May the 4th be with you

However, given that social media of all types these days is dominated by the funny meme or video, then if you have a great idea and a clever creative team, you can make people sit up and take notice.That was the case for me on Sunday, otherwise known as Star Wars Day. Please tell me you know why… because it was May the 4th (May the Force be with you…)I’ve always thought the gag was a bit of fun but it has gained traction all over the world as geeks and others honour George Lucas’s Star Wars movie franchise, the most successful in cinematic history.

May the 4th be with you! ✨⚔️

A galaxy of scenes, sounds, and Star Wars vibes
that should make you laugh your head off ��
while giving you a lightspeed tour through
a month in the markets we'll never forget!
���� This one’s from another universe.#MayThe4thBeWithYou #Corion pic.twitter.com/7I3TEl03du
— @corioncapital (@corioncapital) May 4, 2025

Up popped a mini-video from a local outfit called Corion Capital, which spoofed the Star Wars genre and told a tale about the global financial uncertainty sparked by “Dof Trader” (Darth Vader) looking a lot like Donald Trump. It used multiple Star Wars references, including one about the “Return of the JSE”, featuring Cyril Ramaphosa brandishing a light-sabre and then listing the local stocks which have made gains in recent weeks.

There were also little vignettes of the “Dark Side” collapse of US stock exchanges and the countries readying to fight back against Trump’s ridiculous attempts to cast the planet into a financial “nuclear winter”.

#OrchidsandOnions: Gambling ads hit the jackpot, used car salesmen stuck in cliché lane

Brendan Seery  29 Apr 2025

Then, to get across the point – as many in the financial advisory business do – there was a quote from Yoda about being aware that “Fear is the path to the Dark Side”. In other words, don’t panic – we at Corion Capital have got your back.

It was so different, so amusing and yet, at the same time, packed with actual information, that it stood out a mile from the other dross on Twitter that day (sorry, Elon, still Twitter for me because, maybe I am part of “The Resistance”)…It is definitely worth this week’s Orchid from me – not only because it works for Corion Capital but because it shows what can be done to liven up a very serious industry. It also shows that someone at Corion had the guts to let his or her people run with this.

I was even more surprised when I later went through the Corion capital website – www.corion.co.za – to see there are monthly videos like this, leavened with humour but promising to “decode” the month’s financial happenings for you.

Mixing space references a bit, I know, but this just goes to show that, with a bit of imagination, you can go where no other company has gone before. Well done, Corion.

Shotgun PR

One of the most cost-effective marketing methods is to employ a good PR company, or PR person… someone who can understand, and tell, your brand story and then, most importantly, get it a placed as “earned” media – the coverage you don’t pay for.

There are many brands out there who believe in that too but, sadly for them, they allow the wool to be pulled over their eyes by PR companies who charge the earth but produce very little in the way of earned media.

One of the ways these PR companies do it is to compile long lists of all the journalists they have sent press releases to. This “shotgun” approach may give the client the sense that its message is getting out there, when in reality, most such messages are binned by the recipients.

A dead giveaway for those of us in the media on the receiving end of this junk mail is an email recipient list devoid of names. That tells you that there is one huge address list, set up to arrive with no specific recipient. Any journo worth their salt would spike this rubbish because nobody likes sharing a story with anyone else.

Good PR people – and there are a handful I work with regularly and with whom I can speak over the phone, because they have taken the trouble to nurture an honest relationship over the years – will tailor a story pitch to a specific publication, because they understand that publication, as well as who calls the shots there.

I have noticed, though, that some PR people have modified the shotgun approach to send out releases to all and sundry but modifying the email programme to appear as if it is dropping them individually.

So, when you check that the email has been sent specifically to you, you don’t automatically spike it. Unless, when you’re addressed simply by your surname, as I have been repeatedly, by one Meagan Rodrigues of Wired Communications.

The only people who can call me “Seery” are a few friends. I am not in the Army any longer.

What concerns me, though, is that Rodrigues and the agency could not be bothered to check the recipients were recorded correctly. Had they done even the most basic audit, they would have queried why a person was simply known by a one-word name.

All that has been sent to me has been spiked. A pity because I’m sure that a decent PR company would have been able to craft an enticing story pitch that would have grabbed my attention.

For wasting clients’ money, Wired Communications gets an Onion… because ultimately the buck should stop with you and not your employee.