It's been a week where a stolen truck full of KitKats became a brand-response masterclass, United Airlines turned government dysfunction into a customer feature, and Muck Rack dropped the data every PR pro needs to bookmark.
KitKat Heist Ignites Brand Humor
What happened: When thieves intercepted a truck carrying 12 tons of KitKat Formula 1-shaped chocolate bars en route from Italy to Poland, they also gave Nestlé one of its best PR moments of the year. KitKat responded cleverly, complimenting the criminals' "exceptional taste" while noting that the brand has "always encouraged people to have a break with KitKat — but it seems thieves have taken the message too literally."
The internet took it from there. Brands including Ryanair, Domino's UK, and Del Taco, amongst many others, piled on with their own satirical "official statements."
KitKat then launched its “Stolen KitKat Tracker” on April 1—and had to explicitly clarify it was not a prank. The tracker lets consumers enter the unique eight-digit batch code on the back of their wrapper to check if their bar was part of the missing shipment.
Check out some of the best brand responses:
https://t.co/E7Yq4UzRdd pic.twitter.com/j1p7FsSdQI
— Del Taco Restaurants (@DelTaco) March 30, 2026
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Even the Artemitis Moon Launch got in on the joke ahead of its launch this week.
With 3 days until launch, Artemis crew have stocked up on essentials… pic.twitter.com/dzJPik7LEL
— Artemis Moon Mission (@ArtemisMooner) March 29, 2026
Communication takeaways: A supply chain crime became a memorable moment in brand response—leaning into humor without minimizing a real issue and converting a logistics crisis into meaningful consumer engagement. And when something this unique goes viral, other brands take notice.
"Theft is a marketing move,” says Adam Ritchie, principal at Adam Ritchie Brand Direction and author of "Invention in PR." “Entire PR campaigns have been built around the concept of theft.”
Ritchie says that theft has drama and mystery.
“Theft is a multi-chapter story with characters, motives and danger,” he notes. “As long as nobody is injured, and the only hit to the company is an inventory loss that's a decimal point on its balance sheet, theft is harmless.”
Ritchie says other brands stepped in to claim the role of the culprit—not newsjacking but brandjacking. Tampa International Airport's flamingo suddenly had chocolate to hand out, DoorDash is flush with free treats. Domino's UK announced a Kit Kat pizza.
“This is what we call an "Invention in PR": a product or service—real or conceptual— created to earn media,” Ritchie says. “Domino's didn't even have to make the Kit Kat pizza. They only had to hint at it, earning media on concept alone.”
Ritchie notes that combining the timeless marketing move of "theft" with timely brandjacking and creative invention-first approach to PR, provides even adjacent brands with unstoppable earned media potential.
United Turns TSA Frustration Into a Feature
What happened: Airline travel could use its OWN crisis manager lately.
With the partial government shutdown leaving TSA checkpoints understaffed and wait times unpredictable, United Airlines made a move this week to give travelers more control. United launched its own TSA wait time tracker in its mobile app on April 1 as a pilot program, covering its U.S. hub airports in several cities. The feature, found in the Travel section of the app, provides estimated wait times for both standard security and TSA PreCheck lanes throughout terminals serving United customers.
United CIO Jason Birnbaum framed the timing and context as deliberate.
"While most [TSA agents] began receiving back pay earlier this week, the DHS shutdown continues and people want to stay informed about expected security wait times at our airports," Birnbaum says.
The April Fools wrinkle: United's legit launch landed on the same day a widely-shared joke article from travel site Upgraded Points went viral. The piece claimed TSA was rolling out a "Transparent Screening Initiative" requiring all passengers to use clear carry-on bags—a realistic-sounding hoax that briefly confused travelers before being identified as satire.
The juxtaposition was a communicator's nightmare: a real, helpful product announcement competing for attention against a fake policy that spread faster. The lesson? April 1 is a genuinely risky date to launch anything TSA-adjacent.
Communication takeaways: Julia Brown, Director of Strategy at Kaplow Communications, traveled internationally this past week and experienced firsthand the confusion and frustration that airport delays are creating for travelers right now. She says United’s response is a compelling example of real-time, customer-driven innovation.
“By actively listening to passengers, identifying their pain points and anticipating their behaviors—such as the impulse to look up and continue checking security wait times, United is demonstrating genuine care and commitment at a moment when many travelers are more stressed about traveling,” Brown says.
She also notes that framing the launch as a pilot is equally strategic, signaling humility and intention, opening a feedback loop to learn from.
“By observing how travelers engage with these new tools, United can refine the experience, uncover unmet needs and build toward a more expansive service offering that's grounded in real behavioral data,” she says. “If the customer response is strong, this pilot could set a new bar for how airlines communicate with passengers during disruption."
Muck Rack State of Journalism 2026 Shows Big Industry Shifts
What happened: Muck Rack's State of Journalism 2026 surveyed nearly 900 journalists—and the results show a profession figuring out how to move fast without losing what makes it matter: trust, relevance and community impact. AI is now a newsroom staple, pitches still open doors (when they're relevant), and social media's grip on daily reporting is loosening. For PR pros, the data is both a reality check and a cheat sheet.
AI is in every newsroom. Eighty-two percent of journalists now use at least one AI tool, up from 77% in 2025, with ChatGPT leading at 47%, Gemini rising to 22%, and Claude doubling its share from 6% to 12%. But adoption doesn't mean comfort—concern about unchecked AI jumped 8 points year over year to 26%, while disinformation and lack of funding each remain the top threats to the profession, cited by 32% of journalists.
A few findings that stand out specifically for communicators:
- 86% say PR pitches inspire at least some of their stories—but 88% immediately delete pitches that miss their beat.
- 78% say a pitch feels genuinely relevant when it directly affects the community their audience belongs to—not just the coverage area.
- The most valued pitch elements are clear beat relevance, access to credible sources, original research or data and high-resolution images.
- Keep it to a 1:1 email, under 200 words, before noon—and one follow-up. That's it.
The social media shift: Only 21% of journalists say social media is very important to their actual reporting work, down 12 points since 2024. LinkedIn is the most trusted platform at 58%, while TikTok distrust has climbed to 61%.
Communication takeaways: Journalists want to work with PR pros—but irrelevant pitches aren't just ignored, they're damaging. Know the beat, serve the community and bring the receipts.
Linda Zebian, VP of Comms at Muck Rack, says the bar for pitching just keeps getting higher, but that’s where technology can be a real differentiator.
“Tools that analyze content at the entity level give PR pros using accurate, current data a meaningful edge, making it possible to match pitches to journalists with a level of precision that generic outreach can't achieve,” Zebian says.
She also notes the trend about journalists pulling back from social media for reporting, while still relying on it heavily for promotion—it signals a shift in where reporters are finding credible sources and expertise.
“That's an opening for PR pros to step in and fill that gap, bringing legitimacy and trustworthy voices to the conversation at a time when bot-created content and misinformation are on the rise,” she says. “LinkedIn, now the most trusted platform among journalists, is where those relationships should be built and maintained. This means genuinely engaging with journalists' content without an ask attached, not just when you need something from them.”
And about those AI-generated pitches? Be careful.
“With journalists openly flagging that they can spot AI-generated pitches, the ones that break through will be specific, well-researched and obviously written by a human,” Zebian says.
Nicole Schuman is Managing Editor at PRNEWS.