It’s National Dog Day. Which means, for once, I have a cast-iron, fully legitimate excuse to dedicate this entire newsletter to my two rescue labradors – Bear and Sweep.
Indeed, “Bear” with me here. There’s actual PR logic buried. I promise.
Two labradors. One parched, sun-baked field at 7am. That, my friends, is the glamorous reality of life as a PR consultant and they’ve started making a regular appearance in my marketing. Every Friday, to be precise.
The champagne illusion PR has a look.
You know the one. Rooftop launches. A glass of something fizzy. Everyone just a touch too polished to be believable.
My actual morning begins with a dog lead, two very enthusiastic labradors, and a field that looks more scorched yellow than green.
No rooftop. No bubbles. Just 7am and a lot of panting (mostly theirs).
There’s Actually a Name for This (Of Course There Is)
Someone recently told me the practice of bringing your dogs into your brand is called “labvertising.” Yes, really.
I laughed. Then I realised I’d been doing it for months without knowing it had a name.
The walk photos. The lab conked out under my desk mid-client call. The unglamorous, unfiltered bits of my life that are, frankly, quite dull.
Apparently exactly what people want to see.
Why the Boring Bit Is Actually the Brilliant Bit
Here’s my theory. People trust the version of you they’d recognise if they bumped into you in Tesco. Not the version you’ve carefully lit, filtered, and captioned.
A curated luxury image quietly signals: don’t look too closely. The dog walk says the opposite. It’s just true.
And when you’re a small business owner or entrepreneur trying to be known for what you know, being believed isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s the whole game.
What I’m Actually Doing (Spoiler: Nothing Clever)
Slowly is genuinely the word here. There’s no grand strategy document. No brand architect involved.
I don’t work Fridays (well, not for clients anyway. Friday is very much for working on the business, walking the labs, and thinking). So that’s when the posts go out.
- The dogs appear in the odd post, with no forced, clunky link to PR.
- I talk about the morning walk because that’s genuinely when I do my best thinking.
- I don’t dress it up as a “content strategy” or a “personal branding initiative.” It’s just my real life, leaking in at the edges.
The slightly surprising thing? Those posts get more replies than the sharp, business-y ones. A client once mentioned the labs before he mentioned the brief.
I can’t fully explain it. But I suspect it’s simply easier to pick up the phone to a bloke with two panting labradors than to call “an agency.”
If This Feels a Bit Exposed…
You don’t have to perform a lifestyle you don’t actually live. That’s the trap a lot of people fall into, and audiences clock it immediately.
You just let the ordinary bits in. The commute. The kids. The dog. The truly terrible coffee. It feels too small to matter. That’s precisely why it works.
Pick one real, unglamorous moment from your week and let people see it. That’s the whole tip.
No cape required.
Right. The labs are giving me the look. Garden time.