Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger’s “nek minnit” response to David Seymour’s truancy proposal is a masterclass in how to write your own headline.
Mauger smashes a deeply embedded piece of New Zealand internet lore. And that one phrase immediately flipped the tone from bureaucratic bickering to a viral and **Pop Culture PR** moment. It also helps that the photographer absolutely nailed the eye-roll image to accompany the story.
You might not know this, but at BBR we use #BehaviouralScience to underpin our communications. It’s our secret weapon, and part of the reason the business has been around since the 80s. So you can help your clients create their own moments, here’s a quick behavioural round up of the buttons Mauger’s comments pushed. These helped him steal the show and take the conversation to his turf.
• Fluency Bias
“Nek minnit” is instantly recognisable and easy to process. When something is familiar and fluent, people are more likely to pay attention and share it. It lowers mental effort and that’s PR gold.
• Framing
Mauger reframed the entire debate by NOT engaging with Seymour’s truancy proposal on serious terms, instead he dismissed it with a laugh. He shaped public perception before facts even entered the chat.
• Social Proof
Memes carry built-in social validation. They’ve been liked, shared, and repeated across the population. When the mayor uses Nek Minnit, he rides the coattails of that existing popularity and signals a deeper relationship with his electorate.
• Salience Bias
Among the vast ocean of boring political statements on school lunches and truancy, this one pops. It’s a banger. It’s unexpected and stands out, it’s memorable. Meme-ing it made it instantly more likely to be quoted and reported.
You keeping doing you Phil, hats off to ya.
#PR #CorporateCommunications
https://lnkd.in/gSxpRqER
