Trendjacking, also known as newsjacking, is the opportunity to utilise the current biggest news or trends to draw instant brand awareness for your business.

In this mini guide, let’s take a look at how local brands jumped onto the bandwagon of “Umbrage”, the infamous word mentioned by Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) CEO Ng Yat Chung at a recent press conference.

Make it Timely

The key is to get your content quickly distributed across your digital channels as news and trends have a very short life span.

Using the bell-curve shown below, you want to come in while the topic is still relevant by injecting your content before its peak. This allows your brand to become part of the trending news when the story is developing.

Or you can always do a review on the recent trends and write a blog article to be helpful, even if you’ve passed the peak of a news story. (Like this blog article you are reading, if you get what we mean)

Establishing Relevance to Your Products or Services
(Is It on Brand?)

Trends do not necessarily have to be directly related to your brand. If you can make a humorous or clever connection to your brand, you might just strike gold and grab the attention of new audiences,

Take this Facebook post by Klook as an example. Klook prompts their rage room experience for people who have taken umbrage to “un-rage” which was also a smart wordplay that has been proven to be well-received by their audience.

Burger King Singapore also joined in the fun saying that they’d take umbrage if people settle for less by not going for the real deal of cheese burgers while showing a mouth-watering close up of their Cheesy Cheesy Stacker - the product they ultimately want to promote using this trendjacking tactic.

Both Klook and Burger King took the opportunity to promote their product/service while staying relevant to the context of the word—ensuring that their branding to the target audience are still on point.

Link It to A Relatable Scenario
(aka Does Your Audience Care?)

Other than the trend you plan to leverage, the creativity and relevance to the audience is also highly important.

SGAG managed to do so effortlessly. When the word started trending, the first thought of many was probably “what does umbrage even mean?”. With a simple screenshot, SGAG managed to stay on top of the trend, while still being able to relate to, and educate their audience simultaneously.

Similarly, Temasek Polytechnic also managed to hit the spot by sharing a short scenario of Singapore’s frequent sudden downpours through emojis where their audience would have definitely felt umbrage.

SGAG and Temasek Polytechnic both utilised the situation by being helpful through anticipating the pain points of their audience — ensuring that their content is helpful and relevant to the target audience.

When executed well, trendjacking provides opportunities for your brand visibility, ensures higher reach and engagement. The above examples mentioned made use of the timing and context to further promote their products, services, and to connect with their audience. These are factors that determine the success of your trendjacking effort, so take note (and take advantage!)

As an integrated communication agency, we can help. We have been helping businesses grow and establish meaningful connections with targeted audience groups while doing so. Drop us an email (enquiries@dify.sg) to schedule a consultation for your communications needs!