A Guide for Brands In a Partisan World
ADWEEK|May 5, 2018

Marketers should consider these six management pivots before taking a stance on a cocietal issue, or not. 

Grant Owens
A Guide for Brands In a Partisan World

I don’t think Tim Mapes, chief marketing officer at Delta Air Lines, woke up on Jan. 1 this year with the idea that the new personification of the Delta brand in 2018 would be an unabashedly left-wing progressive.

I also don’t think he had a standing meeting each week in 2017 scrutinizing each of the dozens of brand partnerships his airline established in order to repeatedly track their political leanings. He likely has a couple folks within his team that do a quick gut check for overall brand commensuration, and if the numbers work on a deal, they strike it.

But circumstances for CMOs have changed. I’d bet that on or around Feb. 23 this year, Mapes conducted a thorough audit of both of those topics (i.e., Delta’s political persona and its various associations). He wasn’t given a choice.

Delta and many other brands were unexpectedly dragged into the gun control debate. The survivors of the Stoneman Douglas massacre were making sure their voices reached large public podiums across the country and globe, and they very smartly recognized that some of the largest podiums on which to be heard were brands—major consumer brands that speak to millions of potential voters every single day.

On gun control and many other issues, marketing leaders are faced with making seemingly political decisions—something that until recently only a few brands made part of their mission, intentionally. Today, it isn’t just Patagonia and Ben & Jerry’s making statements on divisive issues; it’s any brand with a connected and vocal consumer base.

This story is from the May 5, 2018 edition of ADWEEK.

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This story is from the May 5, 2018 edition of ADWEEK.

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