Public Affairs: The Secret Ingredient for Building Unforgettable Brands

This article was authored by?Eric Gilbertsen, Chief Client Officer, REQ

It's not new for brands to find and use?purpose?to build emotional connections with customers, galvanize internal culture, and grow the business.

Nor is it new for corporations to drive social and political?change.

What is new — and what some brands have discovered — is the important role of Public Affairs in brand-building.

Pull up a chair.

Brand, Meet Public Affairs

In 2019, TrendWatching’s #1 emerging consumer trend was?Legislative Brands, the idea that “frustrated consumers will welcome corporate interests using their significant power to call for, promote, and even impose laws that drive constructive change and make the world a better place.”

This work is traditionally done inside capitol buildings by lobbyists, lawyers, employee and customer advocates, coalitions, and trade associations. It takes shape as meetings, panels, op-eds, ads, microsites, letters, calls, and even tweets.

Meanwhile, Brand teams, equipped with a deep understanding of their audiences, continue to find creative ways to be valuable, relevant, and personalized, which drives growth and profitability. Their work is done by strategists, researchers, writers, designers, product engineers, consultants, and agencies.

It becomes special when Brand and Public Affairs, together at the table, break bread. Here are a few examples of this in action:

• PayPal launched?Working Capital?loans and won SBA approval to provide?PPP loans?– two business and Brand decisions that bolstered its?Public Affairs focus?on small business.
• Dick’s Sporting Goods made a Brand and Public Affairs decision to?stop selling firearms, galvanizing one audience and perhaps alienating another.
• Nike took a social stand, making Colin Kaepernick?the face of a polarizing ad campaign, adding another cinder block to Nike’s legendary brand foundation.
• Waymo is?partnering?with safety and disability groups to educate the public, encourage dialogue, and reinforce their?focus on safety?and mobility.
• eBay amplifies the voice of ecommerce entrepreneurs, including the smallest casual sellers, through?eBay Main Street. eBay discovered early that policy advocates are often the strongest brand advocates, and they’ve worked to grow a community ever since.
• Peloton harnessed the incredible?power of their community, and is directing that power to?change systemic inequities.

For Public Affairs teams, what comes next?

• Collaborate with the Brand team and find common ground
• Invite Brand talent and creative agencies into the mix
• Seek partnerships with like-minded organizations (non-profits, think tanks, associations and other brands)
• Unearth policy advocates within your customer base?
• Train to become a storyteller

When the moment is right, create a?new?type of activism where Brand and Public Affairs are aligned. Their agencies add creative, media and technology expertise, while like-minded partners join in to lend their perspectives, authority, and impartial credibility to the cause.

Imagine?your?brand’s table. Who is sitting where, and how is the conversation going?