Why “Staying Woke” is Important for Consumer Packaged Brands
Have you heard of the term “Stay Woke”?
If not, let me define the fairly new pop culture saying that started on Twitter around 2012. The term “Stay Woke” essentially means being aware of current affairs and things happening around you.
In 2018 (going on 2019), American consumers are extremely woke! They have;
- 24/7 access to mass media news
- Internet essentially anywhere
- Social media
Fact is, information is spread at breakneck speeds and this dissemination of information has allowed people to become more interested in social causes on a variety of levels.
With consumers being “woke” in today’s digital age, why does the majority of consumer packaged goods brands continue to stand for nothing?
If we go back to Business School 101, we learn that the key reason for a business or corporation is to create shareholder wealth. We are taught that businesses are not people and they shouldn’t have opinions like them. Furthermore, it was taught that creating immense shareholder wealth meant you needed to appeal to all consumers. If you alienated buyer groups with taking social stances, conventional wisdom left you believing you were not upholding your fiduciary duty to shareholders. This neutral-stance, “be everything to everyone” approach worked for a long time, until it didn’t…
To be honest, I was meaning to create a piece of content on this for awhile but was reminded of the motivation when I was looking at Adage’s website this past week, I noticed that Nike’s “Dream Crazy” ad campaign with Colin Kaepernick won the Adage Marketer of the Year award.
I even wrote the below Facebook post a week or two after the ad went live to bookmark my thoughts on the matter.
I waited some time to post it because I knew it was an emotionally-charged topic (and still is today). I tend to stay away from emotionally-charged topics but I read a short post by Scott Galloway that confirmed that I was on the right path and decided to post it.
Three months later, I still ponder the level of “woke marketing” that businesses should use today to standout in the ultra-competitive consumer packaged goods industry.
If we again take this back to Business School 101, “woke marketing” is just a new-age form of Corporate Social Responsibility.
But, does this new-age corporate social responsibility actually create more shareholder wealth? The above Nike example proves it does but there is also various surveys and reports that also support this idea.
If we look at this from a buyer group perspective, both Millennials and Gen Z are demanding transparency in all aspects of business.
- Products — popularity of clean and transparent labels
- Business culture (inward and outward) — popularity in knowing what brands support socially, what is the culture internally that support this culture, and what does the brand project outwardly to consumers that aligns with this internal culture
- Personal Brands — popularity of knowing what the leadership team stands for (voyeuristic nature of society)
As Millennials and Gen Z continue to mature in their spending power, a shift in how they expect businesses to operate and interact with consumers will play out in a much stronger way. Despite radical transparency being a growing trend, a brand owner needs to ensure they are being authentic. Because if one thing is true, in today’s Internet-era, nothing can be hidden forever.
