Coverage of the UAW strike revs up

Plus, how Revlon went viral for the right reasons [View this email in your browser]( Coverage of the UAW strike revs up The summer of industrial action isn’t slowing down at all as we head into fall, and this month’s big story is undoubtedly the United Auto Workers negotiations with the auto companies. If the writers’ strike was the story of the summer, the UAW seems to be the big story in September, seeing a surge in interest that took it past the writers’ strike in public interest last week, and even more so in media interest. In the last month there have been more than 660k engagements about the UAW, augmented by a surge in interest in the last few days as the strike has become a central focus. This is slightly less than the 754k for the writers’ strike in the last month, which is still attracting a lot of attention in its own right, but if we just look at September the interest in the UAW is clearly on an upward trajectory. There have been more than 33k articles written about the UAW compared to 11k about the writers’ strike, showing just how invested the media is in this negotiation, with up to 6k articles being written per day. If we analyze who’s being mentioned in these stories, our Top People and Brands feature shows that it’s the UAW and its President Shawn Fain that are getting the most attention, while three of the big manufacturers in General Motors, Stellantis, and Ford are all also regularly coming up in coverage. To a lesser extent, Chrysler, Jeep, and Tesla have all also been mentioned. Social media has also been abuzz with news about the strike on native platforms too, and some of the top content has had hundreds of thousands of engagements. This has included Barack Obama’s posts on [Twitter]( and [Instagram]( and [More Perfect Union’s post on TikTok]( on UAW members voting to authorize a strike. Whichever platform you turn to, this is a massive conversation, and as the writers’ strike has shown, there is staying power to these walkouts in the public eye, so don’t expect it to end soon unless a deal is struck.  Revlon goes viral for the right reasons It can be hard for brands to spot an opportunity that allows them to authentically get involved in a conversation or trend, and it can be even harder to successfully execute a plan of action once they do. Last month, Revlon showed everyone they know exactly when to jump in, and it paid off big time. TLDR: Selling Sunset star Heather Rae El Moussa posted a TikTok about finding a Revlon lip liner in her husband's van, but immediately claimed it wasn’t hers because she doesn’t wear the brand. She can then be seen tossing the lip liner out of the van as if to throw it away. The video instantly caught the attention of Revlon’s social team, and on the same day the beauty brand responded with a [clip of their own]( in which an employee pretends to catch the lip liner that El Moussa threw out and cheekily responds with: “Thanks girl. I’ve been looking for that.” As you can imagine, it was an instant hit. El Moussa’s [original TikTok]( has seen over 8.9M views, but Revlon’s clever comeback has topped it, and has since received over 10.9M views and 691.3k total engagements. This type of social strategy, while not new, continues to be a proven success for brands. In the past we’ve highlighted how brands like [Duolingo]( generate massive social engagement with its witty and self-deprecating content, and for Revlon, a similar approach seems to be resonating with consumers in a big way. And don’t worry, there was no bad blood — the lip liner belonged to El Moussa’s sister-in-law. BLUESKY SEES RECORD SIGN UPS Bluesky’s biggest sign-up day after Elon Musk claimed he would charge for X [Read article →]( FREE LIVE WEBINAR "Using predictive insight to inform your comms strategy" [Register →]( REPUTATION MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE Join us in London at the Reputation Management & Corporate Comms conference [Register →]( TOP CRISES IN THE UK We looked at the biggest crises to emerge in the UK this year [Read report]( → [Website icon]( [Twitter icon]( [LinkedIn icon]( Copyright (C) 2023 NewsWhip. All rights reserved. You're receiving this email because you opted in for the NewsWhip blog newsletter and updates. Our mailing address is: NewsWhip 42 Pearse Street Dublin, D02 YX88 Ireland Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe](