Marketers began 2023 with one eye on budgets and bottom lines and the opposite on the fate of a number of transformational moves set to disrupt the promoting industry.
But things quickly got off target when M&M’s in January announced plans to take an “indefinite pause” from its spokescandies, which had been a source of controversy and conservative fascination since a polarizing 2022 rebrand centered on inclusivity. The entire episode proved to be a part of a stunt across the brand’s Super Bowl spot, which fumbled the pre-game buzz and mostly left viewers confused.
The M&M’s incident quickly receded into the background, but has proved instructive for marketers in the primary half of 2023. While concerns concerning the way forward for ad-supported streaming, cookie alternatives and measurement currencies have continued — alongside a shift in focus from the metaverse to generative artificial intelligence (AI) as marketing’s latest shiny object — marketers’ biggest concern in 2023 has been how to avoid having their actions subsumed by a political culture war that has dominated headlines and led to backlashes against brands including Bud Light and Target.
As marketers head into planning for the crucial second half of the 12 months, many are left to rethink the role of the brand, selecting between being vectors for purpose-driven actions — as many have tried to be for years — or returning to the more value proposition-based identities of the past. And for marketers navigating an increasingly fraught landscape, it’s as in the event that they are constructing the plane while flying it.
“We do not know if that is going to last in the long run, or if it is a short bubble-up of animosity and boycotting that may fade away in just a little while,” said Karthik Easwar, associate teaching professor at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. “If it is a fundamental change in how consumers respond, I feel it’s going to pose quite a bit more complexity and challenge, especially for giant brands who’re doing business with a large swath of America.”
A customer walks by a Pride Month merchandise display at a Target store on May 31, 2023 in San Francisco,
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Lessons as Bud Light and Target stumble
For many marketers, Bud Light is the canary within the coal mine for a way quickly and dramatically brands will be dragged into cultural battles that impact the underside line. The brand earlier this 12 months sent influencer Dylan Mulvaney a customized beer can emblazoned with an image of her face to rejoice the primary anniversary of her gender transition. Soon, each the brand and influencer were the main target of right-wing media figures who called for a boycott.
“We definitely know that, strategically, [Bud Light] was looking to diversify and expand itself into latest audiences, and that was the impetus behind their marketing. I do not know in the event that they realized that such dominant voices from such a small group of individuals would give you the chance to take over a lot of the airwaves,” said Ian Schatzberg, CEO and co-founder of branding agency General Idea.
Parent company Anheuser-Busch seemingly tried to let the backlash run its course, but its actions — including putting two marketing executives on leave — did little to stem the tide. Bud Light sales began to flag and the beer lost its spot as America’s top-selling beer for the primary time in greater than twenty years.
“Brands like that which can be already hurting, it’s just a little bit like, who does the coyote eat?”
Mark DiMassimo
Founder and artistic chief, DiGo
Target was soon the following domino to fall when the retailer decided to pull some items designed as a part of its annual Pride collection following incidents in stores that put store employees in danger. But by responding to backlash from anti-LGBTQ+ forces, the retailer also drew the ire of the communities that it has worked to engage with its Pride collection.
“Brands are actually stuck on this catch-22 play,” Easwar said. “Some persons are feeling that [brands] not standing behind the stance that they’ve that was supposed to be inclusive, because one other group is saying, ‘we don’t need that.’ If you retain it, you are angering one group, in the event you take it away, you are angering the group you are trying to include.”
Overall, brands were comparatively quiet for Pride Month in June. While several long-standing participants — from Skittles to Smirnoff — continued to wave the Pride flag, others seemingly waved a white one, deemphasizing purpose-driven moves around identity and culture which were a key marketing tactic for several years.
For their part, Bud Light and parent Anheuser-Busch have aggressively begun trying to change the post-boycott narrative with campaigns centered around summer drinking and beer production. But it’s unclear if this return to fundamentals will slow the lack of market share that mass-market light beers like Bud Light have been fighting against for years by, paradoxically, engaging with younger, more diverse audiences in moves which can be now exacerbating downward trends.
“Unfortunately for Bud Light, it’s Bud Light… It’s beer water with a logo folks identified with, in order soon because the identification was polarized or damaged, it was very easy to switch,” said Mark DiMassimo, founder and artistic chief of creative agency DiGo. “Brands like that which can be already hurting, it’s just a little bit like, who does the coyote eat?”
The Hamburger Mary’s Bar & Grille parade entry shows a banner promoting Bud Light beer on the WeHo Pride Parade in West Hollywood, Calif., on June 4, 2023.
Damian Dovarganes/AP
Moving forward
Even if the present divisive atmosphere is a short-term phenomenon, the specter of being drawn right into a culture war could possibly be enough of a risk to force marketers to rethink the role of brands out there and in consumers’ lives. This could mean a shift away from purpose-driven marketing around quite a lot of causes.
“I could imagine in boardrooms [executives saying] the role of the brand isn’t to create identity-oriented, community-based messaging — the role of the brand is to deliver a product at a very good price,” Schatzberg said. “My suspicion is that you’ll start to see businesses potentially move towards more of a functional value prop versus something that’s closer to culture and identity within the months ahead.”
Continued economic pressures could also feed the necessity to concentrate on basic value propositions, with brands potentially avoiding messages around culture and identity this holiday season. And while that would be the protected approach, it isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution.
“You’ll even have brands which can be committed to the needs that they’ve defined and the role that they need to play throughout the lives of culture at-large and they’ll proceed in that,” Schatzberg said. “I do envision you will see these camps of various perspectives on how to navigate the patron landscape coming out of this.”
In recent years, the vacation marketing period has seen brands embrace not only gifting and gathering but diversity and inclusion in seasonal messages, an approach that seems less likely this 12 months. Recent efforts by Jim Beam and Smirnoff that emphasized the importance of human connection and responded to a “joy recession” attributable to consumer alienation, respectively, could hint at how marketers will message around the vacations this 12 months.
“My suspicion is that you’ll start to see businesses potentially move towards more of a functional value prop versus something that’s closer to culture and identity within the months ahead.”
Ian Schatzberg
CEO and co-founder, General Idea
Apart from concerns around purpose, culture and artistic, recessionary pressures could also proceed to force marketers to concentrate on necessities which can be central and authentic to the brand’s identity.
“As marketers, we want to be really strict and surgical about what’s critical for this 12 months,” said Josh Golden, CMO at marketing experience company Quad. “An excellent surgical approach will even have some great moments of visibility, after which if you’ve gotten a very good, solid internal team, you’ll be able to have an amazing keep-alive for other things that won’t necessarily be the very best priorities.”
A view of Smirnoff display at Smirnoff Sponsors NFL’s A Night of Pride with GLAAD at Super Bowl LVII on February 08, 2023 in Phoenix, Arizona.
Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images via Getty Images
AI: Shiny object?
One of the very best priorities will proceed to be generative AI, which has dominated headlines in each the tech and marketing worlds all 12 months. Much of the news related to the buzzy tech has been around adoption by ad platforms and agencies, with only a handful of brands ready to play within the AI sandbox. For brands moving away from purpose amid a period of economic difficulty, AI could possibly be seen as a way to increase efficiency. But AI only when it comes to cost-saving could possibly be dangerous.
“Rushing to embrace AI for cost reasons alone is akin to optimizing toward the bottom available CPM,” said Erik Hamilton, vice chairman of search and social at independent agency Good Apple, in emailed comments. “Smart marketers know that it’s what happens after the impression that actually matters — and that long-term, intentional, testing strategies yield the best savings.”
Not everyone believes that generative AI is little greater than marketers’ latest shiny object, taking the mantle from, most recently, the metaverse. Platforms like ChatGPT could possibly be game-changing in the best way they empower marketers to higher do their jobs, Quad’s Golden said.
“I’m really excited concerning the time saving points of this [technology], after which also having really smart marketers lean into the opposite areas — dot connection, inspiration and making illogical connections,” he said.
Being able to have more time to take into consideration creative solutions to emerging problems is central to the role of marketers. Perhaps AI will help marketers as they navigate a fraught cultural landscape that’s reshaping what consumers expect from brands. Marketing is of venture and marketers must take risks for a probability at reward, Golden said.
“Marketing, frankly, gets in the course of the cultural zeitgeist and has to jump on it,” he said. “Sometimes, it is a grenade, unfortunately.”
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