Marketing in a Polarized World: Why Marketers Need a Cultural Risk Mitigation Strategy
In the 19th century, the American showman P.T. Barnum famously said: “There’s no such thing as bad publicity.” But that doesn’t hold true in today’s round-the-clock social media show. We now live in a hyper-polarized world, with frequent political and social debate on topics such as the environment and social justice. Brands are increasingly finding themselves caught in the middle of so-called “culture wars” and facing outrage on social media as a result of advertising campaigns which have missed the mark.
That’s why it’s no longer enough to be reactive. Instead, marketing professionals need to embed risk mitigation into their way of working from the start. Here’s how.
Understanding risk: laying the foundations
There are different levels of risk. Some types of negative comments on social media typically fade after a day or two. But controversies arising from “culture war” issues demonstrate a unique capacity to snowball. Influential voices pick up on brands’ missteps and amplify the negative sentiment, which can even extend beyond the social sphere and lead to action such as consumer boycotts.
It’s essential to recognize that brand promotion and protection go hand in hand, and that social media is not merely an advertising outlet. A good understanding of relevant activist groups and any actions they could take is also a foundational element. But more than ever, brands should engage objective reputation experts who review campaign assets and assess how audiences – consumers, media, investors, internal and external stakeholders – are likely to receive them.
Cultural Risk Mitigation: Ketchum Brussels’ approach
At Ketchum Brussels, we’ve extended our reputation management offering to include Cultural Risk Mitigation – a culture-led approach that delves into trends and cultural truths to identify the reputational risk of marketing campaigns at an early stage.
Our Cultural Risk Mitigation analysis is a structured model that uses proprietary analytics tools to deliver a “weather forecast” for potential reputational risks. Based on this, we deliver comprehensive recommendations to clients to risk-proof campaigns from the outset: advising on the elements that should preferably be changed, the type of campaign monitoring that should be set up, planning for community management, and proactively preparing communications to de-escalate in case issues arise.
What this means is that we work hand-in-hand with CMOs, Corporate Affairs Directors, DE&I Officers, and Chief Compliance Officers to manage risk in a tangible and actionable way. We check strategic insights and creative concepts against stakeholder realities and expectations, we carry out background checks on brand ambassadors and partners, and we thoroughly assess communications assets for everything from DE&I to business ethics. In short, we provide end-to-end support to identify and manage risk throughout your campaigns.
Curious to learn more? Want to be better prepared for risks – and to protect your brand’s online and offline brand reputation? Get in touch!
