What is Branded Advocacy And Why Does It Matter? (Part 1)
Social Impact Marketing in Times of Crisis & Instability
Brands and corporations started the year 2020 being bombarded by a series of crises. With their supply chains disrupted and their customers quarantined, businesses were forced to rethink their commitments towards the well-being of their staff and their broader community. Against this disastrous backdrop, these tactile issues have pushed the boundaries of corporate social responsibility (CSR) to become the central issue for businesses looking to survive this new era of sustained instability.
For those of us in the marketing world, these efforts are placed under the umbrella of advocacy marketing – activities through which brands demonstrate what they believe in and gain positive exposure from like-minded customers. Marketers propose solutions to these problems according to basic concepts that are considered fairly standard across our industry.
But this framework is often insufficient and can leave brands unprepared for times of exceptional crisis and uncertainty. Brands that stick to this framework in turbulent times often suffer from a severe disconnect with their audiences and communities. In these cases, being both creative and authentic is vital for brands to foster trust and transparency, while simultaneously addressing the concerns of their customers and of broader society.
With this background in mind, we can turn to consider a range of issues strongly impacting today’s society, starting with the wholly inadequate way that the United States federal government has approached the pandemic and the way in which it cascaded together with rising rates of unemployment and a highly-stressed medical system to bring some of the nation’s deeper, underlying problems to light.
The public is now starting to recognize the wide-spread issue of police brutality and the absence of accountability that comes with it at various levels of society.
What was so readily denied in the past is now so undeniably pronounced in the present. With the public’s attention focused on the issue, it is becoming apparent to all that there still remain many overt and unwritten restrictions holding back commonly-assumed civil liberties from being realized for specific groups in society.
This perception now aligns with the views of past activists who were previously criticized for championing modern civil rights movements, such as #BlackLivesMatter.
In other words, we’re now watching a country wake up to the fact that its purported social contract and justice system – supposedly founded on distinct freedoms, as expressed in a bill of rights that is given an almost religious significance – is actually half-heartedly applied throughout the country to both individuals and communities of African Americans.
In essence, these protests – which have ironically been met with even more ineptitude, contempt, and police brutality – are about the very definition of fairness.
The arrest and subsequent murder of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department, apparently on suspicion of possessing a counterfeit twenty-dollar bill, was the immediate catalyst for the protests as they spread across the United States and around the world. Both the arrest and the murder were caught over the course of 10 minutes in video by bystanders and surrounding security cameras in particularly graphic detail – all allegedly over what would be a minor crime.
This incident is, in many ways, similar to the murder of Eric Garner at the hands of the New York Police Department over the selling of loose cigarettes – also a minor crime. And there are numerousotherincidents, large and small, ranging from non-lethal to fatal, but tinged with racial animosity so inexplicable that it has led to its own hashtag, #LivingWhileBlack.
Now that public sentiment is positioned to recognize the depth of many societal ills that have previously gone unacknowledged, companies and brands are being drawn into these discussions, both inadvertently and on their own initiative. Many are experimenting with their brand messaging and ongoing communications, trying to align their voices with the public’s. So far, the results have been mixed.
This fast-paced interaction with public opinion has now taken on what some might consider a new dimension. But marketers with an expansive enough knowledge of history, sociology and political psychology, can easily recognize that current affairs mark a defining moment for Branded Advocacy.
It is readily understood that the path towards a demonstrable and viable corporate voice can only start with a clear vision of the desired culture and underlying mission of a corporation. It is this feature that determines whether a brand’s social impact initiatives are eventually successful. Nevertheless, there are certain tenets that have to be addressed for a company to fully grasp the scope of the efforts it is required to undertake.
In addition to the standard elements of brand advocacy – like Authenticity and Transparency– there are other components that take precedent: a sense of justice (Integrity), a prioritization of fairness (Parity), and a proven track record that demonstrates the achievement of both factors (Direct Action).
At the same time, relying on superficial messaging – even when it is masked with “creative” spin – can be a common pitfall when planning an overarching communications strategy.
These newer components introduce a fundamentally moral consideration for the direction a company takes, making it accountable for not only the issues it decides to act upon but also for the extent to which it stays true to its expressed Vision, Mission, and Core Values.
In the face of current affairs, where public sentiment is constantly and rapidly evolving, these nebulous factors are difficult to handle. Many companies have failed to maintain a relevant voice while juggling these considerations with other, ongoing business priorities.
So, how should businesses approach this challenge?
Join us for the upcoming Part 2 of this series where we will continue to examine Branded Advocacy and Social Impact Marketing.
Photos Courtesy of Unsplash: Edwin Hooper, Carl Heyerdahl, Brian McGowan, Warren Wong, Jéan Béller, Luis Villasmil, and Riccardo Annandale