Reactive Marketing: The Difference Between Fast and Forgettable

Apple spent years building its first folding phone.

What happened next was a masterclass in reactive marketing.

When a huge cultural moment drops, every brand scrambles to grab a slice of the attention before it moves on to the next thing.

Most of it's forgotten by the next day.
This stuff stuck around.

Because the brands that pulled this off already had the material sitting there before the news even broke 👇

Merriam-Webster Inc. posted "not to brag, but our product has been foldable since 1828."

Duolingo posted their own owl bent in half, captioned "they named a phone after me and made it bend over."

Domino's copied Apple's whole launch vibe and pointed it at a pizza box that folds shut. They called it "The Original Foldable."

All 3 worked for the exact same reason (and it's pretty obvious):
None of them invented anything new.

A dictionary has folded since 1828.
A pizza box folds in half.
Duolingo's owl has been unhinged for years.

They already had the material.
The news just gave them a reason to post it.

That's the pattern every time.
Find the coincidence that was already true; don't manufacture one.

Then you've got Canva's split screen meme, and Durex's joke about "a new position."

Both got attention.

But cover the logo on either one, and you could swap in almost any other brand's name and the joke wouldn't change.

Neither idea was built out of anything specific to that brand.
It was built to work for pretty much any brand chasing the same headline.

That's the whole difference between newsjacking that works and newsjacking that feels bolted on.

1️⃣ Build the joke from something already true about you:

Merriam-Webster noticed a foldable joke that was already sitting there,
decades before Apple made it relevant.

↳ Takeaway: Look at what's already true about your product before you try to invent something reactive.

2️⃣ Speed only helps if the connection already exists:

Duolingo didn't need a brainstorm, their name is Duo.
The material was already written; they just had to hit post.

↳ Takeaway: Fast only wins if you're fast with something true. Otherwise, you're just fast and forgettable.

3️⃣ "We're relevant too" isn't a joke on its own:

If any brand could've posted your exact reaction,
sorry to break it to you, but it's any old generic post with your logo attached, nothing more.

↳ Takeaway: Before you post, ask if a competitor could've posted the exact same thing. If yes, skip it.

Yes, reactive marketing will always be about being fast to respond.

But speed only works when you already know what's true about your brand.

So, next time something like this breaks, don't ask what you could say about it.

Ask what's already true about you that this news just happens to point back to.

♻️ Repost if you remember seeing one of these in your feed last week.
And follow me, Jacob Rokeach, for more on creative decisions that create an impact.