Agency behind Itsu's viral success on turning internet legends into TikTok gold

"Jack Colchester, founder and head of insight at data-led, social PR agency Block Report, has a name for these people: 'internet heroes.' They don't rely on trending sounds, CapCut edits or influencer polish. They're authentic, awkward and entirely unforgettable, which is precisely why brands usually steer clear. But not Itsu. The East Asian-inspired fast food chain has recently flipped that social media script, embracing two of the internet's most wonderfully bizarre characters, Ronnie Pickering and the Wealdstone Raider, and turning them into TikTok gold."

""We pray at the altar of brand saliency over brand image," Colchester tells The Drum, nodding to a classic Mark Ritson perspective. Marketers spend too much time obsessing over what people think of their brands and not nearly enough time accepting that most people aren't thinking about them at all. "We've got to find ways of generating more brand saliency," he adds. "And worry less about the reams of strategy decks and brand image.""

Social media produces unexpected, enduring internet folk heroes who become cultural fixtures. Jack Colchester labels these figures 'internet heroes' and notes they are authentic, awkward, and unforgettable. Most brands avoid such figures, but Itsu embraced Ronnie Pickering and the Wealdstone Raider, creating viral TikTok content. Block Report is a data-led social PR agency that prioritizes brand saliency over traditional brand image work. Colchester argues marketers invest too much in image and not enough in making brands salient. He requires clients to sign a 'treaty of talkability' before campaigns. The Itsu work has increased public awareness of a previously little-known brand.

Read at The Drum