Davos Debate: When It Comes to Gillette, What Constitutes a Win?

The provocative twominute piece confronting toxic masculinity has been viewed more than 25 million times on YouTubeamp160 It launched dozens of think pieces hours of heated segments on cable news and countless hot takes on social mediaIt was the hot topic at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week as the Csuite comes to grips with the growing expectation that they drive positive social change not just revenue growthamp160 According to the 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer released at the Forum 76 of people expect CEOs to take the lead on change rather than waiting for the government to impose it amp160 an 11point jump over 2018Across the cultural spectrum some attendees praised quotWe Believequot as a brave move by an iconic brand to shine the light of MeToo on its own historyamp160 Some decried it as a broad clumsy attack on its own customersamp160 Others questioned whether Gillette was trying to coopt a vital feminist movement for profit while some pointed to social data indicating that the ad successfully engaged womenSo who39s rightamp160 Was quotWe Believequot a win or a misfireIn today39s culture of immediacy we have an almost insatiable desire to know who won to make a call and declare a victoramp160amp160But in the fastgrowing world of purposedriven marketing it39s not that easyamp160amp160When Nike released its Colin Kaepernick ad boycotts eruptedamp160and hightops burnedamp160 The company39s stock took its biggest singleday hit in monthsamp160 And yet only a few short months later sales are soaringamp160and shares have rebounded to alltime highsWhen Dick39s Sporting Goods pulled assault rifles from its shelves in the wake of the Parkland high school shooting big box retailers lined up to follow its leadamp160 In the following months the company saw an overall decline in sales that it attributed in part to its decisionMeasuring purposedriven marketing in terms of sales can be tricky measuring in terms of social impact is even more challengingamp160 A study by Dentsu Aegis found that 60 of advertisers engaged in brand purpose initiatives fail to measure their impactamp160 Our campaigns at the Ad Council run a minimum of three years precisely because driving real social change requires patience and a longterm commitmentOf course as the conversations at Davos considered to underscore CEOs need to assess the impact on their employees as wellamp160 The Edelman Trust Barometer also found that workers39 trust today is extremely localamp160 People trust their employers more than any other institution government business the media even NGOsamp160 Civic engagement is a crucial element in that trust the study found that 71 of employees agree its critically important for CEOs to respond to challenging times like political issues and national crisesamp160 Furthermore 67 of workers expect that their employer haveamp160a greater purposeamp160and that their job will haveamp160a meaningful societal impactSo how do purposedriven advertisers know if they39re on the right trackamp160amp160The answer as it often does lies withinBrands that have successfully moved the needle on social issues have one thing in common clear valuesamp160 Companies with immutable values have more than a few words that look nice in an annual report they have a scorecard by which to judge the success of everything they doCVS followed its values when it became the first national retailer to halt all cigarette sales running headlong into a 2 billion loss in salesamp160 They didn39t stop thereamp160 This past year the company spent more than 30 million on smoking cessation efforts including programs for teens and young adultsBut CVS knew it had succeeded from the word quotgoquotamp160 As its CEO said at the time quotThe sale of tobacco products is inconsistent with our purpose helping people on their path to better healthquotamp160 Within eight months the company noted a oneamp160percentamp160reduction in cigarette pack sales 95 million packs across states where it had at least a 15 percent market shareamp160A few years ago the Ad Council came to a similar crossroadsamp160 Throughout our long history we39d always been strictly nonpartisanamp160amp160When we waded into causes like LGBTQ rights with our quotBeyond I Doquotamp160campaign and gun safety with quotEnd Family Firequot we were nervousamp160 We were ready for the backlash but we said to ourselves we39re doing itamp160 We find our truth in science and in factsamp160amp160In doing so we realized that to drive real change you have to be willing to put a stake in the groundNot only did the campaigns resonate widely across culture they also became rallying cries for our organization a reminder to all of us here of how much we39ve evolved and what we want to be on our best daysamp160 Sometimes acting on your values is the best way to remind yourself who you areIn response to the attention generated by Gillette39s quotWe Believequot the company issued a statementquotIf we get people to pause reflect and to challenge themselves and others to ensure that their actions reflect who they really are then this campaign will be a successquotGillette was referencing the audienceamp160 But I believe it could just as easily have been talking about itselfClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE MEDIAVILLAGE CONTENT | BECOME A THOUGHT LEADERSHIP CONTRIBUTOR

Davos Debate: When It Comes to Gillette, What Constitutes a Win?

Author

Publish date

Channel

Lisa Sherman

FEMA and the Ad Council Encourage AANHPI Communities to Enhance Disaster Preparedness in New PSAs - Ad Council InSites

More Videos:

SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE MEDIAVILLAGE CONTENT | BECOME A THOUGHT LEADERSHIP CONTRIBUTOR

Davos Debate: When It Comes to Gillette, What Constitutes a Win?

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

Lisa Sherman

FEMA and the Ad Council Encourage AANHPI Communities to Enhance Disaster Preparedness in New PSAs - Ad Council InSites

Cookies