By Kristina Monllos • December 23, 2024 •
Ivy Liu
The polarization of the country has been in sharp focus for some time, especially the second half of the year. That polarization isn’t new: There’s been a brewing — some might say bubbling or even boiling — so-called culture war for years and it’s spewed far beyond the political realm to become a norm that marketers have to contend with for their brands.
As consumers put brands’ advertising and marketing messages under a microscope, looking for any hint that a brand is making a statement one way or another in the culture war, in which everything is looked at through a political lens, marketers have to be keenly aware of how anything they put out in the world could be interpreted — or misinterpreted. It’s a consideration that marketers and agency execs are aware of with some more vigilant and more worried about potential backlash than others. Getting messaging right is more important than ever as consumers pay closer attention to brands and there is potential for backlash.
What do we mean by brands at the center of a culture war? Let’s recap some recent examples. Jaguar’s rebrand was dubbed “woke” by several publications and incurred ire from consumers that they were making a statement of some kind that their brand may not have intended. Volvo, meanwhile, was recently celebrated for what has been described as a “pro-family” ad with a spot that was typical bread-and-butter storytelling for the carmaker. Another ad from Apple was also dubbed as “pro-family” and celebrated. Again it was standard fare for advertisers.
Marketer reaction to being part of the culture war varies. Some ignore it (Apple and Volvo seem to have taken that approach) while others respond to criticisms online (Jaguar’s social media manager replied to many tweets). Understanding how to manage criticism as well as sorting out if a campaign could draw criticism has become more commonplace for marketers given the climate, according to seven agency execs Digiday spoke to.
While it “varies from CMO to CMO” with some more conservative about a potential spark for adversity and others who appreciate the talk, noted Kyle Arango, executive creative director at The Sasha Group, a VaynerX Company, the level of scrutiny for the work that’s going out across “higher funnel” ad channels is more intense right now. “But it’s far more dangerous to be completely safe because then you’re invisible,” he added.
That’s a common sentiment from creative agency execs. “In a world where our attention is finite and highly prized, it’s imperative to touch on an emotion or value that is sacred to an audience,” said Ben Russell, senior strategy director at Vivi by Jack Morton. “As marketers, we know this creates the necessary tension to capture attention. And so, within this politicized environment, we need to stay the course and avoid flattening our creative.”
Agency execs caution marketers to avoid neutering creative for fear of backlash or being drawn into the culture war as attention for the brand matters most. Changing creative out of fear or to follow the winds of the election can also be a mistake, according to marketers who previously spoke to Digiday, as people in any group aren’t monoliths and speaking to them as such is misguided.
“It’s a red herring to pay too close attention to the weekly discourse on social media,” said Chris Mele, managing partner at innovation consultancy Siberia. “People on the internet are idiots. Turn off your socials, and focus on the fundamentals of branding and communications — who are your audiences, what do they care about, and does your messaging speak to how you can better serve them? Build it. Test it. Make a call on whether you want to roll it out at scale, and then repeat.”
For marketers who are concerned, taking more time to test out how a brand’s audience responds to certain ideas through organic social channels. “Brands aren’t utilizing organic social enough to test out big ideas and see enough of the response,” he said.
Agency execs believe that often when brands are drawn into a culture war it can be a response to messaging that doesn’t seem authentic for the brand. With Jaguar, for example, the ire seemed to be that the brand was taking an ultra-modern art world approach that seemed to disregard its legacy. That approach provoked fans of the brand to feel as though it was trying to leave them behind in favor of a new audience, according to execs.
“Even though we try not to define ourselves by the brands that we support we do,” said Dr. Patrice Le Goy, an international psychologist, the host of podcast Like Minded with Dr. Patrice and former Sony Pictures Entertainment marketing, when asked why there’s such scrutiny of brands today. “There’s also greater awareness of what brands stand for.”
The concept of brands standing for something — purpose-led brands — was much more popular in the late 2010s with brands regularly announcing that they stood for something beyond selling whatever it was they sold, often big ideas that were vaguely tied to the brand. That idea of purpose has since been rolled back as has the push for brands to tout diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives (sometimes in response to activist investor Robby Starbuck’s push against brands doing so).
That concept of purpose may have been too disconnected from the brand’s actual purpose, according to agency execs, who say that brands still need to stand for something but it needs to be more closely concerned with what the brand actually produces. “You can’t say purpose is dead because everything is purpose now,” said Kirsten Flanik, CEO of purpose-based agency Revolt, adding that at a time when any ad can be “jumped on and weaponized” there’s even more of a need for marketers to truly connect their purpose to their brand.
One example of a brand purpose that makes sense for today’s consumers, according to purpose-led marketing agency Oberland’s execs, is Hellmann’s sustainability efforts. That the brand is touting its ability to make leftovers better as part of its sustainability purpose is logical and something consumers can appreciate. It’s that kind of approach that marketers should strive for when thinking about brand purpose and ways to integrate brand purpose as they navigate potential culture war, explained the Oberland execs.
“You always want to be a self-aware human brand,” said Arango.
https://digiday.com/?p=563265
