How brands are making values-based marketing decisions

Lauren Douglass, senior vice president, global marketing, Channel Factory

Almost every brand has a set of values it attempts to weave throughout the organization to guide decisions from production to media buying. It’s no longer enough for a brand to exist only to sell products. There must be a rationale behind the selling, a desire to use ethical practices, thought to how products and services are marketed and care in how they are distributed.

Take a brand like Dove, which famously stands for empowering voices and changing beauty standards for women, female-presenting and non-binary people. Now, Dove is focused on what goes into its products and how they are packaged to ensure they are healthy and safe for both consumers and the environment. Additionally, Dove’s parent company, Unilever, is striving to buy media responsibly and has joined the Global Alliance for Responsible Media to ensure it’s marketing products ethically and against content that ladders up to its brand mission, otherwise known as conscious advertising.

But why should brands take these steps? A recent study by Channel Factory found that 69% of consumers want to buy from brands that stand behind causes that matter and they recognize when brands are supporting the wrong thing. Another study with Magna Media found that ads that appear next to the wrong type of content are remembered in a negative light. This data reflects that consumers think brands owe it to them to stand up for something, do the right thing and support media that’s safe and in line with their values.

Values-based marketing starts within the organization

Cause-related strategies must be introduced in nuanced and authentic ways to establish purpose-driven measures that make sense and align with corporate values.

Take Target for example. Its DE&I strategy focuses on four areas: creating an inclusive guest experience, having an inclusive work environment, ensuring a diverse workforce and leveraging influence to drive positive impact on society.

Target’s advancement toward a more inclusive and sustainable culture is prominent when walking its store aisles, where BIPOC-owned brands are highlighted and their stories are shared through promotion. And the company’s commitment doesn’t end there. During the civil unrest in 2020 when many brick-and-mortar stores around the U.S. were damaged, Target’s CEO, Brian Cornell, defended the communities affected, sent first-aid supplies to impacted areas, ensured displaced employees had full pay and benefits and rebuilt damaged stores. Target’s 2021 Forward initiative pledges a 20% increase in Black team member representation by 2023, along with goals to improve advancement and reduce turnover for people of color. Target’s conscious DE&I strategies are noticeable from the outside looking in and these strides are groundbreaking for both Target and the underrepresented populations it supports.

Conscious and responsible marketing requires a tech stack review and an ethical human lens

Technology can be a double-edged sword when it comes to conscious marketing. While it enables targeted and efficient campaigns, a set-it-and-forget-it strategy doesn’t always work in this context. Across the industry, discussions are emerging about bias in AI and other …read more

Source:: Digiday