Marketing Briefing: Q&A with inclusive marketing strategist Lola Bakare on Black History Month and how brands should not be ‘just about getting it done’

By Kristina Monllos

When it comes to advertising and marketing for Black History Month, marketers need to do more than a “performative activity of box checking,” according to Lola Bakare, a CMO advisor, inclusive marketing strategist and founder of the consultancy be/co.

Some brands are indeed performative — touting Black History Month campaigns without much substance beyond having one — throughout the month rather than creating impactful, measurable and lasting initiatives, according to Bakare, who works with brands and agencies to make their marketing more inclusive.

Digiday caught up with Bakare to chat about Black History Month marketing and advertising efforts and what brands need to be doing to improve their advocacy marketing in service of equality.

This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

What are you seeing for Black history Month from brands this year?

I’m seeing a lot of activity. But what I’m not seeing is a lot of deep, nuanced understanding that that activity is actually benefiting its intended beneficiary or any activity that has any real goal beyond, we did something so we won’t get in trouble. The lack of ability to contextualize activity through the lens of impact is a problem. The Black History Month activity that I’ve seen for the most part isn’t getting the impact right. It’s just about getting it done.

What does a Black History Month campaign need to do to be seen as something beyond a performative checking of the box?

I have a framework that [brands have to hit] three things to be doing something beyond performative [marketing]. The three things are revenue impact, measurable social impact and reputation impact. If you start to think through those three lenses, the nonsense around you becomes much easier to spot.

What does a campaign that gets it right look like?

Let’s say, for example, that [a company] ran something and it was all about actually talking about their performance [to meet] the diversity commitment they made after the murder of George Floyd. [That campaign would] say where they are falling short, where they were on track with their plans for diversity from an employee standpoint and a commitment to say by this time next year they would have X, Y and Z done. That could function as a great brand awareness and brand loyalty campaign, a positive sentiment moment during Black History Month. It’s not performative because it’s really about something. You made a commitment. You told us where you were falling short … and your approach was not meant to be something that’s just focused on February 2022.

When you can use the moment to make a broader and bigger long-term impact you can move past the performative. You’ll never be able to say you made a measurable social impact if it’s something that was only supposed to hit for one month or one year.