It’s not good enough to simply understand the nature of disunity or recognize the value of empathy. We need to put our ideals and insights into practical action.
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No Shared Narrative
Hidden Feelings
Universal Protest
Trust Deficit
People no longer share a common story and the
stories they once shared are now being told in
different ways. This makes it harder to communicate
to entire demographics at once, but also provides an
opportunity to deBine the new universal.
Fear of social backlash and the politicization of
everything has led many to keep their opinions
private; from friends, family, and colleagues, and
deAinitely from pollsters, data-scrapers and focus
groups. This has resulted in a mass of opinion
going unnoticed and unrecorded.
Trust in government, media, NGOs and business
has reached an all-time low and continues to
decline. Because of this, brands are reaching a trust
tipping point where one bad move can quickly
alienate large segments of their audience.
Protest is no longer left or right, new or
old, urban or rural – it’s everywhere. It has
become a daily activity that people express
through conversation, on social media and
wherever they spend their money.
Hyper-Tribalism
Cultural anxiety is leading people to
abandon civic tradition and realign around
new ideals. The emerging partisanship is
especially pronounced among young
people.
Disunity applies a Ailter of conAlict to how we communicate,
which means even the most innocent and simple messages can
be interpreted in radically different ways depending on who
you’re talking to.
DISUNITED TRENDS
The trends and phenomenon that have emerged from this
state of disunity are not only changing how we see each
other, but are having immediate effects on how people
relate to brands.
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1 / Prepare FOR BRAND ANARCHY
2/ Smash YOUR BUBBLE
3/ Rediscover YOUR AUDIENCE
4/ Restate YOUR PURPOSE
5/ Find A COMMON ENEMY
6/ Expand THE CONVERSATION
STRATEGIES FOR DISUNITY
6. 1/ Prepare FOR BRAND ANARCHY
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Having a campaign or product become a meme is the holy grail of
earned media, but the democratization of content breeds chaos,
both good and bad – the same energy that can propel your brand
to virality can also condemn it to villainy.
In a year where millions of casual bystanders engaged in meme
warfare against multinational brands, Wendy’s was able to pull
off a massive social media coup.
The #Nuggsforcarter phenomenon saw a hungry 16-year-old
hijack Wendy’s Twitter presence with his desperate appeal for
free chicken nuggets – his original plea going on to become the
most shared tweet of all time.
In the end, Carter got his nuggs, and because Wendy’s
embraced the anarchic nature of the event, they got their free
publicity – over $7 million dollars worth.
Viral events can amplify pre-existing feelings – understanding how
your brand might already be in conflict with people’s values will
help assess the context shaping their reactions and better prepare
you for a crisis – or an opportunity.
Use in-depth consumer research to uncover the unexpected
ways in which people relate to your brand and its category
long before an incident triggers a response.
Example
WENDY’S
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2/ Smash YOUR BUBBLE
Disunity is the problem and empathy is the solution, but empathy
isn’t born from dispassionate observation – it comes from listening,
action and shared experience.
Go beyond secondary research and backroom monitoring and meet
your core audience face to face by taking part in consumer connects.
Working to break down the barrier between front and back rooms
will help you better understand your audience’s POV and life story.
Get out of your safe space and embrace a culture of fearless
bravery when it comes to interacting with your audience.
More intimacy will lead to more insight.
Pantene admitted they had a problem: they’d been ignoring
people. Specifically, women of color. This had been leading
them towards a biased understanding of what their product
was and who it was for.
With their “Strong is Beautiful” campaign and newly launched
“Gold Series” product line, they sought to bring about a more
inclusive approach to how they do business.
By acknowledging their bias and listening to new voices, they
were able to celebrate all hair and build a bigger and stronger
space for their brand.
Example
PANTENE
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3/ Rediscover YOUR AUDIENCE
If your audience was apolitical before, odds are that their politics
have shifted – and these shifts may have impacted how they view
your brand. You can challenge your in-house bias by running a
hypothesis session on who your audience is and what they think of
you.
Regardless of whether or not your brand is in any way political,
people are looking to sort out what side you fall on. Learn about your
brand’s political nuances by conducting ethnographic work that
touches on how it is viewed within the broader political matrix.
Don’t shy away from integrating political understanding into
your process - knowing your audience’s politics is critical to
knowing how they will interpret your message.
With their new campaign, Worlds Apart: An Experiment,
strangers with radically different views took part in a “social
experiment” to see if they could find common ground.
The campaign directly confronted disunity through the voices
of these individuals, forcing them to work together to solve a
shared problem.
By being willing to take on the reality of individual politics,
Heineken positioned itself as a timely unifier.
Example
HEINEKEN
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4/ Restate YOUR PURPOSE
A clear, consistent and truthful purpose is the single most effective
tool your brand can use to stand out against the noise of disunity.
But it isn’t merely copy, tag lines or words at the start of an anthem
campaign.
A purpose can’t be faked or be overly engineered – it needs to come
from somewhere real. To find that realness, use a purpose workshop
to discover what kinds of reasons for being live within your brand’s
DNA.
Avoid ideas that are vague or convoluted and embrace the
simple and actionable. A purpose should be easily grasped
and serve as inspiration throughout the entirety of your
brand and internal culture.
Starbucks is a liberal brand, with liberal customers
and liberal employees.
By promising to support refugees, Starbucks not
only stuck to their ideals, but it escalated them in
the face of credible boycott threats.
They were willing to alienate potential customers
because they believed in what they were doing and
knew their audience would back them.
Example
STARBUCKS
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5/ Find A COMMON ENEMY
A safe approach is the surest path to indifference, while taking a
political stance can lead to alienation. Focus instead on how your
purpose aligns with your audience’s and help them fight back
against a common enemy.
Enemies are not other brands, but cultural currents or attitudes that
create a tension people are living with and against. Identify your
enemies by doing a cultural scan that looks at the currents that are
most deeply impacting the lives of your audience.
Understanding who your enemies are will allow your brand
and audience work together in a tangibly meaningful way.
Everyone hates a scam artist. Banks especially.
With this in mind, Barclays’ “Digital Safety” campaign goes
to war with fraudsters on behalf of its customers.
Not just a series of ads, the campaign includes a major drive
to help equip Barclays’ customers with the tools to fight
back against fraud.
By targeting a shared enemy, Barclays was able to connect
on a deeper level with their audience, a level on which they
work together to solve a common problem.
Example
BARCLAYS
11. Conversation marketing is crucial in attracting the elusive attention
of Millennials and Gen Edge. But most brands mute their potential
from day one of the research stage.
Don’t just talk to advocates, embrace neutrals and skeptics as well
– engaging with those who have little or negative interest in your
brand will help you better understand how your messaging will
fare in the real world.
Understanding what the opposition thinks and how
influential their arguments can be is critical. Brands that
listen to a diversity of voices, even their haters, will have a
better chance of defining the new universal.
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6/ Expand THE CONVERSATION
Johnnie Walker’s latest campaign, “Keep Walking America” sees
the eponymous Scottish whiskey take a documentary-style trip
from sea to shining sea.
But it’s not the brand’s typical voices that are met along that
journey: it’s ranchers, athletes, burnt-out nurses, musicians,
cowboys, soldiers, and a lot of everyday Americans.
Set to the lyrics of Woodie Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land”, in
both English and Spanish, the campaign expands the dialogue
surrounding Johnnie Walker and repositions it at the new heart of
a new type of Americana.
Example
JOHNNIE WALKER
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