risks alienating everyone. The audience that loved Netflix’s progressive era might feel betrayed by the rightward drift. And the anti-woke crowd isn’t exactly known for brand loyalty (just ask Bud Light).

Is the future a content free-for-all?

If the last few months are any indication of what's to come, I'd expect more of this shapeshifting. And if the cultural tide shifts again, Netflix, and other brands, will shift with it. Because ultimately, the only thing it truly believes in is capital. But if history tells us anything, it's that when a brand tries to be everything to everyone, it eventually becomes nothing to anyone.

- Sophie, Writer

TREND PLUG

The CapCut template for every time you can’t explain your actions

Six seconds. That’s all it took for Timothée Chalamet to perfectly capture the modern attention span + existential dread combo.

In a Nardwuar interview posted late December 2024, he got hit with the question, “Why should people care about Timothée Chalamet? Why should people care about Bob Dylan?”

In response, he frowns. Looks off to the side. Raises his brows. Thinks. Spirals. Shrugs. A masterclass in saying everything while saying nothing. Now it’s a CapCut template for moments when you’re asked about something you can't really answer—and all you’ve got left is a shrug. Moments like:

• Why you don't stretch before a run

• Why you're going on a trip when you're scraping by

• Whether you're coming back from maternity leave.

How you can jump on this trend:

Use the CapCut template. Add your mildly bad decision, questionable logic, or avoidant moment in the text. Let Timmy frown, shrug, and do the magic for you.

A few ideas to get you started:

• “Didn’t you say this campaign was low budget?”

• “Why is there a meme in the brand guidelines?”

• “Did you make two versions of the ad just in case?”

-Abdel, Social Media Coordinator

FOR THE GROUP CHAT

😲WTF: A kid snuck onto The White House lawn 😭 
✨Daily inspo: pour into YOUR cup
😊Soooo satisfying: why is this animation 31 hours long
🍝What you should make for dinner tonight: Apple Pie Fries!

TODAY ON THE YAP PODCAST

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

ASK THE EDITOR

Q - How important is TikTok as part of a social media strategy? Do I need it? - Joshua

Hey Joshua!

Nope, you absolutely don't have to be on TikTok! Your decision about what platforms to be on should be based on what makes the most sense for your audience and brand. If you're just starting to build your audience on one platform, it's totally ok to focus your efforts just there.

Because if you want to create a community around your brand, you can't just post. You need to engage with your audience. And the more platforms you're on, the more time it takes to do that well. You can always repurpose your content across platforms if you want, but it's totally fine to build consistency in one place before you branch out. And if you have a lot of success on one platform, you may decide that's more than enough!

- Charlotte, 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.

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