Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Viral Jaguar ad, new influencer research findings + Coachella 2025 lineup revealed

Transcript

MINI SCROLL: Viral Jaguar ad, new influencer research findings + Coachella 2025 lineup revealed · Mini Scroll

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  Hi everyone, welcome to Mini Scroll, the daily Internet
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  culture podcast bringing you the biggest stories from social
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  media, the creator economy and the digital space every Monday
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  through Thursday. I'm your host, Lauren Meisner,
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  the founder of the youth digital media brand Centennial World.
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  Welcome back to Mini Scroll, everyone.
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  Happy Thursday. We almost made it through the
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  week. I'm still on that like minimal
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  heat grind with my hair because I bleach it so much.
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  And I think today you can really tell the hair she's so natural
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  today. All right, let's just get into
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  the stories for today. So I actually kind of have like
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  an industry heavy episode, which is interesting because I know I
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  say this every time, but so many of you guys work in social work
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  in marketing and I know you appreciate these updates.
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  So I wanted to bring something kind of relevant to you guys.
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  OK, so the first thing that I need to talk about is that viral
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  ad for Jaguar cars. So luxury car company Jaguar is
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  going viral after releasing a new ad along with what seems
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  like an entire rebrand. The ad shows a diverse group of
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  people in bright colors against colorful backgrounds.
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  Throughout the ad, there are phrases like create exuberant,
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  live, vivid, delete, ordinary, and copy nothing written over
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  all of the visuals. So if you guys are on LinkedIn
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  or TikTok, you've probably seen at least some discussion about
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  this ad. It is literally going everywhere
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  and it seems to have gone viral because it just feels so off
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  brand. It just seems like it's so such
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  a far stray from Jaguars, like previously established brand
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  identity and like it's an obvious attempt to shake things
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  up, to become more relevant, to step into a new era.
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  But still, it feels like such a far stray that it was kind of
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  shocking to people. I think that being said, it's
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  not really going over very well. I haven't seen a lot of positive
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  commentary and I don't know if those are just my algorithms.
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  So definitely let me know if you guys have seen anything that's
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  been like relatively positive about it.
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  But for the most part, I've seen 2 main criticisms.
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  The first is that it just doesn't make sense for a
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  heritage brands like Jaguar to have this whole rebrand to try
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  and like attract a younger audience base or like a younger
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  consumer base, because that's not really what the car and
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  their brand identity is about, right?
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  But to that, I guess I say, like, what's the point of a
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  rebrand that right? Like, why would rebrands as a
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  concept exist if you could never kind of change what you've
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  always been to appeal to a different demographic?
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  Like that's the point of a rebrand.
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  So I actually don't necessarily agree with that criticism and I
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  definitely don't agree with the second criticism, which is that
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  the ad is to quote UN quote woke.
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  That is what tons of people are saying about this ad.
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  And I think that's just a ridiculous criticism.
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  So Jaguar has gone on to defend the campaign on X, asking
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  viewers for their patience as further updates will be coming
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  soon, apparently December 2nd or early December.
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  I've also seen criticism. People are just like hating on
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  this ad, just like that's actually the gist of this story.
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  But I've also seen criticism around this whole story about
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  when brands trying like drip feed things that are coming
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  soon. And the same thing goes for
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  influencers, right? We hear people talk about this
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  all the time. It's like your audience actually
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  doesn't care when you're like, I have such an exciting project
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  coming up. You guys like at the end of the
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  day, it's actually usually not that exciting for the audience.
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  And I've seen a lot of marketers say the same thing about Jaguar
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  trying to like drip feed this, like coming soon.
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  All will be revealed in December, like that kind of
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  vibe. But with that being said,
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  because of the virality of this ad, I'm going to be waiting for
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  December. Like I want to know what the
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  rebrand is now because it's gone so viral.
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  And on that note, obviously, a lot of people have been saying
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  that the ad has served its purpose because whether you love
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  it or you hate it, and it seems like a lot of people hate it,
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  the level of virality and discourse around the rebrand is
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  successful in and of itself. Right.
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  So Jack Appleby, who is the creator of the very popular
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  newsletter Future Social, made a similar point on his LinkedIn.
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  He wrote, quote, I don't get this Jaguar ad, but it's already
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  more viral than most viral plays.
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  And there is an echelon of virality where so many people
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  see the ad that inevitably boost sales.
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  And hey, I think polarizing an audience is generally a good
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  thing. Give people reason to proudly be
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  with your brand. Yeah, that's clearly what Jaguar
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  is trying to do, a massive shake up and they need it.
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  They've been hurting, so it'll be interesting to see what
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  happens in December. I can't believe that I'm going
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  to be tracking the rebrand of a car company.
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  I just feel so off brand. For me to do a such a massive
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  rebrand that is so different from what they traditionally
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  were, they're going to have to do something so majorly
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  different way beyond just like bright colors and cool
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  progressive slogans and an ad filled with like youthful,
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  creative looking people. You know, they're going to have
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  to do a lot more to establish like this complete rebrand.
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  Otherwise this is going to feel so cheap.
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  But if you guys are marketers and do you have an opinion on
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  this ad or you know, if you've seen discourse on this ad, I
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  would love to know in the comments, like what you think of
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  it, what you've been seeing about it.
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  I literally cannot escape the discourse around this ad.
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  And I think it's so interesting. I mean, I guess it's such a
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  rebrand, but I'm also like, this ad is also just kind of nothing.
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  I don't, I don't know, I think that it's really been blown out
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  of proportion, but here I am talking about it on the podcast.
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  So I guess I'm adding to that. All right.
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  The next story that I have for you guys is I wanted to talk
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  about the new study that came out of Pew Research that found
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  that the majority of news influencers are men.
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  And that's super relevant to me. Even though I don't typically
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  cover hard news, I would say that I cover a subset of news.
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  It might not be the most important news, but I still
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  cover news. So Gen.
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  Zed, as we know, are choosing to get their News Online.
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  And while this is nothing new, little attention has been paid
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  to who is delivering these stories and their biases.
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  According to new data by the Pew Research Center, online news
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  influencers are predominantly men.
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  The analysts reviewed a sample of 500 popular news influencers
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  and examined the content they produced after reviewing over
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  28,000 different social media accounts through this
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  examination, the center found that one in five Americans with
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  37% of adults over 30 regularly get their news from influencers
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  on social media. So obviously this is AUS
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  centered study. I would be interested to see if
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  it differs from you know, I live in Australia, but I'm Canadian
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  like if that would be any different.
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  I honestly, I don't really think so.
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  I think the US is probably fairly representative of, you
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  know, a larger sample here. Quote among Americans who get
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  news from influencers on social media, most 65% say news
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  influencers have helped them better understand current events
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  and civic issues, the report reads.
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  Now, the flip side of that is, like I mentioned, these news
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  influencers don't necessarily reflect gender diversity for all
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  of their audiences. The majority, 62%, are men, with
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  a slightly larger share identifying as conservative 27%
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  compared to liberal 21%. Interestingly, TikTok stands out
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  with a smaller gender gap and more balanced political
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  representation. It's also the only platform
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  where left-leaning creators outnumber their right wing
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  counterparts 28% versus 25%. So Pew doesn't go into detail
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  about why men are overrepresented among news
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  influencers. But Taylor Lorenz discusses a
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  number of factors that she thinks might, you know, have led
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  to that reason. In her sub stack user mag, she
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  writes quote social media platforms have long boosted
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  men's voices over women's. The refusal to tamp down on
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  misogynistic hate and her harassment or provide users with
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  tools to protect themselves has resulted in the silencing of
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  women's voices across the Internet.
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  This dynamic is especially pronounced on platforms like
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  YouTube and Twitter. And I completely I can see that.
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  I can definitely see that I mean, I will talk about
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  something that is like slightly outside of the realm of what I
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  typically cover on this podcast and I will get a lot of feedback
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  about it and it is usually not presented very nicely.
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  So I I can imagine if you are covering hard news where there
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  are just so many heated opinions and just issues on the table, I
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  can imagine that presenting that type of content consistently
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  would be difficult enough. Like you would constantly the
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  feedback that you would be getting would be challenging
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  enough. And as a woman, I imagine it
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  would be like that 10 times. You know, there are just a host
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  of things that women deal with. I mean, we all know this that
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  women deal with online that men don't have to deal with.
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  When we did the Let the Girls game series earlier this year, a
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  lot of the comments that we got were from men, young men that I
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  don't know, like gaming, I guess, and would watch these
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  videos or listen to these episodes and they would just
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  leave the most disgusting comments on those videos.
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  And we've deleted a ton of them because they were just so
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  horrific. Tons that were sexualizing us,
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  like talking about what we looked like, saying, like the
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  most graphic horrific things, like just, yeah, just like
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  really horrible things. And it doesn't need to be that
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  extreme for it to feel like too much and for someone to just
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  decide to leave the Internet. So I think it makes total sense
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  that women like, as Taylor Lorenz said, like the platforms
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  haven't done enough for moderation in general, like,
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  full stop. But especially because there is
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  so much more online harassment and hate directed towards women.
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  And we know that as a fact, as we did explore in the Let the
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  Girls Game episodes with different like experts,
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  researchers, PhD candidates, like people that are like in the
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  weeds and doing the work and online safety.
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  It makes total sense why women would not want to put themselves
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  out there online and share opinions or, you know, talk
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  about topics that are even slightly divisive or
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  controversial. OK, so the last word that I have
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  for you guys is that Coachella has dropped the lineup for 2025
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  and the headliners are Lady Gaga, Green Day, Post Malone and
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  Travis Scott. So quickly, Travis Scott, his
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  name doesn't have like a date attached to it.
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  However, according to Billboard, a press release from Travis
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  Scott's team said that he will perform on the mainstage on
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  Saturday night. Out of the headliners, this will
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  be Lady Gaga's second time headlining Coachella, where Post
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  Malone has performed at the festival but never headlined.
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  Green Day has never performed at the festival.
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  Besides the headliners, other popular acts include Megan the
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  Stallion, Charlie XCX, Tyler, FKA Twigs, Claro, and BLACKPINK
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  members Jenny and Lisa. Lineup has drawn mixed
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  reactions. Some people are saying that the
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  festival has like fallen off because some of these acts feel
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  irrelevant, while others feel like it's really pulling on that
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  nostalgia. I mean, especially with Green
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  Day, I am so I am like 2000's rock girly.
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  Like that is mostly what I listen to was like Linkin Park
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  Blink 182. If you guys used to listen to
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  the podcast when it was Jordy and I like we would always talk
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  about that. She'd be like you listen to like
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  the craziest music, like compared to, you know, like what
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  it seems like I would listen to, but I just listen to like all
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  types of music. But new metal era like that,
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  like 2000s, early 2000s, like that is like my jam.
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  So, you know, Green Day performing is so iconic to me.
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  And I'm like, they are in my Spotify.
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  I think Post Malone makes total sense.
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  He just had that. Did he just have that country
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  album drop? I think he did.
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  Sean, my husband was listening to it and he was like, I love
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  this album. I think that was his latest
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  album, and I think it just came out.
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  But I think it sounds like a really sick lineup.
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  And I mean, Coachella is always iconic, even if the festival has
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  kind of fallen off and we've discussed it on and off over the
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  years. If it's like irrelevant, if it
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  really makes sense for influencers to go.
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  But honestly it has stayed the course.
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  So I'm interested to hear what you guys think of the
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  headliners. I've never been to Coachella and
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  I feel like it's got to be one of those bucket list things, but
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  I would want to do it really well.
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  So I don't think coming from Australia, I could afford to do
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  it well for a very long time. Anyways guys that is it for
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  today. Thank you so much for listening
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  to Mini Scroll. I love you guys.
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  I love you guys and there will be a deep dive tomorrow and then
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  I will talk to you on Monday. OK, bye.