On October 3rd, we asked, “What would break the internet?”
For generations of Mean Girls fans, an unofficial holiday called Mean Girls Day makes a splash every year across pop culture and social media. Companies celebrate this global conversation by leaning into the film’s enduring hyper-fandom with playful, brand-relevant content.
Last July, United Airlines spotted a golden opportunity with Jonathan Bennett — better known as the original “Aaron Samuels” from Mean Girls. Even more compelling? Discovering that Jonathan is a genuine fan of United who’s flown the airline for years, regularly tagging them in his Instagram stories.
After learning about United’s interest in a Mean Girls Day collaboration, Jonathan immediately headed to his local airport to take photos in front of United signage and sent an enthusiastic email detailing how eager he was to help “break the internet together.”
But in August, a glittery orange plot twist hit: the world’s #1 recording artist announced that her new album, The Life of a Showgirl, would drop that same day. Headlines like “Watch Out Mean Girls, It Seems Oct. 3 Is Now Taylor Swift’s Day” captured the drama.
Suddenly, United faced a high-stakes choice: move forward as planned and risk being overshadowed… or pivot to turn this cultural collision into an even bigger moment.
As the team considered their next move, they established three objectives:
• Create an ownable moment that sparks viral conversation beyond travel
• Drive brand relevance amid both trending moments
• Match or exceed social benchmarks
The United social team’s playbook is always intentional about merging what’s trending with what’s unmistakably “United,” keeping the brand in the pop culture conversation even when customers aren’t traveling. Their approach is to be the guest everyone wants at their dinner party — that one who adds to conversations in relevant ways rather than barging in to talk only about themselves.
By leaning into the moment with self-aware humor and embracing the universal truth of feeling upstaged, the team transformed a potential deal breaker into a moment unmistakably on brand. In true dinner-party fashion, United made sure everyone at the table — Mean Girls fans, Swifties, travelers and Jonathan himself — felt part of the fun.
Once the team decided to go ahead with its October 3rd moment, they immediately began collaborating with Jonathan Bennett in real time. Overnight, a new script was refined and made ready for the shoot at LAX. To merge the worlds of Mean Girls and Showgirl, the creative team kept the film’s spirit at the center while weaving in copyright-safe cues, like orange sparkles and a playful showgirl cameo as Jonathan anxiously searched for someone to ask him the legendary question: “What day is it?”
The video also spotlighted a flight attendant’s dedication to saving the day, a nod to United’s passion for customer service and Good Leads The Way ethos: making heroes of the real people who serve customers. All production was handled in-house, leveraging United’s first-class social and influencer teams to move from concept to live post in just under three weeks.
After the video went live across organic and paid social, the comment section became the internet’s group chat for brands that wanted to play along. United’s community management team stayed right in the middle of it, infusing every reply with a mix of culturally savvy wit and airline personality. As one team member commented, “It was one of those rare moments where the energy aligned so perfectly it felt like we owned the internet for the day.”
And the varsity jacket United gifted Jonathan previously — which he chose to wear to the shoot unprompted — became the breakout star after fans flooded comments asking how to buy it. The team instantly added a trackable link to the online store in every post and DM. Within hours, people snapped up the jacket.
Together with Jonathan Bennett, United broke the internet with a viral pop culture moment that sparked massive brand love, visibility and sales:
