Let’s (not) Get (too) Political!
Politics, politics, politics. It’s more a part of our lives now than it was even five or ten years ago. Turn on the news and someone is outraged. Change the channel and someone else is outraged by the outrage. The national anthem, the environment, the Taylor Swift concert, the Halloween costumes. It’s exhausting.
Yet more and more, major businesses are jumping into the mix and taking political positions. Companies like Starbucks, Kuerig, Nike, and Macy’s have all played at politics, each with differing results. These brands have the benefit of being large enough to weather political backlash, but smaller brands simply cannot. Here’s the challenge: a Global Strategy Group survey about business and politics said that 88% of respondents believe that companies have the ability to affect social change. An astounding 81% said corporations actually should take a stand on key social issues.
So how does a company take a stance without risking the brand? And how does that brand increase its relevance at a time of so much overheated political discourse? Here are three things for a brand to consider before making the leap into politics.
Are You Being True To Your Story?
In 2017, Patagonia posted “The President Stole Your Land” on their home page in response to the downsizing of the Bears Ear and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments. Patagonia knew they were taking a risk of alienating shoppers who supported the president, but their stance was consistent with their brand story and values. Patagonia is an outdoor clothing and equipment brand focused on high-quality sustainable products. Taking a stance on an issue like this is consistent with their story. Ask yourself: do you know what your brand story is and do the positions you want to take reflect that story? If not, it might be best to stay out of the fight.
What Do You Get From What You Give?
I know this sounds incredibly commercial— let’s not forget we’re in the marketing business—but ask yourself what’s the upside versus the risk of taking a political stance. Nike chose to use Colin Kaepernick in its most recent “Just Do It” marketing campaign. For those who’ve been hiding under a rock for the past couple years, Kaepernick is a professional football player who chose to take a knee during the national anthem in protest of the treatment of African Americans. The ad campaign created a firestorm of comments, protests, threats of boycotts, and even burning of Nike products. The stock took a hit but has rebounded and is now up over 25% this year. From this one ad, Nike received over $100 million dollars of free media coverage—but time will tell whether there will be a long term negative effect. Starbucks and Chick-Fil-A also got caught up in politics for their respective stances and both suffered customer backlash. But in both instances, the majority of customers showcased their loyalty in response to the bullhorning of views.
A brand has to be fully aware of the risks, and be sure that the choices that they make are consistent with the values of the brand and their loyal customer base.
Support The Idea of Political Activism
I’ve talked to several business leaders who’ve told me that they want to be more politically active, but their customer and employee bases are so diverse that they’re afraid they’re going to make someone mad no matter what they do. I suspect this fear lingers at the back of every CEO’s mind. Given the scale of people who want business leaders to get involved with social issues, this presents a real dilemma. But if you don’t have a cause that fits your story or promotes your bottom line, it might make sense to keep the company on the sidelines. But there are other things you can do, like supporting employees in their efforts to get active. This doesn’t mean communicating your position—it means living out those beliefs and providing things like PTO for employees to support, march, protest, and petition. I do recommend reminding them that their behavior reflects on the brand and ask that they behave accordingly, but otherwise be supportive and stay out of the way.
Intellectual Property Attorney | Partner at Hemingway & Hansen, LLP, Patents, Copyrights & Trademarks
6 年Great thoughts, Chris. In today’s business climate, it is important to define your business principles, business purpose and values — once you define who you are and what you hold true, your actions will follow suit. Chris can assist you in defining your principles, purpose and values.
Product Market Fit Expert | CEO | CMO | Filmmaker
6 年Chris. Great article. Politically, we have been a divided country forever. It’s roughly 50/50 and has been for decades (if you look at the broader blend of state, congress and Whitehouse). This is not a recent phenomenon. Why would a brand want to anger half their customers? That has never made sense to me. That said, I think you gave great examples where it worked. A brand can be political from the beginning - like Ben and Jerry’s. That’s okay. It has always stood for something. However, brands like we see in Silicon Valley that misunderstanding that their employees are representative of their customers are in for a big shock. The market will eventually punish them. By the way, I thought Nike’s decision was brilliant. It’s a risk I would have taken.
| CEO ThinkWay | Strategy, Strategy Training, Strategy Tech, Marketing Strategy, Advisory Services | ThinkPoints? | Former Global Strategy at Kraft Foods | Husker
6 年Very interesting. Of course, businesses have been “involved” in politics for as long as there have been governments; notably in policy advocacy. It’s really all about the business objectives, isn’t it. They should have a strategy for influencing policy in the best interests of their business and industry. In my opinion, political activism as an appropriate tactic all depends. I think more often than not, it represents more risk than are justified by the rewards.
From Go-to-Market Planning to Startup Execution in Emerging Markets from North America to Latin America, Author
6 年Timely thoughts, Chris. My 2 cents, from someone who is not steeped in the branding arts...?My take is that there is no one size fits all. To explain, first there are “double-edged” industries that inherently promote circumstances deemed negative by most today; fossil fuel (they produce it, we all use it), gun manufacturing (protects you unless in the wrong hands), media (truth vs. truthiness) to name a few. IMHO, these have a greater responsibility to overtly adopt political measures that counter-act any harm they do. Yes, countering their brand could be a hard-sell to a Board focused on next quarter. Then there are the B to C businesses that wish to promote their brands as part of healthy lifestyles (Red Bull drinks and sports, Patagonia, Oikos yogurt). For those, any political promotion should match the brand. Thirdly, there are the enterprise B to B companies. IMO, these should refrain from overt political stances and focus on Corporate Social Responsibility efforts that may either apply across the board (Heart Association, for ex) or not promote an agenda. Beyond taking on the additional brand risk, as you mentioned, all of these firms are made up of diverse employee bases, and one must take into account that a company probably should try to make all of its stakeholders (and recruits) proud of their contributions. The fourth segment are all of the SME (small to mid-size) businesses that make up the bulk of the US business world. These should probably focus on supporting the many local and regional community causes rather than wrapping their brands in politics. The last segment are B to G and these will not change political strategy any time soon. Corporate management endeavors to reduce risk wherever possible. Decisions to engage in politics imply risk that should match the brand and the markets in which they compete, and that includes an international market scope where the strategy and data behind political decisions are not in the wheelhouse of most business leaders. There are likely more ways to peel the onion, and a number of exceptions, the point is that as all consultants will tell you - "it depends".