🧚🏽#001: Hype Trends - spotted in the media

Sprinkling of joyful news & glimmers to help you Hype Yourself

The news was particularly heavy this last week but I don’t subscribe to the ‘news is so heavy don’t read it’ manifesto. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not sitting there watching Sky News 24/7 but after reading the papers daily for the best part of two decades of my career, I know how to flick through the tricky bits to find the more irreverent, quirky articles that can help you Hype Yourself.

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I used to write a weekend post called ‘Wern Weekend News’ on Instagram as part of my consultancy.

It was a bit misleading; it wasn’t really about the news I saw at the weekend.

It was my way of showing some of the lighter stories amongst the heaviness, to give ideas for small business owners of ways they could place articles or news jack on their social media.

I know that part of the reason I’m good at putting people where they don’t belong and giving advice on self-promotion is because I’ve probably racked up months, if not years, in reading articles online.

Here are a few things I’ve spied on in the last week that may or may not work for you and your self-promotion, spark some joy or help you think a bit more creatively.

🪳 Bed bugs migrating from Paris via Eurostar and now spotted on the London Underground. Ok, bear with me here if you are wondering how this is joyful, but to me, this does read part comedy script. Am I wrong?

If you are a service or product-based business with anything to do with beds, cleaning, public transport or tourism, then there is definitely fun to be had on this story.

👚 Leads me on to the following article that ran from the previous story, but I think we could see going further with more reports of surges in flu/winter viruses. Indoor clothing Chloe MacDonnell reopens the debate: do you change straight into your indoor clothes so as not to spread your germ? Speaking of indoor clothing, this links us nicely into a topical podcast episode by

Seraphina Malina-Derben

on Pyjama Weirdisms 1 - this will be an 11-minute well spent with the most impressive tween/10-year-old I know. The PR in me also can’t resist flagging that my first child features at about 2 minutes in… his first podcast appearance.

💁🏾‍♀️💁🏼‍♀️ Epic of all photo opportunities. Beyoncé and Taylor Swift at the premiere of the Eras movie. I found myself pondering this year; I wonder if these two find themself getting comparisonitis with one another? Them showing up together like this? Perfect - for messages around women supporting women, for collaboration, for sharing audience and becoming a marketing example, for reinforcing you can win doing it your way. I expect to see small businesses jump on board with everything from doughnut pairings, bespoke headpieces, dance medleys and a gazillion memes on this for the foreseeable.

🎃 The next story works as a great PR article on many levels.
1. It is seasonal - pumpkins are literally in season right now
2. Great photography - a picture is often the only story
3. Newsworthiness and answering the Why Now? question by a new World Record being broken and
4. Comedy value. Readers: I give you Michael Jordan, a 2,749-pound record-breaking pumpkin

🎨 Pantone reveals its colour trends. It is an excellent story for social media managers, bakers, interior designers, craftspeople, makers, mixologists, and make-up artists to hijack for social media content. If you are an expert in this space, you may have something to say about these colour trends. At this point, please can I direct you to read

Vanessa Edwards

articles for further colour inspiration using AI all year round!

🦫 Beavers return to London for the first time in 400 years to help with biodiversity. I loved this not just because they are cute but when searching for this; they even got coverage back in March when they intended to do it and got a second bite of the cherry with the video and pictures news and a guest appearance from Sadiq Khan. Prime-time PR real estate right there. How to rinse your story 101.

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Let me know if you think this is helpful in the comments, and feel free to share on Notes if it’s a treat. Sharing is caring, as I tell my mini-people.

Hi 🌊. If you are new here, so am I! It's lovely to meet you, I’m Lucy. I have historically written about PR & brand building tips. Since moving to rural France (formerly in east London, UK), I wanted to write more broadly about self-promotion, sharing BTS or my midlife relocation and running a creative business. Come and sit with me.