Below the Fold is the monthly newsletter from Cognito, an independent PR and communications agency specialising in financial services and technology, with a team based in Sydney.

This post is part of our newsletter archive series, sharing insights and observations from our monthly Below the Fold editions. This one is from January 2026 — some of the market specifics have moved on, but the thinking behind them hasn’t.

Australia is back into the swing of things following the summer period, but one key theme seems to have ‘hungover’ from the holidays. Beer prices are the topic resonating with audiences this month, and we’ve seen some pretty creative PR campaigns reflecting this theme.

Tyro, a local darling in the payments space, released a dataset looking at the death of ‘the shout’, creatively using consumer transaction data to find that punters are preferring to pay for their own drinks rather than risk spending big on several rounds.

The National Measurement Institute, the national authority on all things measurement, experienced cut-through in local media by releasing data that found (to much national outrage) that some pubs were short-pouring their pints.

Continuing the theme, independent senator David Pocock compared the taxes paid on offshore gas exports to the ever-controversial ‘beer tax’, stating Australian beer drinkers pay an estimated $1.2b more on tax than large corporations do on offshore gas processing.

All three examples here are case studies in capturing mainstream attention for what may be viewed as traditionally ‘boring’ underlying topics or organisations — demonstrating a deep understanding of what engages mainstream Australian audiences. I’ll give you a hint: it seems to be beer.

In this month’s ‘Kudos & Catastrophes’ segment, I’ve also included some notes on some PR creativity at the Australian Open, and a case study on the importance of delivering the right message to the right audience at the same event.

As usual, we have some additional key narratives that have influenced headlines locally, and our regular round of client wins and highlights.

As always, feel free to get in touch if anything caught your eye, or if there’s something you’d like to see discussed in next month’s edition.

Until next time,

Jonathan Buxeda, Director, Cognito ANZ

Narratives Down Under

As observed by Scott Schuberg, Managing Director, Cognito ANZ

This time last year, readers were subject to Trump’s ‘muzzle velocity’ approach to owning headlines during the first few weeks of his second inauguration. This year it’s a different kind of pain — day by day, sector by sector, companies’ earnings are in the crosshairs of AI disruption.

In the old days—perhaps a year ago or so—there seemed to be a brand of tech-corporation-etiquette that allowed tech behemoths and the rest of the world’s 99.9% of companies to peacefully coexist. Google’s travel and shopping tools play the role of shop window rather than shopkeeper in an advertiser framework, Apple and its App Store are routinely held to account on anti-competitive issues, and Microsoft learned to play nice ever since the Internet Explorer antitrust days — unbundling services, opening APIs, playing nice with competitors etc.

The message used to be clear: you can build your tools and organise the world’s information, but don’t eat everyone’s lunch while you’re doing it.

So, what on earth is going on now? AI seems to have permeated and embedded itself everywhere, winning corporate customers along the way, but also hoovering up and organising everyone’s IP, only to obliterate the moats around digital services and rob businesses of yesterday’s value propositions. There seems to be an adopted myth that this is all fine and inevitable (interesting musings here by Cory Doctorow shared by a client), but is it?

I put together some internal research on the year-to-date effects on sectors — please get in touch via [email protected] if you’d like a copy.

Kudos and Catastrophes

This month’s edition comes courtesy of the Australian Open, which delivered two contrasting communications case studies from the same event.

The first example was Whoop’s masterclass in reactive PR, making the brand an unlikely star of the tournament.

For those unfamiliar, Whoop is a wearable fitness band that live-tracks various health metrics to score strain, recovery, sleep, etc., and is worn by athletes and the less fit general public (like yours truly) alike. The brand prides itself on earned, never sponsored, exposure — a tactic often unseen in similar B2C tech products.

During several matches, several top players were asked by umpires to remove their Whoop devices from their wrists, much to the public annoyance of players, including Sabalenka.

Whoop’s response was a textbook example of reactive comms.

They shipped Whoop-embedded undergarments (boxers, bras, and sports underwear) to players so they could continue wearing the devices discreetly during matches (while posting about it on social media, of course).

What we saw was a week-long news cycle covering the issue, effectively reaching an audience of fitness and sports fans the world over.

At the same event, Kia, the Australian Open’s longest-running major sponsor, was given the opportunity to deliver a speech during the men’s final trophy ceremony.

In stark contrast to Kia Motors Australia’s President and CEO, Mr Cho, whose speeches were once hailed as a ‘highlight‘ of Open’s past, this year’s speech fell flat.

The speech, delivered by Kia Australia CEO Damien Meredith, was met with a fan shouting “Boring!”, which was promptly circulated via social and traditional media.

Even if you’ve spent millions of dollars on a sponsorship slot, sometimes the best thing a brand can do is step aside and give the audience what they want. Hint: more Alcaraz, Sinner, less corporate messaging.

A clear reminder that when you’re giving a speech, understanding your audience and their points of interest matter more than anything else — no matter who you are.

Coffee With a Journalist & A Client Win

Building strong journalist relationships is central to how Cognito approaches financial services and technology PR in Australia. This month, our team caught up with Jack Derwin, markets and finance correspondent at Capital Brief, over coffee to hear more about what’s on his radar and how he approaches Australia’s markets and financial landscape.

Jack focuses on banking strategy, investor trends and the forces moving markets and corporate Australia. He shared that the strongest pitches quickly explain why the story matters, backed by sharp data, a clear angle and credible experts.

He also values hearing directly from spokespeople and is always keen to understand what industry leaders are seeing firsthand. Capital Brief appreciates opportunities for exclusives, particularly when they offer a timely new perspective.

These conversations are invaluable in strengthening journalist relationships and ensuring we’re sharing stories that truly add value.

As a result, we managed to secure two hits in Capital Brief this month, which really hammers home the value of the journalist relationships that we grow and nurture.

The first piece featured comments on the future of the New Payments Platform (NPP), Australia’s real-time payment rails, warning that without greater support from the public sector, the platform risks falling by the wayside.

The second piece focused on the future of agentic AI in the e-commerce sector, leveraging some Australian-specific data on the topic.

Cognito is an independent communications and PR agency specialising in financial services and technology, with offices in Sydney, London, New York, Singapore, Hong Kong and other major financial centres around the world. If you’d like to work with a team that understands your sector, get in touch at [email protected].