Why the Weetabix Baked Beans Story Was a Stroke of Genius

You would have been hard pushed to miss a certain PR success story doing the rounds on social media in recent days.

Flick through any newspaper, browse online or catch a few minutes of daytime TV, and the curious combo of ‘Weetabix and Baked Beans’ was being mentioned with a good mix of humour and horror?

Why?

Well, the creatives at Frank PR had developed a great shareable piece of content for their client Weetabix, by suggesting that the next breakfast trend could in fact be our faithful beans dunked on a dry wheat biscuit.

No wonder so many people stepped in to pass comment and forward the social post. Indeed, it was a narrative which pulled more than its fair share of high profile brands into the conversation.

So, let’s take a look at why it worked so well, and what it tells us about PR initiatives that take flight more than others….

1)   The brands are household names

The very nature of PR initiatives is that not all start with the foundations of brands being well known. In this case, however, the two components are the equivalent of asking Superman and Batman into the same room. We know the brands and we can all relate.

2)   A picture paints a thousand words

The imagery to sit alongside this initiative was key, naturally. We want to visualise those beans dolloped on top of the breakfast wheat biscuit. It gets our brains instantly debating the merits of the combo…and of course, it’s the image which makes the story so shareable on social and in print.

3)   We all love a weird combo (the nugget of storytelling)

Great PR campaigns spark storytelling and conversation. Odd (and, frankly, awful) combinations are a topic in their own right.

We all know a friend who’ll think nothing of having bacon and marmalade, cheese with Christmas cake, or orange juice on porridge.

It’s the stuff which makes us groan and giggle – so it’s perfect fodder for journalists and broadcasters.

4)   It’s the reaction that warrants the viral share

Perhaps the greatest triumph of this PR activity was the way in which so many major brands responded. Indeed, it was perhaps their comments which deserved the column inches more than the Weetabix / Beans story itself.

For example: “It’s not a match” cried Tinder; while Pfizer questioned: “Haven’t our scientists worked hard enough, without having to come up with an antidote to this?”, and Ofcom insisted: “Please don’t put this on telly. We do not want to put our staff through investigating something so deeply offensive.”

5)   It’s fun and flighty in a stressed out world

And if you want another really key reason why this PR campaign might have worked so well – perhaps you need only take a look at the landscape in which we’re living.

Let’s face it. These are tough times with little sense of joy and amusement.

What better time to push a story which lights the flame of humour?

Hats off to Weetabix and to the guys at Frank PR. An absolute triumph.