Top 4 ways brands can win when taking a political stance on an issue
Here are four ways brands can win when taking a political stance on an issue:
1. Encourage participation
Part of being involved in the political cultural conversation is also asking consumers to get involved too. Encouraging wider voter participation has been done for many years (see every Rock The Vote campaign ever) but we’re starting to see brands leverage this in interesting ways. For the most recent UK general election Brewdog encouraged voter participation by offering a free pint of Punk IPA to those who could prove they had voted.
Brands should recognise that they can use their unique personalities and capabilities to encourage consumer participation in political issues.
2. Inspire a community
By taking a strong political stance brands can reflect the opinions and beliefs of the people they serve and work to make their lives better. In the last US election gay dating app Grindr not only encouraged its users to register to vote through in-app notifications, but also presented each candidates LGBT+ policies clearly. They have also encouraged users in specific states to vote against Anti-LGBT issues, inspiring a community of politically engaged users.
To truly inspire a community brands must ensure that they reflect the opinions and politics of their target consumers when taking on a political issue.
3. Be authentic
The strongest political stances ring true when they connect to your brand truth and feel organic and authentic. During the EU referendum in the UK last year we saw Lush come out in favour of the remain campaign, but rather than just taking a pro-EU stance, they aligned it with their other activist efforts by encouraging people to ‘Vote remain for animals’. By staying true to the history of their brand they garnered more respect from consumers, whilst also encouraging them to stand for something and champion their political views.
When brands take a political stance they should ensure that it feels connected to their brand’s personality to ensure that it rings true for consumers and doesn’t feel like they are jumping onto a bandwagon.
4. Think global
In an increasingly globalised world it is important to look at global political issues as well as those on a smaller scale. After President Trump decided to take the US out of the Paris Climate Change Agreement 25 companies bought full page ads in various US media outlets to make public their disagreements with Trump and his policy. Elon Musk of Tesla also publicly said he would leave an advisory council for Mr Trump, whilst other companies made clear that they would continue their efforts to fight climate change in spite of the new US policy.
Brands must recognise that they have a wide ranging, global reach, and that they can tackle global issues.
This article was written Hannah Robbins, Project Executive, Kantar Added Value, with support from our Cultural Insight team in the UK.
... Read MoreThe new politics of branding
As the political climate continues to grow more divisive, brands are getting thrust into the middle of debates many would prefer to avoid. In January, Toyota was attacked for expanding in Mexico to sell more vehicles to Americans. More recently, Nordstrom experienced whiplash for dropping Ivanka Trump’s clothing line. Corporations and brands typically like to remain apolitical. But in this highly polarized, culturally-charged and social-mediatized moment, where people expect their brands to represent them and their values, can brands sidestep politics entirely? Saying and doing nothing can unintentionally send a message to stakeholders, employees and consumers that the company or brand is indifferent to the issue at hand. And many of the issues being raised have direct implications for businesses. Brands and their CEOs, often the most concrete manifestations of a brand, are having their actions, announcements and affiliations put under the microscope like never before.
The recent executive order regarding the immigrant travel ban and the rhetoric around it is a case in point. The ban, which took place a week prior to the Super Bowl, resulted in brands wading deeply into political waters on both sides of the aisle. From celebration of Mexican avocados to a rerun of Coke’s ‘it’s beautiful’ campaign, immigration was all the rage… literally. Take Anheuser-Busch: Although the American immigrant story of the founder Adolphus Busch was apparently in the works for months prior to the travel ban, its airing led to a call for boycott by those who felt the ad was overtly political. 84 Lumber, a relatively unknown building supply company, ran ‘the Journey’, an ad considered so political by FOX that they refused to air the long version. The edited teaser, which suggested that viewers check out the full story on their website, crashed their site as 6 million attempts were made during the first hour to view the entire ad. The ensuing debate pitted the company’s intention to ‘symbolize the grit, dedication and sacrifice’ of their employees with anger at the promotion of illegal immigration.
With so much contestation on both sides, it can seem like there is no right way for brands to take part in the conversation without fear of reprisal. We at Kantar Added Value don’t believe things are quite that black and white. A brand’s decision on whether to take a bold stand, try to reconcile opposing points of view or stay entirely out of the fray will quite naturally depend on who that brand is. It’s not about politics. It’s about Purpose.
Airbnb’s campaign #weaccept, which explicitly promoted diversity and acceptance, aired during the same Super Bowl as the controversial ads mentioned above. Yet it, along with their initiative to provide short-term housing for displaced people in need, was mostly met with praise. Sure, a few Twitter trolls expressed outrage at what they deemed a ‘politically charged’ message. But all in all, Airbnb got off relatively unscathed. Why?
For one, this pioneer in the sharing economy has built its entire brand around the idea of belonging and community. It therefore was perfectly coherent, to see them take a stand against an order that runs counter to everything they stand for. And Airbnb’s young urban cosmopolitan target would expect no less.
Of course, in any situation, brand owners will want to measure the risks and rewards of speaking up. But risk mitigation isn’t as simple as it used to be. With the rise of social media and real-time communications, brands are expected to behave more like humans. And humans don’t just do what they think will maximize their ROI in the short term. Their behaviors are rooted in values and personality and so should any brand worth its EPS be. Brands, like humans, need to know what they stand for. The clearer a brand is about its raison d’être, the easier it will be to align quickly and convincingly on a course of action.
A brands’ position on a given issue should weigh four key considerations:
1. The brand’s core/most loyal consumers: who are they and what matters to them? If you are Hobby Lobby, your right-leaning consumers will be expecting you to stand up for family values, just as a Ben & Jerry’s core consumer will be sensitive to climate change issues. Some brands don’t know where their consumers stand until they find out the hard way. When Uber chose not to hold up the one-hour taxi strike at JFK airport during the height of the airport protests, their users were enraged. When it then came to light that Uber CEO, Travis Kalanick, was also a member of President Trump’s economic advisory committee, the #deleteUber movement on Twitter was born. Uber, a brand that has successfully positioned themselves as ‘your private driver’ is increasingly out of sync with the cultural moment- evoking elitism and selfishness vs. Lyft whose purpose is to be ‘your friend with a car’. Both drivers and passengers appear to increasingly prefer the latter mindset. Brands must also be forward thinking about their consumer base. Earlier this year, a Fox News radio host dubbed Chick-fil-A “the official chicken of Jesus“. The company’s CEO, who previously took a strong stand against same sex marriage, now seeks to expand northward to NY and other left leaning cities. Consumers and employees in these zipcodes have different attitudes and affiliations, thus requiring a rethink on brand targeting.
2. The brand’s values: what is most important to the brand? What does it stand for and what would it be willing to fight for? There was a time when brands didn’t need to know the answer to these questions. No longer. CVS, the pharmacy brand that took the first strong stand against tobacco, logically stood up for affordable care. Patagonia and Black Diamond, long-time supporters of environmental protection, are publicly appealing to the entire outdoors industry to move their trade show out of Utah State, if its leaders continue to support Republican efforts in Congress to transfer or sell federal lands to states. For brands with strong values, doing nothing, or even taking a tepid position, is not an option.
3. The brand’s competencies: Where does the brand have expertise that might be applied to or provide perspective on the issue at hand? A recent report by Weber Shandwick, entitled “The Dawn of CEO Activism,” found that people saw CEOs more favorably if they took a public stance on current issues — as long as the topic was related to the company’s business. (If it wasn’t, the numbers reversed.). In this vein, Mark Weinberger, CEO of EY has offered his company’s expertise to ‘educate’ President Trump on all things related to job creation in the US. Nike, a brand that has promoted women’s participation in sports for two decades, is addressing the Muslim issue from a different angle: their recent launch of a lightweight, highly wearable hijab that doesn’t come untucked when working out or during competitions, is intended to reach a growing market of Muslim shoppers. Another global brand, IKEA, working through its foundation, has developed refugee shelters made from recycled plastic that can be easily assembled in just a few hours (see innovation section for details). Interestingly, IKEA’s DIY expertise has been hijacked by designers seeking to make an anti-Muslim ban statement via a tongue-in-cheek ad for a “Börder Wåll“, offering a fake flat-pack wall, sold with 5,659,344 screws, and a single allen wrench, for a bargain price of : $9,999,999,999.99.
4. The brand’s personality: Finally, the way a brand chooses to address an issue must be coherent with that brand’s personality. A brand’s willingness to get out in front on contentious topics should reflect its placement on the spectrum of boldness. Is the brand an Innocent or a Nurturer, in which case it will likely avoid direct conflict? Or is it a Hero, willing to fight for what is right? Starbucks CEO, Howard Schultz, was one of the first to speak out against the immigrant travel ban with zeal, announcing a decision to employ 10,000 refugees in protest. While the press has suggested that Starbucks is risking business, Kantar Millward Brown (full disclosure – sister Kantar company) reported last week that there has been no substantive impact on any key performance metrics. Jeep, more of an Explorer brand, decided to straddle the fence with their ‘Free to Be,’ campaign, launched around the final presidential debate last year. The campaign featured a split screen showing their latest models half in red, half in blue, delivering a message of unification that cut across party lines. To showcase the parallel park assist, one ad proposed to help you “position yourself between two sides.” Lane departure warning ads reminded you that “The left and the right are closer than you think.”
It could be argued that such an attempt to rise above the divisive rhetoric and avoid taking sides is too safe…that such an approach isn’t bold enough to stand out. But the real question is whether the brand is acting in a way that is coherent with what you know, love and expect from it. And whether it is aligning with the core values of its target. Because the only thing worse for a brand today than being invisible is to be inauthentic or irrelevant.
Written by Leslie Pascaud, Executive Vice President Branding and Sustainable Innovation, and Teiko Uyekawa, Brand, Kantar Added Value.
Headline image credit: Kantar Added Value
... Read MoreLooking Back on 2016
It has been a cataclysmic year. From shake-ups in the world of brand marketing and advertising, to unimaginable political outcomes in the US and the UK, to continuing devastation in war-torn cities like Aleppo, the shock of the year’s events have reverberated around the globe in real-time.
Here are 5 emerging themes shaped by the events of 2016, and questions every brand should consider in relationship to them, as our organizations seek to play a role in supporting human flourishing:
OUR OLD ORGANIZING PRINCIPLES ARE BROKEN
Traditional dividing lines are blurring and no longer have the predictive power they once did. In a world where news travels at the speed of the internet, geography, age, race, sex, gender, religion, income, education have all become less salient as indicators. We see this playing out in the use of psychographic profiling to micro-target news consumers in both the Brexit vote and the US presidential election, and we see it in the reimagining of masculine gender roles, as exemplified by America’s first CoverBoy. The organizing principles we’ve relied on in the past and have come to accept as fact can no longer reliably guide us in understanding a person’s experiences, preferences and assumed choices.
Question for your brand: How might you need to understand and conceptualize your targets differently, both today and in the future?
IF EVERYONE IS THE MEDIA, NO ONE IS THE MEDIA
The monolith of the fourth estate no longer speaks with a singular voice. “Traditional” media outlets still exist, but they now compete with start-ups, independent outlets, brands and individuals to tell the story of what’s happening in the world and why. Issues of roles, rights, and responsibilities, truth and propaganda have come into play as everyone jockeys to deliver “content” and drive the 24/7 news cycle and the ad dollars attached to it. Increasingly, we’re coming to see that media sources are aimed at not just page views but also the power to shape world views, and thus drive the cultural narrative that frames reality.
Question for your brand: How can your brand best shape influencers, and what unified message can your brand deliver that speaks into a fragmented media landscape?
POLARIZATION IS THE NEW NORMAL
From heated exchanges between strangers on social media, to families divided down political lines, polarization can start to feel like the only thing we all share in common. When it’s easy to surround yourself with only opinions that confirm your own biases, this polarization can seem even more pronounced. In the US, not since the first Civil Rights movement has the country seen such a groundswell of efforts in the direction of furthering racial equality, while simultaneously we see extremist, nationalist groups also come to the forefront. We are all being forced to take a hard look at who we are as a people and a culture, and there are no easy answers. Some take this as a sign of hope, believing that this self-examination, though painful, is necessary for us to move forward as a society. But we are surely at a cultural precipice, with many wondering which forces will prevail.
Question for your brand: In a polarized climate, what can your brand truly stand for that allows your brand’s voice to be heard above the fray and connect with universal human truths?
RECKONING WITH TECH
The promise of technology as an elegant solution to the age-old problem of human error, pride and greed, hasn’t quite worked out that way. Yes, technology has made our lives dramatically easier in many ways but this has not come without cost. Indeed we are just beginning to recognize that the fruits of technology’s labors have far-reaching consequences that must be grappled with. Just this week, news of a massive cyber-forgery ring that fraudulently costs advertisers up to $5M a day to pay for fake video views serves as yet another reminder that technology can hurt as much as it can help. The industry and the world at large will have to reckon with how technology can be shaped toward its most humane, ethical ends while protecting us from own our worst impulses to exploit others through it.
Question for your brand: How can your brand leverage the power of technology, while working to mitigate its potential negative impacts for all?
BALANCING SECURITY AND LIBERTY
As the global world is more connected, the tenuous relationship between security and liberty becomes more fraught. In many democratic countries, enshrined individual rights are strained in the face of efforts to ensure safety of the collective. How much oversight is too much? At what point can we opt out of a “Big Brother” existence that often we know nothing about? Add to that the vulnerability inherent in increasing amounts of data – personal and corporate — stored online and in the cloud, and what seem like endless hacks into what we were told are secure systems. Distrust of all entities meant to secure our safety, both virtual and physical, grows deeper, even as we need these entities more and more.
Question for your brand: How might your brand provide consumers with a sense of security amidst tumult, in both traditional and creative ways?
Written by Joanna Franchini, Kantar Added Value US.
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