#creative review

Here's a quick look back at the Creative happenings and hot topics of the week.

#CreativeReview is a one-stop cheat sheet of everything that happened this week in the digital media world - it's a weekly summary for creatives, written by creatives and it’s a free/quick read with no registration and we won't add you to some annoying list that's impossible to unsubscribe to promise.

Trailer Beat

Apple TV+; June 28

Idris Elba, Archie Punjabi

Told in real-time, Hijack is a tense thriller that follows the journey of a hijacked plane as it makes its way to London over a seven-hour flight, and as authorities on the ground scramble for answers.

Sony Pictures, In theaters June 23

Jennifer Lawrence, Andrew Feldman, Matthew Broderick

Maddie (Lawrence) thinks she’s found the answer to her financial troubles when she discovers an intriguing job listing: wealthy helicopter parents looking for someone to "date" their introverted 19-year-old son, Percy, and bring him out of his shell before he leaves for college. But awkward Percy proves to be more of a challenge than she expected, and time is running out. She has one summer to make him a man or lose it all.

Warner Bros. Pictures, In theaters December 25

Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, Corey Hawkins, Halle Bailey, H.E.R., Fantasia Barrino

A remake of the classic film showcasing the extraordinary sisterhood of three women who share one unbreakable bond in “The Color Purple.” This new take on the beloved classic is directed by Blitz Bazawule (“Black Is King,” “The Burial of Kojo”) and produced by Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Scott Sanders, and Quincy Jones.

Social Media Tips & Resources

Brandy Johnson breaks down some helpful social media tips this week:

How to Find your target audience and enhance your social media strategy on Instagram

Understanding Instagram's Algorithm for Beginners

Instagram's algorithm is pivotal in determining what content users see on their feeds. It constantly evolves to provide a personalized and engaging experience for individuals.

👉Here's an analysis of Instagram's algorithm and its key components:

✅Engagement: The algorithm prioritizes content that generates high levels of engagement, such as likes, comments, saves, and shares.

✅Relevance: It analyzes post engagement, search history, and user interactions to understand preferences and deliver personalized content.

✅Relationships: The algorithm prioritizes content from accounts that a user frequently engages with, including posts from friends, family, and accounts they interact with regularly.

✅Recency: Instagram aims to provide users with the most recent posts to keep them up to date with the latest content.

✅Usage: The algorithm considers how often a user opens the app, the duration of their sessions, and the types of content they engage with.

✅Following: The algorithm considers the accounts users follow and their content. If a user follows accounts with similar content themes, Instagram is more likely to show them related posts.

✅Explore Page: The Explore page, powered by the algorithm, offers personalized recommendations to users based on their interests and interactions. It showcases content from accounts that users may not follow but align with their preferences.

Here are a few key takeaways:

🔥Focus on creating engaging content that sparks conversations and encourages interactions from your audience.

🔥Nurture relationships with your followers by engaging with their content and responding to comments.

🔥Post consistently to maintain a presence and increase the chances of your content being seen.

🔥Use relevant hashtags to expand your reach and connect with users interested in your niche.

🔥Experiment with different content formats, such as videos, Stories, and carousels, to keep your audience engaged.

🔥Monitor your analytics to gain insights into what types of content perform best and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Creative Showcase

Abu Dhabi: One Summer Isn't Enough

As the Emirate states recover from a COVID-influenced downturn in tourism, it’s intriguing to see how Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) is positioning the UAE’s capital city.

DCT is achieving this positioning through its “One Summer Isn’t Enough” campaign. The seasonal campaign has launched across 12 markets under the Experience Abu Dhabi destination brand, with a series of vibrant and light-hearted spots that showcase Abu Dhabi as the best place to experience summer highlighting a diverse range of indoor experiences, unmissable events, and unbeatable summer offers, and the emirate’s wide range of indoor attractions will ensure that visitors stay cool and comfortable.

Liquid Death: Recycled Plastic Surgery Center

Ozempic Queen or Buccal Fat Removal? Regardless of how you identify, Liquid Death is clearly playing into the beauty trends of the moment by focusing their latest campaign on plastic recycling, or rather, Plastic Surgery Recycling in a new spot starring Whitney Cummings.

Most recycling facilities send our plastic to landfills or oceans because it’s not actually profitable to recycle. So what should we do with all of this plastic trash? Introducing the Liquid Death Recycled Plastic Surgery Center. A revolutionary new approach to useless plastic garbage.

Learn more at: http://liquiddeath.com/plasticsurgery

McDonald’s “Sí Pica o No Pica”

McDonald’s is asking Gen Z fans “Sí Pica o No Pica” with its newest Spicy Menu campaign helmed by Colombian American director Victoria Rivera and produced by SLMBR PRTY in collaboration with Alma.

Rivera’s approach captured the candid opinions and reactions of a diverse cast of Gen Z friends as they try out the McSpicy sandwiches and Chicken McNuggets® in various environments.

The free-flowing conversations among the friends provide honest and unscripted reactions to the level of spiciness, with ad-libs in Spanglish polling their friends for their opinions on the spice level.

Goody: A different sauce for every artist صلصة غير لكل فنان

In food brand Goody’s latest campaign, pasta is their canvas, in which consumers can express themselves to come out with a masterpiece/painting.

Goody will accompany passionate foodies with a rich range of pasta sauces to help them shine, and add a sprinkle to their Artistic masterpieces, each carrying an artistic story of their own.

Don’t Eat the Homies: Nature is a runway

Birkman Agency took the concept of an ordinary runway and flipped it on its head to promote the athletic brand, Don’t Eat the Homies, by embracing the wild and untamed beauty of the great outdoors. Birkman & team hit the trails armed with a treadmill, models ready to strut their stuff, and a whole lot of 80s spirit.

Heineken Champions Cup Final Arrivals Billboard

Heineken helped a Leinster superfan send a message to Stade Rochelais ahead of the Heineken Champions Cup Final in Dublin.

Heineken believes the bigger the rivalry, the better the rugby. That’s never been truer than this weekend as Leinster Rugby took on reigning champions Stade Rochelais in the final of the Heineken® Champions Cup in the Aviva Stadium, Dublin.

After losing to La Rochelle in the final last year, Leinster will be doing everything in their power to get the win and secure their fifth Heineken Cup. And so will their fans, it seems.

Heineken Ireland made superfan Colin Fennessy’s dream come true by helping him paint his cheeky message to La Rochelle Head Coach Ronan O’Gara (or ROG as he’s known locally) at scale in Ballyboughal Airfield, located right next to Dublin airport.

“Never too late to turn the plane around, ROG!” is big enough to be read from 30,000 ft and will be visible to all planes flying into Dublin on the La Rochelle flight path this weekend.

The message from Colin was picked up as part of Heineken’s Love Rivalry campaign where fans were invited to send cheeky voice messages to the opposing team on match day.

The mammoth message measures 15M X 10M and was created with *eco-friendly paint. The message is designed to be the first thing rugby fans see on their approach to Dublin City.

LeBron James x Taco Bell: Taco Tuesday

The trademark on the phrase “Taco Tuesday” is really burning Taco Bell and LeBron James’ burritos. Now, the two have joined forces to combat the interdict on the use of the moniker in marketing material.

In a new ad, LeBron James laments being bleeped in a candid vertical video where he shouts, “It’s Taco Tuesday!” as he continues to be bleeped throughout the ad—but he’s grateful Taco Bell is doing something about it.

Thank you, @ruikosakuragi, for tagging me and prompting this creative review of my 2019 projects.  Personally, 2019 was a shitty year for me.  Creatively, I’m happy to say that it looks pretty good despite everything I’ve left unfinished.  I wrote 168,986 words, threw 3 parties, put together 1 cosplay and did a lot of beta work.  Around all this creative expression, I enjoyed getting to know some of my favorite readers and writers as well as building and maintaining a couple of relationships that saw me through some dark days.

Writing-wise, I started the year off strong by finishing Cost of Living, my 2018 FMA Secret Santa gift for @vino-and-doggos.  What began as a quick Royai one-shot quickly became a 20k fic featuring a clash between the classic “omg they were roommates” and “coffee shop AU” tropes.  My favorite creative aspect of this fic was definitely my service dog Black Hayate headcanon.  Likewise, I was ecstatic to stumble across art by @caesurables based on a scene in Part 3!

After Cost of Living, I went on to complete Caught Redhanded, a canon-compliant Havolina fic that I started during @teammustangweek 2018.  The plot for this fic grew like invasive ivy in my mind, and its voice is something truly unique amongst my works, even if the feedback was not entirely positive.  Yet, it’s my favorite fic, and I came out the other side of Caught Redhanded with a great feeling.  However, inside the Fullmetal Alchemist fandom, I admit, my motivation began to meander.  My biggest creative regret of 2019 is not finishing Carry that Weight, my Young!Royai longfic.

Surprisingly, my most satisfying creative achievement was finishing Worthy, my long-suffering Young!SteinMarie fic in the Soul Eater fandom.  I enjoyed writing Franken Stein more than I had any right to, and within this fic, I developed my favorite OC, Gertrude Merryweather.  Worthy also marked the first time I wrote action sequences, and my story got some extra love from the fandom in the form of fanart by @kate7h.  I am immeasurably grateful for the readers who encouraged me through this journey.  As I wrote the final chapter and epilogue of Worthy, I was at a difficult crossroads.  Getting those comment and kudo e-mails from AO3 strengthened my sense of self more times than I can count.

Perhaps, the most surprising creative development of 2019 is that I joined a new fandom.  I began lowkey lurking through the Todomomo tag in January of 2019, and six months later, I participated in @bnha-fluff-week 2019.  Now, I’ll be the first to admit that Grand Theft Autumn remains unfinished, but I have every intention of writing the second part in 2020, especially since the fandom gave me such a warm welcome.  So warm, in fact, that I wrote Exposure for a Todomomo Holiday Gift Exchange and got art commissioned from @asyaswallow for the occasion.  Isn’t it lovely?

And, of course, I cannot forget to mention my greatest (if roughest) creative achievement of 2019.  In late September, I issued a Fictober challenge to myself.  During October, I completed 30 prompts, writing day-to-day across 6 different fandoms.  Witch, Please! remains my most kudo-ed work of 2019 with 203 kudos as of this moment.  Though I can't say all my prompt writing resulted in masterpieces, Wandering, Heart-Stopping and Daylight stand as good examples of my work.  Chapter 22 and Chapter 23 also hold real potential for a Todomomo Quirkless AU and a Royai Succubus Found Family AU, respectively.

My creative hope for 2020 is to continue my co-writing projects and not to let myself slip down so far under that I can't pick up my pen again.  As for the co-writing, @ruikosakuragi and I posted the first chapter of Bound By, a Royai Red Thread of Fate AU, in September.  While life has gotten a little crazy for both of us, I really do hope we can continue writing together.  I’ve also got another co-writing project on my to-do list too, but my lips are sealed until we post!

And with that, I’ll tag @teaplease1717, @vino-and-doggos​ and @bearonthecouch if they’d like to participate.  I’ll spare everyone the puns and simply say that I hope 2020 is treating y’all well.

XOXO, Flourchildwrites (slowly) (and sometimes makes poor hair care decisions, see under the cut, lol)

I was recently interviewed by Creative Review!

"Natalie Foss creates saturated illustrations that blend by mystical emblems and vintage patterns. We talk to her about illustrating for books and broadening her horizons."

Watercolours created by Paul Simonon for the Merrie Land artwork.