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The Burger Wars: Why the Viral McDonald's Taste Test Was a Miss for Gen Z

• The Agency • Season 1 • Episode 9

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In this week's episode, Elise and Jackson break down brands that just get it when it comes to Gen Z: NPR’s “For Your Right to Be Curious” campaign, Heineken’s “The Pub That Refused to Die,” and how Rhode always taps the latest “It Girl” at exactly the right time.

Later, they tackle how social media managers can beat trend fatigue when our feeds become clogged with overdone trends.

In Battle of the Brands, Elise and Jackson face the elephant in the room: McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski’s awkward, memeable taste test video. Then, they debate which burger giant clapped back better.

Finally, in the Three-Minute Meeting, they strategize how local jewelry brand Kristin Christopher can expand beyond art fairs and drive online sales.

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SPEAKER_01

Welcome to Od Space. My name's Elise.

SPEAKER_00

And I'm Jackson.

SPEAKER_01

Each week we'll be breaking down the most buzzworthy campaigns, social trends, and advertising news through the eyes of Gen Z.

SPEAKER_00

With sharp analysis, authentic debates, and real audience insights, we'll unpack how Gen Z responds to the strategies shaping the industry today.

SPEAKER_01

Let's get into it. Back on video for a second topic. But you won't be able to see us on video next week. I'm so no.

SPEAKER_00

Sadly, we are going on hiatus for two, two, three weeks. We, as students at the University of Kansas, are leading our national student advertising competition team. And this week, next week, the week after, and the week after that, our grind week. It's like plans book week. It's really a big deal. We're really excited to be doing it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

But we're stressed and we're busy and we just gotta lock in.

SPEAKER_01

Exactly. But next week is also spring break, too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So what are you doing?

SPEAKER_01

I'm going to Nashville and Florida for spring break. I'm excited.

SPEAKER_00

That's hype.

SPEAKER_01

A little vacay moment.

SPEAKER_00

I'm going to Nola. New Orleans. New Orleans, for those not in the know. New Orleans. I'm excited. I've never been. It's like going to a foreign country. I don't know. That's what it feels like.

SPEAKER_01

So this means you get to go back and re-watch all of our or re-listen to all of our other episodes. Why mix us?

SPEAKER_00

Re-listen, re-comment, reshare.

SPEAKER_01

Exactly. Well, let's get into the ad update. So welcome to the ad update where we debrief the most impactful campaigns from last week. First up, we have NPR. Um the For Your Right to Be Curious campaign just launched from NPR last week. It was done by Mischief at No Fixed Address. And essentially, they changed NPR's iconic logo letters into questions. Why, who, how. They put these, um, they swapped the logos out um at their Washington, D.C. headquarters. They put it on billboards in New York City and Chicago, um, put it across video, social media, turned it into tote bags. Um, they also took a full-page ad in the New York Times and put in the company's manifesto, which is very cool. I do recommend um going and giving it a read. Very good. Um, and the campaign poses the question for the viewers, um, all different kinds of questions, such as why are groceries still so expensive? Um, they even mentioned some things about ice, they bring up questions about celebrities. Um, and the campaign serves as a reminder that any attempt to silence curiosity will only inspire more of it.

SPEAKER_00

This is a great campaign. I mean, we can talk about the timing of it in a second, but just to explain it visually, they basically changed their um their huge logo on their building. Instead of saying NPR, it says why.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Very simple. How, who, WTF.

SPEAKER_01

And of course, yes, one of them does say WTF. That one's my favorite. Um, if you like first glance at it, too, you don't even recognize that anything is different.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Which I think is so interesting. And I mean, like Jackson said, timing.

SPEAKER_00

With with the budget cuts that this administration has brought upon, you know, all public media this last year. I think uh they went into place last October. This kind of this larger political context of, you know, that silence that's being brought upon, you know, broadcast. And I think it's widely affecting other news networks in general. Oh yeah. Specifically, NPR lost all funding and now they're reliant completely on public donations and advertising money. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Um, which even even if you just think about like things that are happening um, just like in general political climate, even now, before and even after they lost all of their funding, but also just like how people think of news nowadays. And when you think of like a news publication and a radio station, thinking about like fake news and it's polarized and all this kind of things, I think it's it definitely cuts through some noise and reaches, I would say, the entire spectrum.

SPEAKER_00

I agree. But to focus specifically on Gen Z, I think that there's kind of, and maybe from an older audience perspective, that NPR is kind of obsolete, kind of dead. But NPR and an NPR and Edison report showed that the 13 to 24 year old audience Gen Z segment spends 22% of their time with spoken word audio and compared with those aged 13 to 24. So this is definitely like the podcasts are a huge um thing that Gen Z is tuning into. And I can speak for myself, and I know that at least you too listen to like the Up First and some of their other programs. Yeah. Because it for me at least, it's something that feels very authentic. It's it isn't the you know, the overcrowded opinions news that you get on, you know, mainstream media or from honestly most written news outlets nowadays. It it's just very objective, and I know that it definitely um it can have a leaning, I'm aware, but overall, it's more an objective, personal feeling kind of way to get your news, which I think Gen Z is just tuned into right now. They're looking for something that doesn't feel like it's being influenced by a billionaire owner like the Wall Street Journal.

SPEAKER_01

Exactly, exactly. It's just kind of like a I would say a a reliable source to go to. And you can follow them on multiple different platforms too. I think they do a great job of like sharing the news that they have to talk about, like you mentioned through their podcast, then on their socials, but then obviously they have their website, and then they're tapping into like obviously other news publications paper with the New York Times and the Manifesto. But I think especially another thing to talk about this campaign is the amount of earned media that it's generated.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Um, kind of like I mentioned earlier, no matter who you are, it caught your attention in some manner. And I mean we talked about Gen Z. I think Gen Z specifically loves it because it's just kind of cheeky.

SPEAKER_00

It's cheeky.

SPEAKER_01

It's a little poke the bear, which I love about it.

SPEAKER_00

It's almost I don't want to say offensive, but it definitely like when you think of NPR and you think of like the dull, mundane voice. The welcome to the NPR radio hour. It's great through that. Right, right. And it's like those questions that are pressing, like like why are groceries so expens still so expensive? That I that's really on people's minds. It gets to that and it starts conversations. I can't say enough about this campaign. It's so great.

SPEAKER_01

We love it. Well, moving on to our second campaign um from Heineken. They created um, or this ad was created by Le Pub Worldwide and Publicist Dublin um together. And this campaign is about preserving the Irish pub. Um, so it's a documentary focused on a pub in Kiddley, Ireland, under the title The Pub That Refused to Die, based on a true story. Um, it follows 26 locals who brought out the pub to save it after it went up for sale. Um, it's a hero documentary. Um, campaign is centered around preserving just like generally pub culture, um, and more than just Ireland, all around Europe and even like kind of in the US, just like third, this like third spaces culture. Um, but creating shared experiences for every local. For the love of the pubs is also the title of their accompanying social campaign. Um, and specifically, I really liked um Heineken's website described um the pub is woven into our social fabric, a part of the soul of our culture where stories, conversations, and the cray resound within its merry walls. So it's talking about how just pub culture in general is a part of Ireland's culture, and then obviously about Heineken, this beer.

SPEAKER_00

This campaign comes in response to um 2100 pubs closed in the country between 2005 and 2025. And they, I mean, they talk about it in the documentary how essential a pub is to the towns in Ireland. It's it's the heart of the town, I think they say. So just really great stuff there. And I think I would love to talk about the activation that went along with this because I signed up for it. So they they set up and it's on the Heineken website.

SPEAKER_01

You can do it. It's an audience movie.

SPEAKER_00

Anyone can.

SPEAKER_01

Um all over the world.

SPEAKER_00

Pub Succession, which again they aired it in 2025 with the same time as this documentary. So pub succession is all of these pubs that are going out of business. If you match the surname of the pub, then you are a candidate to take over the pub.

SPEAKER_01

Because the issue they were finding, especially that Heineken was finding with uh why all these pubs were closing, is because younger family members didn't want to take over the family business. They didn't have they had younger people in their family that just like had bigger dreams of moving other places, out of the small town, didn't want to go into the business of owning a pub. So if Jackson is not on this podcast when we come back from our hiatus, he's in Ireland owning a pub. And we'll see. I don't know if there are any Ingalls in England or I kind of doubt it.

SPEAKER_00

But uh fingers crossed, I'd love to run a pub. I'd be his own little farmade or bar owner.

SPEAKER_01

Anyways, I think we should also circle back to um the documentary specifically on his campaign because I think it talks or it reminds me a lot about what we talked about last week with this very cinematic movie style type of ads and advertising and leaning kind of into this like documentary feel.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Um, because it's a very beautifully made documentary. Um, there's like a 30-second trailer on YouTube, and then there's also, I think it's is it 10 minutes long? Yeah. Exactly. Definitely worth a watch. Just like beautiful Irish.

SPEAKER_00

Beautiful biography, beautiful coastlines. Yeah. Just it's really great. It has some humor to it, it's very human. And just again, I mean, we can say it a million times. Denzi loves authenticity, like this this art-driven content where Heineken is really tapping into these peoples and their livelihoods and the heart of their town. Like this kind of documentary is gonna get people to watch. If it's posted. I guess I didn't check if it were put was posted on social medias.

SPEAKER_01

I think clips of it are.

SPEAKER_00

Clips of it. Yes. That makes sense. But um, the YouTube video right now is sitting at around 5.6,000 views, so it's definitely picking up. Um, and then it's also being posted by so Heineken posted it, Lad Bible, if you're familiar, posted it, and just other earned media channels are spreading it just because it's really great work. Yeah, heart-touching story.

SPEAKER_01

Also, it's just very on on brand for Heineken, and I think it all amplifies. I mean, like we mentioned earlier, some of their former campaigns that they've done and just their overall brand message, too. Great work. Great work. All right, well, our final campaign for the ad update is by Rode, and it's a collaboration with Road and Sarah Pigeon. Um, so it leverages Sarah Pigeon's breakout success as Carolyn Bissett Kennedy in Ryan Murphy's Love Story. The campaign taps into the current It Girl for the new Road makeup spring campaign. So she's promoting new products for their spring line. Um, it intro includes, sorry, it introduces the brand's first ever red blush shade called Candy Apple, a raspberry pink um teacup blush, um, alongside a fan-voted limited edition peptide lip tint called Sweet Pea and Pretzel. What do you think, Jackson, of this campaign? Um I know it's a little out of your depth, sorry.

SPEAKER_00

It is, it is, but but it's just like it couldn't have worked out better for Rhode in this situation. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01

And you're not familiar with Rhodes like branding in the past, they don't typically tap into super high, like trendy influencers. I mean, it was created by Haley Bieber, um, and they kind of mostly use her as like an influencer figure almost, and they're not necessarily like other than user-generated content and like sending PR packages to influencers, those are really all they use in their promotional campaigns.

SPEAKER_00

Sure, sure, sure, sure. Keep going. But just to talk about, you know, how this worked out. So Sarah Pigeon, this this show love story, it's based off let me JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessett Kennedy. Yes, it's very good. I've heard it's very good. I haven't watched it. I've seen a ton of social media content about dudes in New York dressing up like JFK Jr. being inspired by it. Um, so it's kind of already having like this scene blow up on TikTok and the New York fashion scene. Yes. And Carolyn Bessett Bessett Kennedy already has kind of existed as like this 90s style icon for years.

SPEAKER_01

And even for Gen Z too, like since the show came out, they've been talking um, there have been a lot of conversations about her style and like bringing back 90s and like like I think it makes me think of Rachel from Friends to just kind of this like always like put together it girl. I mean, that's that's who she is. So I think it's really interesting that they picked uh obviously Sarah Pigeon to kind of bring that elevated style to the brand.

SPEAKER_00

With Carolyn Bessett being like, you know, clean girl patient zero. This just really worked out in their favor to like. I mean, I feel like Hailey Beaver, as much as I know her, also really hits that like clean girl aesthetic that everything's you know perfect and you know, matte. So um, no, this just I just couldn't have worked out better. I just like nothing more to say. Great, great visuals too. Yeah. I really like this campaign. Yeah. Moving on to our social trend of the week. We have some mixed feelings about this one, but let's get into it. So it's kind of titled more or less This is who. It's it's the baby photo team trend that I know I know you have seen on Instagram.

SPEAKER_01

Maybe your workplace did it, maybe like your favorite local business did it, if you're a student, somehow your university probably did it at any single Instagram ever.

SPEAKER_00

If you're getting asked to submit a baby photo right now, this is why.

SPEAKER_01

Yes.

SPEAKER_00

Right. So let me explain it. So brands and companies have been posting Instagram carousels of their team's baby photos with captions like, This is who you're asking to run the company, this is who answers your emails. This trend really kind of blew up after Valentine's Day. There was a little bit of a uh a dry spot for content, and brands just were like, Oh, that's easy.

SPEAKER_01

And it is easy, but and we talk about a lot in the social trend about these like easy little trendy things that brands can just hop on and easily apply to themselves too. And this one obviously has been one of those. Um, I think it's really interesting, like seeing a lot of Gen Z people are kind of doing this because it's like funny that like feeling impending sense of doom as like somebody in Gen Z, like, oh my gosh, I'm behind, I don't have my dream job yet. I don't, I'm not where I want to be like with my career. And I think like that that makes me think kind of think of that insight just in general. And that's probably part of me why I think Gen Z finds it so funny. It's just like, oh my god, I should have started, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

It is a bit comforting maybe to infantilize yourself in this in this way. But our thing is, it kind of reminds us of the the scene from Broad City. I'm just a baby. I can always see you in blog. I can see you in blogs. It's like we don't need to see that side. I mean, like, I understand, you know, trying to be authentic, but maybe it's just the fact that everyone's doing it, it doesn't feel authentic.

SPEAKER_01

You lost me three weeks ago. Like it'll be so for real.

SPEAKER_00

I don't really want to see your CEO as a five-year-old. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01

No, because like on the flip side of that, and I've been seeing actually in the past few days, like some creators talking about on their TikToks, like how this trend is like really dumb and we need to move on. Um, I think one specific creator said, Oh, you so you were never a child, like all of us were children at some point.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Let's like let childhood be childhood.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I just think it's like, and I love, I understand why people love it, but I'm also just kind of like it's a little bit out of touch, maybe exactly.

SPEAKER_00

So, you know, people are gonna do it, but it's a little inauthentic at this point.

SPEAKER_01

If you are a social media manager, what's a way you could elevate it? Oh, yeah. Same thinking.

SPEAKER_00

I would love to see some ironic takes on it. This is who you're asking, and it's like them when they're 80 or something.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Aging them up. I don't know. That's not funny. Find a funny way to do it and do it. All right, and now the ad news. Let's jump into the latest ad and PR headlines from the week. So we actually only have one story to cover today, and it's it's a disaster. So if you're living under a rock and haven't seen this, McDonald's CEO Chris Kamzinski posted a video of him trying their new Big Arch burger with the intent of making him seem relatable, fun.

SPEAKER_01

CEO and McDonald's eats the burger, so you should too. It's a regular American citizen.

SPEAKER_00

But it came across awkward, uncomfortable, and like he was a complete phony.

SPEAKER_01

I completely recommend going and like watching the video.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Such a laugh.

SPEAKER_00

We're not gonna do it justice. But if you check the agency page, you might see something that something similar. Something very similar. So, but in the video, he takes like the tiniest bite known to man, and he's like, Oh, this is gonna be my lunch later. And people obviously ripped him to shreds. Brands were in the comments.

SPEAKER_01

I about every single brand you could think of was in the comments, and that's like almost the funniest part of the video because the McDonald's CEO, he has like a pretty decent social following, and he makes videos like about being a businessman and like his career, being a dad, um, what's it like to like work for McDonald's and like develop McDonald's products? But like I he did this, and it was just so horrible. He did a similar video when he they unveiled snack wraps again. That was better, and that one was better. Yeah, it was a little more like I it felt like he actually cared. This one, it felt like some intern was like, Hey, can you please do this? He was like, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and just like I think the main the main faux pas that people really attack attacked him for was calling it a product.

SPEAKER_01

The burger product, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I love this product, it's so good. I'm gonna do a tasting right now. It's like if you want us to like crave this and like, oh, I want to eat that, don't call it a product. No, call it a burger.

SPEAKER_01

And it felt just incredibly out of touch. I mean, it said he's getting paid, I don't know how many billions of dollars a year to run McDonald's. I'm sorry, that's not who's regularly buying McDonald's. It's people our age or people who just need a quick fight to eat on their long commute to work. It's not billion-dollar CEOs. So they were trying to be relatable, trying to be authentic.

SPEAKER_00

Which I like, but I don't know. It just it came across very Zuckerberg. Exactly. Old Zuckerberg, 2014 Zuckerberg. It's time for Battle of the Brands. And speaking of the McDonald's controversy, today's battle is who clapped back better, Wendy's or Burger King.

SPEAKER_01

So, like we mentioned, all these brands were in the comments of the McDonald's CEO videos, roasting him, saying all these different funny things everybody thought was engaging. And Wendy's and Burger King decided to hop on the trending thing that was happening and make their own videos in response to the McDonald's CEO video.

SPEAKER_00

So my brand for this episode is Wendy's. So Wendy's posted this video on like LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok of their CEO not just eating the burger, cooking the burger, making a frosty, and grabbing fries before he sits down with the food. And all the while poking fun at McDonald's, saying things like that Wendy's beef is fresh, never frozen, and talking about their frosty machine poking fun at McDonald's ice cream machine, which which is always broken. He kind of went past just the burger insult and was like he gave some rough digs. He did, he did. He was mean, but he was funny and he was authentic, and I think that's what really matters, and that's what sets it apart. So, really, the main idea of this video was that the Wendy's burger is worth a second bite with that fresh, never frozen tagline, which really I think worked well with this concept. It just they executed this, it synced up so well they were able to bring it to life really quickly. Um, and I think it speaks a lot to the CEO. I mean, we were talking about, you know, we don't really want to see the CEO, but sometimes whenever they can show out like this, show that they know the food inside and out, they don't feel completely scripted, they feel like a person. Sorry, McDonald's CEO. Um, it's it's just it brings it brings it to life. Yeah, it makes you want to eat that burger. And I have to say, the burger in the Wendy's video looked really good.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. And he like he did devour it.

SPEAKER_00

He did.

SPEAKER_01

He ate almost the whole thing. In a big bite. In about three or four bites.

SPEAKER_00

A real big bite.

SPEAKER_01

And I think he said something too pokey about like, let's take a real bite of this burger. Yeah, no.

SPEAKER_00

And then to go along with this, Wendy's also launched their chief tasting officer position. Did you see this?

SPEAKER_01

I did see that.

SPEAKER_00

Hilarious. It's like, I mean, it's basically a bunch of people, it's open, an open application for people to be the chief tasting officer at Wendy's and try all their new products. Yeah. Which is it's just a fun way to like really commit to making fun of the McDonald's CEO.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, yeah. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I thought they really went all in.

SPEAKER_01

They did, but did Burger King do better? So my brand is Burger King. So they did something again similar, but I think took it even a step further than Wendy's did. Um, so Burger King's president Tom Curtis wanted to obviously show up the McDonald's CEO what a proper bite of a burger looked like. And the short video that's been treading the most on their Instagram page um is a short. Video of a longer video that they did. Um, and it's captioned replay this, and it shows Curtis taking an enormous bite and saying, only thing missing is a napkin, and then enjoying the rest of his burger. So this video, just this one, drew over 250,000 likes and thousands of comments from even other brands that were like, Oh, they did it better, just engaging with each other again, still poking fun at this McDonald's CEO. So the longer video that they did, similar to Wendy's, the Burger King CEO went to one of their like developmental kitchens. Um, and he actually also brought along like one of their chefs, or I'm sure one of cool people, yes, that they help develop all of their um menu items and everything like that. And she was there standing telling him, here's where we source our lettuce from. Our mayo is fresh. Here's all the specific items on the burger. Here's what we specifically we do with the buns. And he's standing there asking questions, almost from like a customer perspective. Because obviously he runs the business, but we all know we're not dumb. He's not the one in the kitchen actually making it. But he's there learning about his company. Another part of the video, too, is he was taking into account things that um he did some like social listening. He watched some TikTok videos, looked at some comments about what people are saying about the Whopper and how they could make it better. Yeah. Um, I wish the Whopper tasted more like this. I sometimes I get it and it's really fresh, but sometimes I get it and it's not. And so he took those comments and then had conversations with them, um, with this like chef that he had in the kitchen while they were making a burger together, which I thought was just like even a step further from like our CEO enjoys our food. Our CEO listens to you as an audience member and enjoys the food.

SPEAKER_00

Which was good, but only the only one thing missing a napkin, that line was so corny. Sorry, but like, come on.

SPEAKER_01

But it went viral.

SPEAKER_00

So it's a dad line, like I get it.

SPEAKER_01

It's dad though.

SPEAKER_00

Well, okay, sure. But still, he's a dad and a cornball. So yeah. Um, I do think that it's important to note the settings that these took place in. The McDonald's guy was who's in either his office or it looked like a hotel room. Yeah. Basically, it was completely corner office.

SPEAKER_01

It was just boring. There was nobody else in the video. Like it was it was awkward. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Weird. With my guy, Wendy's, he was in the kitchen, he was cooking it up. It was a very warm feeling, and then he ended up sitting down at a real normal table that is out of Wendy's and just ate it.

SPEAKER_01

And it was props to Wendy's. He dipped his fries in the frosty, too.

SPEAKER_00

Which is like a classic cultural thing for Wendy's fans.

SPEAKER_01

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00

So, and you know, um, the Burger King CEO, I do like that it was, you know, in a kitchen. I don't it it just felt like it was like too elevated for me. IMO.

SPEAKER_01

They did make it into a like a production pre-had they had multiple videos made about it, they're still posting about it on their socials, but at the same time, the CEO, he's personable, he's casual, he's fun, he's humble, he's authentically authentic.

SPEAKER_00

He looked like a chiller. I'll I'll give that to him.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Well, let us know which brand you think won this segment of Battle with the Brands by going to our Instagram at the Agency KU to vote on either Burger King or Wendy's. Today's client is Kristen Christopher Jewelry, a handmade jewelry brand based in Lanexa, Kansas, founded by metal smithing husband and wife duo Kristen and Chris. The brand creates hand-fabricated sterling silver pieces using traditional metal smithing techniques, with every item crafted from raw material in their studio. Their customers range from young to young at heart and love expressing individual individuality through unique handcrafted jewelry, often starting with simple stacking rings or studs and returning for more statement pieces over time. Kristen Christopher primarily sells at in-person art fairs in Lawrence, like Lawrence Art in the Park or uh and online. And their big question for us today is how can they grow online sales and reach new customers beyond the events where most of their loyal buyers currently find them?

SPEAKER_01

All right, let's start that three-minute timer. There we go. Okay. So, first talking point we wanted to mention was um increasing their online sales. And we thought this could start with tiny little minute changes on their website. Um, personally, Jackson and I loved the review page. And if you look at the review page, every single review is five stars.

SPEAKER_00

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

So obviously their customer base is loyal, they're returning, and we would suggest showcasing these pieces on people, how they're styling them, how they're using them, how their customer is bringing them to life. And instead of just seeing like the piece on just like a black on the white or black background, seeing them incorporated into the person's signature style.

SPEAKER_00

Especially with Gen Z. I mean, like that's what we're experts on, right? And that's what we're gonna talk about. Gen Z does love to see, like, they love to see how it can curate with the whole fit. I think going to like that, like Lawrence in uh art in the park, like I've been there and you see so much jewelry everywhere. And it's hard to decipher, you know, what's really gonna work for me, what's gonna fit my style, and just being able to see it as a fit would really help.

SPEAKER_01

Exactly. Um, then next, we wanted to kind of talk about how you can translate um growing online sales within their Instagram. Um, so one of the big things that we kind of noticed is we feel like there's a lack of content that has possibility to start trending. A lot of the content, it feels like which it feels very homey and like safe. And if you are a loyal customer and you know the brand, they talk post about their family, post about um like them in the studio, what they're up to. Exactly. And it's it's so sweet and endearing, but we want to maybe start capitalizing on content that can reach audience of a broader network. So, what are posts talking about how here's how our um products are sustainable, here's specifically how they're made, here's where you can come find us, here's who we are. Creating those kinds of pieces of content that can reach an audience that's broader than just their current loyal following.

SPEAKER_00

I think that's specifically just making sure that you know, this content shows that you are in the Kansas City, Lawrence, Lanexa area, and that that's where people are gonna be able to find you. And even if it were was content like at some of those fest or some of the like the art in the park kind of events where you know people are really gonna be seeing you in action, I think that that could help people visualize your store.

SPEAKER_01

Exactly. And specifically, I think it's on your website. One specific thing they say, worn often and passed on. It's already described their pieces of jewelry, which I think is just like you immediately get it. Like the vision for the person that they're trying to create this jewelry for, handmade, beautifully made, and you can wear it all the time, it won't tarnish, and then it's so high quality that you can pass it on then after the festival.

SPEAKER_00

So, like again, lean into the family story. We think it's so important to strength. Just have that family story be a little bit more maybe accessible to a wider audience. Make sure that your Instagram is not just, you know, family posts, but something that anyone could get into right away.

SPEAKER_01

Exactly. All right, and that's three minutes.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you so much, Christian Chris Kristen Christopher, for submitting your questions and sharing your brand with us. If you are a local KC or Lawrence brand, we would love to feature you in our three-minute meeting. To be featured, visit our visit our Instagram or email us at adspacepod at gmail.com. That's adspacepod at gmail.com.

SPEAKER_01

You've been listening to AdSpace by the agency.

SPEAKER_00

This episode was produced by Brina Burnett and Joe Bundo, written and edited by the Steam Whistle Creative team, sound design and mixing by Joe Bundo, Wyatt Cooper, and Brina Burnett.

SPEAKER_01

Special thanks to our faculty advisor, Dr. Rose. This podcast is a production of Steam Whistle Creative made possible by the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

SPEAKER_00

To keep up with new episodes, follow us on Instagram at the AgencyKU. And don't forget to like, rate, and review. It really helps us out.

SPEAKER_01

I'm Elise.

SPEAKER_00

And I'm Jackson.

SPEAKER_01

And we'll see you next time.