Friday 6 February 2026: PR & Marketing News Round‑Up | Culture Plays from Pringles to PSG
Visible PR is back with this week’s Friday PR & Marketing News Round-Up. From a football club muscling in on Netflix screen time, to beer brands turning fandom into friendship and supermarkets sending astronauts back to Earth for decent pasta, there’s plenty to chew on.
We’re diving into entertainment-first brand building, sponsorships that actually earn headlines, smart thinking around World Cup risk, and a grocery giant doubling down on food lovers rather than price wars. It’s all about work that doesn’t just buy media, but drives emotion to stay firmly in the conversation.
From Pitch to Netflix: PSG Shoots Its Shot in Emily’s Paris
PSG are in talks about popping up in Emily in Paris, cementing themselves as part of the show’s ultra‑glossy Parisian universe. At the same time, they’re rolling out an “Ici C’est Paris La Maison” pop‑up that blends fashion, food and culture, kicking off in London before touring global hotspots like Shanghai, LA and New York.
Why it matters for PR & Marketing: This is a smart proof point when selling “brand as cultural icon” or entertainment‑led collabs. It also turns a football club into a real lifestyle brand in a hit series, leaning into different audiences and opening the brand up to people who might never watch a match. The pop‑up is an Instagram dream with outfits, snacks, culture cues, giving visitors that shareability moment.
Heineken Proves Champions League Nights Hit Different With More Mates
Heineken leans into Champions League nights not with hardcore rivalry, but with the idea that football is really about mates, memories and those slightly chaotic pub evenings. The #FansHaveMoreFriends activity brings fans together around the tournament, capturing real reactions and emotional moments that feel very un‑ad‑like.
Why it matters for PR & Marketing: It wraps a huge sponsorship in a very human truth, fandom as friendship, which instantly drives cultural conversation through relatability. The hashtag is simple and sticky, so people can easily jump on it with their own posts, making the idea travel organically.
World Cup Woes: Why Smart Brands Always Pack a Plan B
A hot topic within our office and also one that is playing out across the media. We delve into the slightly scary but very necessary question: should brands have a “break glass in case of chaos” plan for the World Cup, given political tensions and possible boycotts? Here, you can explore the tension between the sheer scale of the tournament and the reputational risks, highlighting how some advertisers are quietly sketching backup routes rather than loudly pulling out.
Why it matters for PR & Marketing: The World Cup is a massive opportunity for brands right now, but the political noise is making things tricky. How do advertisers play it smart? It's all about reframing to spotlight global football phenomena and fan energy instead of host-nation drama, letting brands show up big and meaningful without the backlash.
Forget Space Food: Waitrose Brings Food Lovers Back Down to Earth
Waitrose sends an astronaut into space, feeds him sad, joyless rations… and then has him race back to Earth for prawn linguine and proper food‑lover joy. Set to Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing”, the campaign reframes Waitrose as the emotional home of people who don’t just eat, they obsess, celebrate and reminisce over food. The work cements Waitrose as the home of “food lovers”, dramatising the idea that for some people, food isn’t just fuel but a way of life and something worth travelling vast distances for.
Why it matters for PR & Marketing: Big, cinematic storytelling plus a classic power ballad makes this instantly talk‑worthy. We love “Home of food lovers”, it's a rich, ownable platform that connects loyalty, content, stores and social, making it work neatly across different touchpoints, driving brand story telling.
Pringles Builds Sabrina Carpenter the Perfect Crispy Boyfriend
Super Bowl Sunday is sneaking up fast, so we couldn't let this week's newsletter pass without shouting out Pringles' new ad. Sabrina Carpenter plays a Gen-Z queen who stacks Pringles chips into her dream boyfriend "Pringleleo," only for her own fans to swarm and turn him back into snacks. The ad leans into chaotic, self-aware dating humor and uses Carpenter’s internet-native persona to dramatise modern relationships in a surreal, snackable way. It sits under Pringles’ revived “Once You Pop, The Fun Don’t Stop” platform and is designed to land as much on social feeds as during the Big Game itself, making Carpenter and her doomed crisp-man instantly memeable for Gen Z viewers.
Why it matters for PR & Marketing: The premise (Sabrina literally dating a man made of crisps) is absurd, visual and instantly meme‑able, perfect for social lift‑off and entertainment. Casting Sabrina taps a hyper‑online Gen Z and young millennial fanbase, bringing built‑in reach, stan culture and UGC potential around the “Pringleleo” character.
Final Thoughts
From snackable Super Bowl romance to space-faring food lovers and football clubs crashing Netflix sets, this week proves brands win when they play in culture, not just media slots. Whether it’s Pringles flirting with Gen Z dating chaos, Waitrose turning dinner into a cinematic odyssey, PSG cosying up to Emily in Paris or Heineken reframing fandom as friendship, the ideas that land are the ones that feel wildly visual, joyfully self-aware and totally at home in the worlds people already love.
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