State of the Union
It’s August 2020. This year we’ve been through COVID 19 (summarize the impact), the murder of George Floyd (summarize the impact), and over the next 100 days, we’ll be heading into the most polarizing election ever recorded that is the most likely to be contested as 65% of Americans say the option to vote early should be available to any voter without requiring a documented reason, while 34% say early and absentee voting should only be allowed with a reason, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted June 16-22.
We live in a country that uses the word “United” in its name. And yet every major issue affecting our lives finds us divided along political lines.
Now this article is, at its core, about marketing. And these days it’s hard out here for a brand:
Confidence in our economy stands weakened to 92.6 in July from a revised 98.3 in June, the Conference Board said Tuesday. (Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected a reading of 96.0) and brands live in fear of the bottom falling out from their business as it already has for 11% of US companies this year (100,000+ SMBs are gone forever due to COVID).
Consumers appear to want advertisers to take a stand and vocally support social initiatives. New data Sprout Social reveals the majority of consumers (70%) believe it’s important for brands to take a public stand on social and political issues, a number that’s increased since our last survey on this topic in 2017.
Brands are under enormous pressure to cease advertising on tried and true media channels like social media, cable news, talk radio, and many podcasts that are main staples in the marketing diet of companies that are struggling to stay in business.
Many of these companies have pledged to be responsible corporate citizens and tend to the needs of their employees, suppliers, and communities, instead of a strict focus on shareholder profits.
Brand safety is getting harder to find and revenue isn’t coming as easy as it used to.
We all know that forces who seek to overtake us, at least economically to start, would love nothing more than to see us continue to fight with ourselves. So it serves all of our interests to find ways to come together.
We have got to find a way forward that allows businesses to flourish, serve the needs of all stakeholders, and elevate the nature of discourse in this country so that no one is operating in the service of hate, but instead promoting companies and culture to pursue diversity of thought in a way that challenges, but edifies.
If you work in marketing, media or corporate America, I can’t think of a more important topic right now.
We will strive to end our journey on something that goes beyond words and discussion and leads to clear action that unites us.
We have a partner on this journey. When I speak, I do so on behalf of my organization, Oxford Road, a Los Angeles based ad agency that focuses on media channels that use the spoken word to help corporations reach new customers and grow. But this subject is larger than the scope of any one agency or media brand. So we have joined forces with the National Institute for Civil Discourse. An organization that (Insert short NICD description). We will be working together with the NICD to discover and assemble resources so that American brands and media entities can find ways to solve the problems that divide us providing a safer media landscape to do business, while advancing common values in the process.
It’s an ambitious goal, but a noble cause, and I’m grateful to have you with us.