Hot Topics | July 2nd

Culture

The world was collectively shocked and upset upon learning that Olympic newcomer Sha’Carri Richardson may not be able to compete in the Olympics after her record-breaking race. However, there still may be hope for the young athlete could compete this year, even if it was not the event she qualified for.

Zola is a movie created entirely off of content found in a Twitter thread that took the Internet by storm years ago. It was recently made into a movie and is fascinating to see how something started entirely on a social media platform has been brought to life on the big screen!

Fashion

The fashion media landscape is quickly changing. And with that comes the change of organization structure, and what editorial roles actually look like now.

Rent The Runway has been unfortunately known to not have the best work culture. However, they took a step back the past year and a half to really reset and rebuild for success from the ground up to face their future.

Social

TikTok has announced it’ll now allow creators to post up to 3-minutes of video (3x the original 60-second limit). They were in beta testing in December, but it’s now rolling out over the next month to the entire network.

Instagram is testing changes to make Instagram more like TikTok and less of a photo sharing app. Will they be able to differentiate enough and dominate the market again, or do consumers like have separate purposes on separate social media apps?

H&S | CEO Elizabeth Harrison named PR News Top Women in PR

H&S is proud to announce that Elizabeth Harrison has been named PR News Top Women in PR, Changemakers for 2021. Thank you, Elizabeth, for always striving for excellence not just for yourself, but for our agency. A well deserved recognition. 🧡

To qualify to be a 2021 Top Women in PR, Elizabeth was identified as an inspiring women making an impact on her organization, whether that's leading the brand out of a crisis, breaking into new markets, engaging a new audience, or mentoring other colleagues.

Hot Topics | June 25th

Culture

Following Britney’s story of trying to end her abusive conservatorship has really emphasized how important it is not to judge people from appearances. Millennials grew up with Britney and saw her through the shaved head and driving with her baby in the driver’s seat; and saw how she was attacked by the media. The entire time she was being controlled by someone who should’ve been looking out for her – her dad. #FreeBritney

With Pride in full force in the city and across the country, this story in The Cut which is part photo series, part optimistic commentary about returning to stage, and is so happy and hopeful! Love how free these beautiful people are to be themselves, unapologetically.

Jennifer Aniston just revealed that she's buddies with Brad Pitt, which is super interesting considering the fact that the whole dynamic between Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, and herself has been SUPER rocky for years. Quite an interesting read!

Fashion

We’re always big fans of the high-end designer collaborations with stores like Target and H&M (hello Christopher John Rogers!) since they offer more affordable options with the featured designers’ touch. H&M’s latest designer collaboration with Brock Collection just launched yesterday and is a summer dream!

Industry

Airbnb will be listing Antoni Gaudi’s first home in Barcelona for one night only in the fall! Very innovative play to encourage travelers to have a unique experience at a historical and meaningful location.

Womanish, a new pop-up art experience, lands in Miami for the summer.

VW | A&O Pride Party

Last night, Volkswagen and alice + olivia hosted a prom-themed Pride party in the Hamptons at the Parrish Art Museum in support of the Ali Forney Center and the LGBTQ+ community. Decked out in their best “over the rainbow” ensembles, guests danced the night away, enjoying music by Ty Sunderland, sweet treats from Dylan’s Candy Bar and glittering make-up looks by Stila Cosmetics. Custom wrapped in alice + olivia’s rainbow Stace Face print, Volkswagen’s first-ever all-electric SUV, the ID.4, served as the perfect backdrop for fabulous photos at the event. Attendees included Lea Michele, AnnaLynne McCord, Tayshia Adams and Huma Abedin, all of whom were chauffeured to the event in style in the Volkswagen ID.4!

H&S | CBO Veronica Rodriguez on PR Council Agency-Ready Certificate Panel

We love to see our staff giving back to the next generation of PR! Chief Brand Officer Veronica Rodriguez will be part of the PR Council’s Agency-Ready Certificate panel titled The Path Toward a Diverse and Inclusive Industry. This panel is a part of a series of sessions that are part of the PR Council Agency-Ready Certificate (ARC) program that’s open to college and graduate students and recent grads. The certificate program requires participation in live or recorded webinars on important areas including strategic counsel, client service, persuasive writing, applying data, social media strategy, crisis communications, DE&I, etc.

The goal of the program is to introduce students to the multitude of sectors available at PR Council member agencies. There are over 65 member firms who’ll be instructing/participating in sessions and have the ability to pipeline new talent, and we are so proud that our own Veronica is one of them! This series is scheduled to kick off on July 8th and currently has more than 1,500 students registered for this year’s session.

H&S | CEO Elizabeth Harrison on World's Most Successful Agencies Podcast

We loved listening to H&S’s CEO Elizabeth Harrison on PR Council’s second podcast episode this month! The episode, titled Delivering Positive Experiences to Build a Diverse Team, features Elizabeth speaking on H&S’s diverse organization and how that contributes to the agency’s overall success. The firm boasts a leadership team that is 70% diverse and has attracted and retained diverse talent at all levels.

Elizabeth launched H&S 24 years ago. During her tenure as CEO, she has worked with iconic brands across multiple categories, and under her leadership the agency has seen robust growth with large global clients such as Bacardi, Booking.com, Fairmont, and OMEGA, as well as affecting positive cultural change, hiring diverse talent, increasing profit growth and maintaining 88% client retention. Through creating positive experiences for diverse employees, Elizabeth has managed to cultivate a diverse workplace that values each other and the work that they do together.

Wilson | NBA Game Ball

Wilson Sporting Goods Co., in partnership with the National Basketball Association (NBA), today unveiled the league’s new official game ball in advance of the NBA’s 75th anniversary season. The reveal tips off a multiyear partnership, welcoming the NBA’s first official basketball manufacturer – Wilson – back to the game.

The Wilson NBA official game ball is comprised of the same materials, eight-panel configuration and performance specifications as the league’s current game balls and sources the same leather currently used in the NBA. Over the past year, the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) worked jointly with Wilson to develop and approve the new game ball through team evaluation sessions. The game ball features the iconic NBA and Wilson logos in full grain pebbling, with the Wilson logo also including an anthracite inline.

“Wilson is excited to unlock our history and heritage with the NBA to grow the game of basketball on the global stage,” said Kevin Murphy, General Manager, Wilson Team Sports. “On the heels of launching our WNBA and BAL partnerships, we will continue building for the future of the sport. Wilson will focus first on supporting the league and its players with its high-performance game balls, then extending our basketball family to reach fans, coaches and players at all levels, around the world.”

Booking.com | Pride Activation

For PRIDE month, Booking.com spotlighted four travel destinations around the world and their “PRIDE legacy.” The locations are New Orleans, the Netherlands, Buenos Aires, and Taipei. You can read more within the links on why each country is celebrated as an LGBTQ+ friendly destination.

Pride | H&S Staff Resources (Part 1)

At H&S, we’re always looking for ways to grow and educate ourselves around PRIDE and how to be allies to the LGTBQ+ community. This month, we’re asking our staff what resources they hold near to them year round, but especially during PRIDE. We hope you’ll join us in reading, listening, and continuing to put words into action.

Ashlyn Holliday

I first heard about “Paris is Burning” when I started college and learned that a high school classmate was involved in the Ball scene in NYC. I was so intrigued and found the documentary on YouTube. Since then, I have urged friends and family to watch the documentary to learn about a community they likely hadn’t heard of. Now we have Pose on FX (which I strongly urge you to watch as well) for a scripted take on the community, but Paris is Burning is an intimate glimpse into the community everyone needs to see.

Erika Lam

I’ve learned so much this past month gearing up for PRIDE celebrations for several of our brands. I’m particularly excited to have come across the organization BTFA (Black Trans Femmes in the Arts), a nonprofit that now happens to have one of our former H&S interns working at! BTFA organizes programming that centers and highlights Black trans femme artists, executive produces projects led by Black trans femme artists, and provides direct to support to Black trans artists. Please check them out and give them a follow on Instagram!

Liz Santillanes

I first learned about this book from Drag Queen Story Hour, an amazing organization where drag queens read stories to children in libraries, schools and bookstores. As a parent, I love the approach to normalizing these conversations and showing our children that its okay to be different and to embrace your true self. I’m so grateful for these tools and love the way it’s presented – I highly recommend, for kids and adults alike!

Booking.com | FRIENDS Experience

To help Americans reunite with their friends through travel after a year of being apart, Booking.com partnered with Superfly X to turn The FRIENDS Experience in NYC into a once-in-a-lifetime bookable overnight stay. StudioHS created the unique accommodation inside the recreation of Monica and Rachel’s apartment, and H&S amplified the activation through earned media and an owned social media strategy. The campaign objective was to highlight Booking.com’s breadth of alternative accommodations by creating the ultimate sleepover dedicated to the iconic, beloved 90s sitcom. 

“OH. MY. GAWD! Creating the ultimate sleepover at The FRIENDS Experience, bookable exclusively on Booking.com, was a dream come true. From the iconic doomed sofa pivot to the Vegas wedding chapel and all the iconic props and outfits in between, H&S and Booking.com truly created a once-in-a-lifetime experience for superfans and travel lovers alike at the New York City exhibition. Earned consumer and broadcast press responded very positively and we were thrilled with the national coverage we secured in top-tier lifestyle and entertainment publications like BuzzFeed, E! Online, Page Six, PopSugar, PureWow, Southern Living and even a segment on Late Night with Seth Meyers that also appeared on The Ellen Show! The Booking.com sleepovers at The FRIENDS Experience are definitely a personal career high for me.”

— Nikky Dudek, Account Supervisor

Top Press

Late Night With Seth Meyers

The Ellen Show

People

CNN

CBS This Morning

Elite Daily

CBS This Morning

ABC World News Now

Forbes

PureWow

Buzzfeed

Hot Topics | June 11th

Social

During this week’s IG Creators Week, Instagram announced new ways influencers can make money (read: commission) on purchases made through their platform. The company is working on tools that would allow influencers to sell products directly through their personal profiles and set up new shops via the app.

Culture

According to The Cut, FOMO is back. It might have gone into hibernation for a while, but we may now be on the way to a new golden age as we try to make up for the year we lost by doing more than ever. The article breaks down the psychological aspects of FOMO, as well as the impact that the pandemic and pre-pandemic lifestyle had on this idea.

The Calm app has recently announced that they will match the fine given to Naomi Osaka after she refused to speak to the media regarding mental health concerns. The app states they will offer to pay fines for other players who decline to speak to the media in order to protect their privacy regarding their mental health.

Cosmo does a great job at explaining why Juneteenth should be recognized as a national holiday by everybody, not only black communities. This is a very relevant first step at educating one other especially as the holiday is approaching.

Fashion

A surprising partnership between popular automobile brand Toyota and online fashion retailer Cuyana present portable and mobile showrooms this summer for customers in California.

Industry

Creator burnout is on the rise. As agency partners, it is critical to understand what we ask of creators and develop more empathy as we surpass the 1.5 year mark of digital content being how brands relied on reaching their audiences with original content during a time where original production was limited.

H&S | 2021 Power Of Purpose Awards Shortlist

We’re so excited to announce that H&S has been shortlisted for the Power of Purpose Awards 2021 from Campaign US! The awards recognize marketers and agencies giving back and making impact through purpose-driven work. This year’s awards celebrated marketers across six categories including sustainability, diversity and inclusion, nonprofit, brand purpose and public service announcements. H&S was honored in the category of nonprofit alongside Color of Change, BBDO New York, and BBDO Studios with Spencer Evan and Happy Finish for the Pedestal Project.

In February of this year, H&S worked with BBDO to launch the Pedestal Project, which was an Augmented Reality (AR) experience on Instagram that allows users to place statues of racial justice leaders atop empty pedestals where confederate statues once stood. This allows users to see a world where statues finally portray worthy idols for future generations. Read more about our Pedestal Project launch here.

At H&S, inclusion is one of our key founding pillars, and spreading that sentiment through campaigns like the Pedestal Project is of utmost important to our team. We are so honored to be included in this list of honorees from Campaign US.

Pride | H&S Pride Perspectives

Happy Pride Month from Team H&S! We are fiercely proud and protective of having a phenomenally diverse team here at the agency. While June marks the beginning of Pride celebrations around the world, today (and every day) we strive to create a more safe, inclusive, thriving workplace. Scroll down for some Pride Month perspectives from our team.

“Pride to me is celebrating my authentic self each and every day, I’m so grateful to work with a group of people who not only encourage individuality but celebrate it.”

— Luis Braga, Director

“We all have a responsibility to call out bias and prejudice if we see it. Being the mother of a gay daughter, I am an ally. Being an ally is a deep, personal commitment, which has allowed me to become more empathetic. Engaging with people who may appear to have a lot in common with me but who may have very different challenges and perceptions than I do, has made me grow personally and consciously to address my own bias. I applaud Charlotte’s courage, passion, and confidence to be her true self.”

— Elizabeth Harrison, CEO & Co-Founder

“Pride allows me to feel my most genuine and authentic self not only during the month, but also for a lifetime.”

— Omar Altimany, Summer Intern

“My decision to join H&S was based upon the inclusive mindset and commitment to diversity. As a gay, Latina woman, it’s important for me to work at a company that embraces the value of a diverse team and lives up to those values. So happy to be a part of the H&S family, but especially during Pride month.”

— Jenn Carson, Manager of Brand Engagement, Influencer Marketing + Partnerships

Hot Topics | June 4th

Social

Insider shares how Asian YouTube creators were able to find a platform that shared their stories and experiences way before Hollywood embraced Asian Representation in film. 

Twitter has created Twitter Blue, a paid subscription service that offers access to new features like undoing tweets and viewing threads in an easier to digest “Reader Mode.” Starting Thursday, it will roll out first in Canada and Australia.

This week Spotify released its 'Only You' in-app experience for users to celebrate their unique listening. The experience incorporates fun features such as astrology and provides you with an audio birth chart as well as creating your dream dinner party.

Culture

Naomi Osaka’s decision to put her own mental health first, and the backlash that it has received, is now sparking conversations on mental health in athletes and how it is often ignored as long as they continue to perform well in their sport.

Many people started new jobs, remotely, during the past year. Now, they’re faced with the decision to go back to an office, to stay remote, or perhaps, something in-between, like a coworking space. However, before jumping into a WeWork-like environment, Curbed suggests to think twice. Things may be a it more utilitarian and straightforward than the glamour of coworking spaces past.

Pride Month continues to look different this year because of COVID-19 precautions, but there is so much to be excited for! This is a great article with a comprehensive list of various types of events happening throughout New York City this month that cater to all sorts of interests and attendees.

Tech

Both companies and consumers are ready to get back to traveling, and at faster speeds no less. United Airlines announced a deal to buy 15 supersonic jets, planning to carry passengers on the ultra-fast planes by 2029. The plane is slated to fly at Mach 1.7, or roughly twice as fast as today's commercial jets. It will be able to fly from United's hub in Newark, New Jersey, to London in just three-and-a-half hours. It could make the Newark to Frankfurt trip in four hours and San Francisco to Tokyo in just six hours.

H&S | Summer Interns 2021

This week we are so excited to welcome our H&S summer interns! We have incredible talent joining us and we’re so excited to learn from them and help them grow in their careers.

Aile Cheng is a senior at Boston University majoring in public relations. She has previously held internships with mml PR and ASHE Agency, where she learned a lot about public relations in the beauty and fashion industry. She has experience managing social media accounts, building media lists, and supporting influencer outreach. In her free time she enjoys going to museums, watching rom-coms, and exploring new places around the city. She also loves to travel.

Guenevere Chin is from Queens, New York. She is majoring in Advertising and Marketing Communications (AMC) at FIT. She has her Associates in Marketing from SUNY Delhi and in AMC from FIT. She has been a Marketing Assistant and is fluent in social media and design skills. Some of her hobbies and interests include watching movies, film making, photography, and screen writing.

Omar Altimany is a recent graduate from New York University. He majored in Media, Culture, and Communication with a minor in the Business of Entertainment, Media, and Technology. He is very interested in expanding his digital storytelling and marketing skills that will help impact brands to establish more creative and innovative strategies. He has relevant experiences ranging from startups like a sustainable sneaker company called Thousand Fell, to a fashion PR company named C&M Media.

Setare Aliakbar is a rising junior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison double majoring in Marketing and Supply Chain Management with a certificate in digital studies. During her past internship, she was given the opportunity to launch a brand-new platform, Been Worthy, for one of her clients. Being able to work side by side with strong women-for women who are not afraid to take up space and show up in the boldness of who they are has been very inspiring and important for Setare. Outside of school and work, Setare loves to attend workout classes such as KAMPS fitness and also follows along with many At-Home workout channels on YouTube. Lastly, Setare is a huge foodie and will travel long and far to visit a restaurant she has found on Instagram, Tik-Tok, and most importantly Yelp.

Sonia Kulkarni is a Northwestern University graduate student studying the creative industries. Previously, she went to Boston University, where she pursued a degree in public relations. She has held various positions at different agencies with clients ranging from lifestyle, tech, and consumer goods learning about event planning and social media marketing. In her free time, she loves to practice my photography skills, learn how to sew, and plan hypothetical trips around the world.

H&S | CEO Elizabeth Harrison on The PRovoke Podcast

H&S CEO Elizabeth Harrison was recently featured on The PRovoke Podcast by PRovoke Media. The episode is titled Ageism In the PR Industry With Elizabeth Harrison, and addresses how the industry has always been faced with ageism and demographic discrimination of all kinds. PRovoke Media's latest data shows that in North America only 57% of PR agency employees believe the industry provides opportunities for those 50+. We’re proud of and grateful for Elizabeth shining light on this issue and talking through ways that we can all aim to create a better and more inclusive future for PR professionals everywhere.

“I would encourage any woman over 50 to own it. Own your age. Own your experience….You can walk into a room and own the room the same way a man can. If you have the confidence, you can be the most powerful person in the room.”

— Elizabeth Harrison, The PRovoke Podcast

“You spend the first part of your career wishing you looked older and taken more seriously. People aren’t taking you seriously enough because you don’t have the experience. And then you spend the latter half wishing people would not consider you too old to do the job.”

— Elizabeth Harrison, The PRovoke Podcast

Hot Topics | May 28th

Social

Instagram rolls out a new feature to enable online shoppers to link to product Drops. The Instagram Drops feature will now have a specific spot in the “Shop” tab to enable users to discover new and upcoming product launches. This move is intended to combat rivals like TikTok, organizing browsing in a single location. The drops avail so far include Drake x NOCTA, Wren + Glory and Charlotte Tilbury.

Culture

Vaccination passports are becoming such a polarizing issue. Some experts from this article foresee some backlash to events or festivals requiring “proof of vaccination” as we enter a post-pandemic world.

Electro-pop group Flume collaborated with 3D artist Zawada for an audiovisual NFT experience. The art is on display, and creates an extremely sensory experience for the viewer with sight, sound, smell and touch. An interesting and cool way to blend music and art!

This is a wonderful piece by award-winning writer Osayi Endolyn about the new docu-series on Netflix called, High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America. The series is an incredible reframing of history that reintroduces our country’s culinary past and will change the way you look at American food.

Fashion

Last week, MAC Cosmetics debuted a shoppable Snapchat AR try-on lens. Using technology developed through Snapchat’s partnership with Perfect Corp., MAC is offering four different lenses with 20 lip and eye products. Users can scroll through and test the different shades of each product and then click the link in the lens to purchase on MAC’s direct to consumer site. Estee Lauder’s brands, Too Faced, Bobbi Brown and Smashbox, will also debut on Snapchat with their own shoppable technology over the next few months.

The partnership between Netflix and historic Halston for a fashion line may have been unexpected, but smart. Halston will create a 10-piece capsule collection of gowns priced between $995 and $1,595. The looks—available for preorder this month—are inspired by archival designs featured in the new Netflix biopic about Roy Halston Frowick, the designer who launched the fashion house in 1968.

H&S | Reunited At Last

Last week, the H&S team gathered in-person for the first time in a long time! We took some time off of work to socialize safely at an amazing rooftop at the Arlo Soho (an old client of ours!) with team members from near and far. Some trained in, some walked, and some drove up the coast just to be together again. There were new faces; our new hires that started during the pandemic year and even a new baby that we have all only met over Zoom! We even got to toast to two promotions on our team and loved seeing our hardworking coworkers always striving for growth.

We’re very much looking forward to more in-person time with each other as the world reopens. Our team is a special one, and spending time together is something we all missed tremendously during the pandemic. We’re very lucky to have pivoted to remote work and adjust to that lifestyle, but wouldn’t trade this quality time for anything! Cheers to a more open world and happy hours together.

New Client | Wilson

Big news! H&S is thrilled to welcome Wilson Sporting Goods and Wilson Sportswear to the H&S roster. We will be representing them alongside BZA PR, supporting brand communications across the leading sporting goods manufacturer’s high-performance equipment business, and its new-to-market athletic apparel collection, Wilson Sportswear.

New Client | Brightside

As May is Mental Health Awareness month, we are extra excited to announce our partnership with Brightside! Brightside is an industry leader in the mental health space, and we’ll be working with them to find the right community of talent partners that will help shift perception and normalize the conversation and experience around mental health, including how one seeks care for themselves. We’re looking forward to brighter days ahead with our newest client.

“Showing up for yourself, IMPERFECTLY, is better than not showing up at all.”

— Brightside

via Brightside