Rebellious PR Trend Watch — January 2021
Welcome to our monthly round up of all-things trendy! From pop culture to editorial and everything in between, we’re taking a close look at what’s been trending throughout the month and the through-lines they have with PR. We also highlight the ways in which these trends influence our strategy by way of client PR success stories. Keep reading to find out what’s hot!
Welcome, 2021🥂
First, give yourself a full round of applause for surviving 2020. We alluded to this accomplishment in the last blog, but now we’re really here! We made it to the other side. While it might be tempting to bury 2020 deep in our subconscious and pretend it was just a bad dream, we strongly advise against it. Our learnings from 2020 will inform our human experience in 2021 and beyond.
New Year Intentions (Resolutions are so last year.)
If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that the future is unpredictable. Similarly, the way we experience and react to any given moment will fluctuate. Resolutions can lock you into a strict pattern of behavior that isn’t conducive to your overall success. Having New Year intentions gives you the flexibility to ebb and flow with the natural shifts that come throughout the year, while staying focused on your broader goals. Transition Coach Jen Rice provides solutions that can be used to shift into an empowered 2021 mindset.
This year, we fully intend to continue disrupting industries with revolutionary work. We champion people and businesses that offer flexible solutions to meet you where you are and help you discover new parts of yourself. Our client Partake Brewing is supporting the New Year transition by being your partner in Dry January. Whether that looks like completely giving up alcohol for the month or just substituting a few drinks with a non-alcoholic Partake beer, they’re here to support you on the journey.
Real Change.
Last year altered many things about society — whether intended or not — and it is up to us to keep the momentum going and ensure lasting change. Here are just a few of the “trends” that are necessary to continue putting intention behind in 2021 and beyond:
Supporting womxn and POC. Now that we’re (mostly) all on the same page about racism and other existing systems of oppression, we know that the work is far from over. These vulnerable groups in society won’t be liberated from hundreds of years of oppression by the uprisings of 2020 alone. To affect real change, we must continue to show up and support these groups. Our client Embodied Black Girl does this by providing resources, such as the upcoming Radical Self-Love Retreat on January 16th, that unapologetically center the healing of Black womxn and WOC.
Social media activism. The digital social media space is not going away any time soon and how we use it now will affect generations to come. 2020 showed us that internet users are not mindless drones that idly scroll. Instead, social media is a politically active space with immense power; useful for spreading timely information, but also disseminating a lot of fake news. With Russian hacking news topping the year, social responsibility and cyber security are of utmost importance. Our client Cyber Collective is a community-centered research organization that educates marginalized peoples on data ethics and data privacy, founded by a group of women BIPOC tech professionals.
Equitable work environments. As more of the Gen Z activists that lead many of these social movements join the workforce, they are demanding these environments to be in alignment with their overall identity. Workers of all ages took note and are affecting change across industries as evidenced by the developing unions at silicon-valley tech giants. Work from home has expanded access to jobs in some ways, but it has proven to be immensely inequitable for women–especially Black and Latina women. There is much to be done in regards to worker equity and our client The Workers Lab gives new ideas about increasing worker power a chance to succeed and flourish by investing in them. They are an inclusive workplace themselves, demonstrating how safe, flexible and dynamic work and workplaces are paramount.
Project Uplift
We recognize that we provide a valuable service that gives brands and individuals immense opportunity. Because of systemic issues like those laid bare over the last year, we also recognize our services might not be affordable to many of the amazing folks that need the support. One of the ways we are carrying out our intention of showing up for underrepresented founders is by officially launching Project Uplift, Rebellious PR’s quarterly Pro Bono publicity program for Black and brown owned businesses. We are working for a world where access to resources and capital is equitable and this is our way of contributing to generational prosperity for the folks that have been denied it for too long.
(Written by Rebellious Account Associate, Syann J. Cromwell)
