As a brand strategist, you know that brand purpose and inclusion are essential aspects of building strong and authentic relationship with customer and developing a more human marketing over time. Currently an IMC student at Medill Northwestern, I am passionated about communication and inclusion and I found these two articles that I hope you will learn from.
In his article Marketing’s ‘faux-feminism’ problem on International Women’s Day, global keynote marketing speaker and director of marketing and communication in the high-tech industry Samuel Scott points out the occasional marketing hypocrisie about feminism. Published last March in The Drum, the article relates a conversation the author had with Katie Martell, a former startup chief marketing officer and entrepreneur passionated about women in advertising. The conclusion of this discussion is that there is a major gap between the marketing campaigns of some companies and their actual daily practices towards women. According to Martell, these practices can be qualified as « faux-feminism » since it is the exploitation of these ideals for the purpose of advertising. Samuel Scott then uses a dozen examples to illustrate his point. In particular, he evokes the Secret brand of the famous group Procter & Gamble which had launched in 2016 an advertisement showing a woman about to ask his boss a salary increase. Still, Scott points out that at the time of the release, only 27% of Procter & Gamble's leadership team was women.
On that same topic, CMO at Grey London and member of the UK’sAdvertising Association Front Foot Board Sarah Jenkins published last July a great article on Adweek. She explained that the word « feminism » is still the victim of stigma and negative connotations resulting from the fear of each other and difference. She denounces the feminist attempts of brands that she believes are often superficial and do not fulfill their purpose of promoting an equal image of genders. Just like Samuel Scott, she points out the hypocrisy of some brands and media using feminism as a superficial tool. She emphasizes the influence of brands and their power to change beliefs and behaviors, and thus encourages them to be more human. Finally, she takes the example of certain celebrities who have created their own personal brand and who show a behavior consistent with their feminist values such as Emma Watson, a source of inspiration for the GenZs who expect brands to portray women and people in general as they really are. Jenkins thus urges marketers to be more human, and more activist.
From these two articles and my knowledge on strategy and social inclusion, I designed three recommandations that I hope will help you build more inclusive strategies:
- Avoid feminist stereotypes - to communicate effectively you need to communicate toward humans and avoid stereotypes and connotations
- Authenticity rules - the new generation will not tolerate hypocrisie and stereotypes, they want authentic messages to themselves and their views of the world
- Be business consistent- your advertising should not contradict your business practices
Brand culture and purpose are crucial attractive factors for consumers, especially for GenZ when it comes to purchase decisions. But brands need to engage in an authentic and human way to gain trust, build strong relationships and attract customers.
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