hands off my ranch!
🦀 cruising with jojo siwa + name 100 women + RIP Big John + ranch in your carryons + Bob from Japan + welcome back tyra + new labubus + little ceasars x spiderman + doordash x tpain 🦀
Welcome to Silence, Brand!, a tri-weekly potluck of internet absurdity at the intersection of brand marketing and internet culture written by a collective of award winning digital marketing professionals. If you like what we do, please consider becoming a paid subscriber.
It’s only Monday but it feels like we have experienced at least three Thursdays between Fridayand today.
Google handed A24 $75 million to help figure out AI, Harry Styles fans started giving concert posters prosthetics, and Joe Jonas released a song for a farming game (because apparently every brand partnership is possible if you believe hard enough.)
JoJo Siwa cruised with fans, World Cup visitors became so obsessed with ranch dressing that TSA had to get involved, and Twitch turned “name 100 women” into a competitive leaderboard sport.
Meanwhile, we said goodbye to two unlikely internet legends: Big John, HorseTok’s beloved gentle giant, and the Major Oak, the 1,200-year-old Robin Hood tree that somehow outlived most empires.
And hey so the Levis "covering up the logo" thing only works if your logo shape is immediately recognizable without additional context. 😅
Hope that helps!
🦀📈 TODAY’S POLL
📲🦀 Viral Topics
Harry Styles kissable OOH (Instagram)
The internet is split between “iconic” and “slightly cursed” in response to these Harry Styles posters that have been retrofitted with 3D kissable lips (and a bit of stubble). Harry is in the middle of his record-breaking Together, Together residency, including a massive 12-night run at Wembley Stadium through July 4.
Major Oak, the 1,200-Year-Old Tree with Ties to the Robin Hood Legend, Is Presumed Dead After Failing to Produce Leaves (Smithsonian Magazine)
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), a nonprofit conservation group that has managed Sherwood Forest, announced on June 18 that the Major Oak, a roughly 1,200‑year‑old tree in Sherwood Forest tied to the Robin Hood legend, failed to produce leaves this spring and is now presumed dead after years of visible decline despite expert interventions.
Joe Jonas has teamed up with farming game Hay Day to release ‘The Cozy Anthem’ (Readdork)
Joe Jonas has teamed up with mobile farming game Hay Day to release “The Cozy Anthem,” a new song inspired by the game’s long-running theme and launching a two-week virtual music festival across Hay Day and social platforms that began on June 16th.
JoJo Siwa just hosted a theme cruise. Here’s what it was like (USA Today)
The JoJo Siwa Cruise gave fans the chance to spend three days fully immersed in JoJo’s world, with everything from bow making workshops and themed parties to concerts and meet and greets. Some fans paid extra for once in a lifetime experiences, including dinner with JoJo or even a pizza and movie night in her suite, and many said she made the interactions feel surprisingly personal.
Google Investing in ‘Backrooms’ Studio A24 (WSJ)
News broke today that Google is investing $75M in A24 for a “first of its kind” research program to develop AI-powered filmmaking tools and A24 loyalists are sounding off on X.
Twitch’s viral “Name 100 Women” challenge becomes a web game with leaderboards (Dexerto)
A Twitch challenge popularized by creator QTCinderella, where creators try to name 100 notable women as quickly as possible, has been turned into a viral web game complete with leaderboards.
After more than 10,000 completed games, the data revealed that nearly half of all women named appeared only once, while figures like Michelle Obama, Taylor Swift, Hillary Clinton, Beyoncé, and Olivia Rodrigo were among the most frequently mentioned.
Viral horse Big John has died (Dexerto)
Big John, the massive rescue horse known as the "King of HorseTok," passed away. The 3,000-pound draft horse became a viral sensation during the pandemic, with millions following his life at Colby’s Crew Rescue after years of farm work as an Amish draft horse. Fans flooded social media with tributes, thanking the rescue for giving Big John a loving final chapter.
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
⚽🦀 World Cup
Kraft Teases TSA‑Friendly Ranch Dressing Packets After World Cup Fans Obsess Over Condiment (People)
The TSA wants foreign World Cup travelers to stop packing ranch dressing in their carry-ons (Business Insider)
HEINZ Drops Limited-Edition ‘Censored’ World Cup Bottle in Canada (LBBOnline)
Bank of America fan bands sparking long lines at FIFA events (Sports Business Journal)
China failed to qualify for the World Cup, so soccer-loving fans are cheering for a referee instead (NBC News)
To America, Alex Freeman is a World Cup star. To TikTok, he’s ‘Diamond’s Little Brother’ (New York Times)
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
Bob from Japan is everyone’s favorite on the internet right now! They’re loving his food videos trying American dishes especially when he came to the World Cup with now money and now he can afford to get around the States & share his experience on TikTok. [🦀 dejaih]
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
Lionel Messi becomes World Cup all-time leading goalscorer. How has he stayed at the top? (BBC)
Dove Announces Official Partnership with Tori Penso, the First American Woman Ever Selected to Referee a Men’s FIFA World Cup (AccessNewswire)
🦀 Trending
#pouroutabeeronyourcrotchchallenge
yeah idk man. we’re pouring beers (and other beverages) on our crotches (and keyboards... and grandmas....)
