Let’s be real: this is a comms scandal everyone’s already heard about. It’s the talk of the town. Literally. Two finance bros walking behind us in Martin Place yesterday were really chopping it up.

We’re not publishing this emergency issue to tell you what happened, as you know the beats. A Signal group chat. A misplaced invite. The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, suddenly looped into military chatter. He sat quietly. Took notes. Watched it play out. And when the story was inevitably downplayed by all involved? He published the whole thing.

If there’s a PR team deserving an award, it’s the one behind The White Lotus resorts. Despite a suspiciously high body count across their properties, guests keep flocking in. That’s some old-school spin doctoring.

Beyond its fictional woes, The White Lotus has another issue: there’s a moment in every great magic trick when the illusion stops working, when the audience sees the wires. It’s not always because the trick changed. Sometimes, it’s because we’ve seen it too many times.

Welcome to SKMG’s 2024 Advent Calendar

Because you’ve already bought the Cadbury one. Introducing the SKMG Advent Calendar:

25 days, 25 of our favourite articles from 2024.

No frills, no spoilers, and minimal work chat. Just a series of great reads behind mysterious, clickbaity, unnecessarily obscure titles to keep your curiosity piqued and good chats rolling through the merry season.

Society has proven time and again that some of the smartest, most impactful exchanges have taken place in quiet rooms, between people whose names may never make the headlines.

But here’s the rub: whether the conversation is quiet or nothing short of theatrical, it’s got to drive action. Otherwise, it’s just noise.

Welcome to the inaugural COMMPRESS Apology Awards. When it comes to apologies, not all are created equally. A good apology can be a balm to the soul, mending broken relationships and soothing egos, while a bad one can make everything a million times worse. So, what exactly makes a good apology?

In the early 2000s, a character like Ryan Atwood from The OC — that quiet, brooding bad boy — conveyed everything with just a look. Fast forward to today and we’ve got 3,790 little icons that can do the same, each one standing in for a thousand different glances, thoughts or feelings. Emojis have become the shorthand of our emotions, a quick substitute for when words feel like too much.

Kendrick’s playing the Superbowl and Drake gets, well, this New Yorker article opening with a less-than-subtle question:

Has there ever been as clear a loser as Drake?

When should you jump on board to popular messaging? First it was BRAT, now it’s Demure: the Zeitgeist seems to be pushing more and more towards a monoculture that resembles meme culture. That is, one in-joke to rule them all. Why?

It could be the worst scandal in US history. Yesterday marked 10 years to the day that then US President Barack Obama’s controversial tan suit took the stage. Global headlines, a Wikipedia page, a thousand tweets later and we see Kamala Harris make a surprise appearance at the Democratic National Convention in – you guessed it – a tan suit.

The 2024 Paris Olympics served up a sincerely odd blend of elite athleticism and sheer spectacle, with antics that will be remembered just as fondly as the feats of strength and speed. It was brash, bold, occasionally bizarre, often beautiful and somehow the most French thing the world’s ever seen even when they weren’t trying.

Like a decadent croquembouche that arrives just as you’ve begun to digest your bouillabaisse, the third and final instalment of A Cannesdid Conversation is here. 

From co-founders to co-video-hosts, your favourite gasbaggers are back for part two of A Cannesdid Conversation. They’ve ditched the astro turf, topped their wine up and headed inside to dish even more on Cannes Lions 2024, what’s on the menu?

Presenting A Cannesdid Conversation, a long-form, three-part video series unpacking, unpicking and unravelling what Andrew and Neil experienced each day of Cannes Lions 2024.

Day 4. We’re getting to the good stuff now. Today saw hangovers as big as the croissant-stuffed seagulls getting around the promenade, all reportedly victims of last night’s Spotify party, which could be heard from Antibes.

No lanyard tans today, kids. Day 3 was an overcast one, a welcome reprieve for the many sunburned faces putzing around the Palais. And while clouds may be low, the temp, UV and the ambition remain high. But with rain comes free branded brollies, so it ain’t all bad.

Day 2 starts with jaunt down Rue des Serbes, takeaway espresso and a Cannes Special Edition of The Wall Street Journal in the back pocket. Well at least it did for us, Andrew appeared briefly with a face full of regret at 8.30am, rushing out the door to the Brand Marketers Academy. While yesterday smacked of Generative AI talk, today was all about building the case for humanity. That is, until Mark Ritson did a full 180 in the final session of the day. We’ll get to that soon.

Hello! And welcome to a special week-long edition of COMMPRESS, covering Cannes Lion 2024 live* from La Croisette.

We’re not doing full rundowns of the Lions sessions, nor are we breaking the juiciest news. This ain’t Advertising Age. No! We’re honing in on the good chat: the topics sparking the smarter conversations at the Festival of Creativity, delivered from our inbox to yours in espresso-sized portions.

The Met Gala is done and dusted. The red carpet has been rolled back up. The costumes have been carefully chopped off, shimmied out of, and sent to …a museum presumably? Nonetheless the chat continues.

We know what you’re thinking: really? A Met issue? A little late to the party, aren’t we? Sure, the first Monday in May was a few weeks ago now, but believe it or not, that’s the point.

Kitchen culture in The Bear. Neurodiverse romance in Love on the Spectrum. The Big Cat clans of Tiger King. Chess in The Queen’s Gambit. Australian teen culture in Heartbreak High.

Shows that top the charts tend to be those that offer an anthropological toe-dip or straight up plunge into an otherwise unexplored culture or community. Niche has never been more mainstream.

There’s an irony and an agony to the person who tells you that they’re really down the earth. The guy on the dating app describing themselves as a sapiosexual. The one speaking over you to let you know they’re a great listener. People telling us things about themselves are usually aspirational, ego-fuelled and at odds with reality. To tell someone who you are is at best lazy, at worst it’s manipulative. It says: you are my audience, and I don’t trust you to come to the conclusion alone. Either way you’re robbing the other person of their part in the convo. And smarter conversations are a two-way street.