Parody

The Parody Thinking Guide helps you reframe, rewire or ridicule tired ideas in clever, culturally fluent ways. Whether it’s leader worship, influencer tropes, or media clichés, this guide shows you how to use parody to unite an audience, reframe a product—or take a swing at the obvious in style.

What’s Inside

• 5 proven tactics to parody leaders, trends, behaviours, influencers or ad formats
• Campaigns from IKEA, KFC, Netflix, Cheetos, SodaStream, Visit Iceland, Tito’s Vodka and more
• GPT prompts to help you spoof smarter and land the satire without losing the strategy
• A cheat sheet for writing sharper briefs, bolder headlines, and subversive cultural work

Sneak Peek: Mock a Trend

Brief: Stay visible during Dry January without pushing alcohol.

Tito’s Vodka launched “DIY January” with Martha Stewart recommending absurd non-drinking uses for vodka—from cleaning jewellery to deodorising shoes. It was self-aware, cheeky, and perfectly timed. Other brands spoofed trends too:

• Visit Iceland’s #MissionIceland hijacked space tourism hype to promote real-world adventure.
• KFC Romania’s #littlemoneybigfun parodied influencer excess with budget-style ‘rich kid’ photos.
• Greenpeace’s “Lost and Found” auctioned fake ‘deep sea’ luxury items to skewer ocean pollution.

Each one nailed the cultural moment—and reframed a tired trend on their terms.