Smart in Public Pop Culture Monday Mashup w/ Brooke Hammerling, Founder of The New New Thing
This week, Brooke Hammerling, founder of The New New Thing, joins the Katies for a Pop Culture Monday x Smart in Public mashup episode.
Brooke has seen the PR industry from every angle -- from building reputations for founders before "founder brand" was a thing, navigating crisis moments when social media didn't exist yet, being in the ear of some of the world's most important executives, and decoding culture weekly for thousands of newsletter subscribers. In this episode, she dissects how we're going in the world through the lens of pop culture.
We cover:
🎯 Super Bowl ads — Which brands actually landed and which ones burned millions on forgettable creative (Brooke doesn't hold back)
🔥 The tech trust collapse — Why the playbooks that built Silicon Valley's reputation are now actively working against it
💡 Crisis PR in the social media age — How the speed and scale of online culture has fundamentally broken traditional crisis management
📱 Culture as a communications skill — Why understanding pop culture isn't a nice-to-have, it's the new competitive advantage for PR professionals
🧠 Looksmaxxing and the future of our youth — Social media's impact on young people, shifting beauty standards, and what communicators need to understand about the next generation of audiences
Chapters
- 02:56 - Reflections on Loss and Cultural Impact
- 05:59 - Navigating Celebrity Culture: LA vs. New York
- 08:59 - Brooke Hammerling's Journey in PR and Communications
- 15:00 - The New New Thing: Strategic Advisory for Founders
- 18:02 - The Teflon Founder: A Case Study on Mark Benioff
- 21:52 - Pop Culture Mondays: The Birth of a Newsletter
- 26:06 - Navigating the Speed of Culture
- 27:45 - Pop Culture Monday Highlights
- 28:37 - Bad Bunny's Impact at the Super Bowl
- 30:16 - Cultural Representation and Misunderstandings
- 32:55 - The Role of Social Media in Public Perception
- 34:56 - The NFL's Global Branding Strategy
- 36:35 - Super Bowl Ads: Hits and Misses
- 39:53 - AI in Advertising: A Double-Edged Sword
- 42:14 - Communication Strategies in Crisis
- 46:00 - Transparency and Trust in Tech Companies
- 47:24 - The Erosion of Trust in Tech
- 50:00 - The Role of Relationships in PR
- 52:00 - The Impact of Outrage Culture
- 53:58 - Fashion and Pop Culture in the Olympics
- 56:01 - Looks Maxing and Its Implications
- 01:01:01 - The Changing Landscape of Masculinity
About Brooke: Brooke Hammerling is the founder of The New New Thing, a strategic communications advisory firm that she launched in 2020, working with clients across tech and media. She has spent more than 25 years helping tech entrepreneurs and business leaders shape their communications strategies. In 2005, Brooke started Brew PR, a pioneering media relations agency that represented some of the most renowned and disruptive tech companies. Brew was sold to London-based PR firm Freuds in 2016. Brooke also created the “Pop Culture Mondays” newsletter, a weekly round-up of the biggest news and trends in pop culture, and hosts the accompanying “Pop Culture Mondays… on Thursdays” podcast. Brooke divides her time between New York and Los Angeles.
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