Photo Credit: Meltwater
Media intelligence just got a fashionable leading lady. Meltwater is celebrating its 25th anniversary with Intelligence Is Always in Style, a new global brand campaign starring actress Kim Cattrall as a sharp, sophisticated executive navigating the increasingly complicated world of modern communications. For anyone who remembers Cattrall as the famously fearless publicist Samantha Jones in Sex and the City, the casting feels particularly fitting. Set against the backdrop of New York City, the cinematic short-film series follows Cattrall’s character as she tackles the everyday challenges facing today’s communications and marketing leaders. From monitoring brand conversations to identifying emerging trends and managing potential reputational crises, she always seems to be one step ahead. Her secret weapon is Meltwater’s media intelligence platform.
The choice of Cattrall is more than a recognizable celebrity endorsement. For six seasons of Sex and the City, the actress brought Samantha Jones, a confident Manhattan publicist with a flair for image-making, to life. Her association with the character gives the campaign an immediate cultural connection to the industry Meltwater serves. This time, however, the conversation extends beyond traditional publicity. The campaign spotlights the expanding responsibilities of communications professionals, including monitoring how brands appear across digital media, social platforms, and AI-generated responses. It’s a timely reminder that managing a company’s reputation now requires keeping up with conversations happening across an increasingly fragmented media landscape.
Photo Credit: Meltwater
Visually, Intelligence Is Always in Style leans into nostalgia, drawing inspiration from glossy magazine spreads and print newspapers while emphasizing the technology reshaping the communications industry. That contrast is central to the campaign’s creative approach. Where public relations professionals once relied heavily on press clippings and manually compiled media reports, contemporary teams increasingly use sophisticated monitoring platforms and AI-assisted tools to interpret conversations in real time. Meltwater positions its platform as a way for communications leaders to spend less time gathering information and more time making strategic decisions.
The films were developed by Meltwater’s in-house marketing team, directed by Drue Bisley and produced by DEAD Films, and the campaign is rolling out across multiple channels in markets including the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. Turning a technical business-to-business product into something more is what makes the campaign particularly interesting. Rather than relying exclusively on software demonstrations, Meltwater places a charismatic, culturally recognizable personality at the center of its message. Cattrall’s character embodies the qualities the company wants audiences to associate with its platform: confidence, preparedness, and the ability to anticipate what’s coming next. It’s also an example of how nostalgia can be used to make an unfamiliar or technical message feel immediately accessible.
For PR and marketing professionals, the underlying message makes it clear that media intelligence is no longer simply about knowing what people are saying. It’s about understanding what those conversations mean and deciding what to do next. And if Meltwater’s latest campaign is any indication, being informed has never looked quite so glamorous.