50% of people worldwide expect brands to openly talk about social issues.
66% of people avoid brands that have a negative social impact.
53% of people avoid brands that have a negative impact on society and environment.

As you can tell from these statistics, organisations are expected to go a lot further than just recycling in the office and asking people to please not print their e-mails. Communicators and marketeers need to get ready for social responsibly 2.0: brand activism.

That means organisations are expected to actively carry out their corporate values. It is not only about doing the right thing within a company (think having a racially diverse management), but it’s also activating consumers to evaluate their own values and/or lifestyle. Brands activism is having a social purpose and making a social impact as an organisation (Harzevoort, 2019).

There are a few reasons brand activism has become so relevant today. A big contributor is the call out culture, brands cannot get away with anything anymore. Because of the global village we live in, a mistake by a company can travel around the whole world and globally damage their brand’s reputation. To positively strengthen a brands reputation, and use call out culture and the global village to a brand’s advantage, an organisation can choose to incorporate brand activism in their corporate identity. And yes, I do mean their very core identity, because just using brand activism as a marketing strategy will most likely not result in the reputation you desire.

Brand activism is an amazing tool with which you can make an actual difference in the world and ultimately, your sales. Let’s use Dove as an example, their statement is ‘every body is beautiful’. This they carry out by showing different women’s bodies in all of their media, online and offline. On their website, you can’t get around the statement, neither can you on their social media or TV commercials. They even have a charity with which they help young girls to feel confident in their bodies. All of these efforts together makes Dove believable and sincere. Since the start of their campaign, they have also seen a significant raise in sales. So, brand activism has definitely helped Dove to set a strong brand and positive reputations.

As you can see brand activism can be very successful, but only if implemented well. This means that the statement you are making has to be incorporated into every part of the organisation. The organisation will have to live and breathe their statement and that should show up until the very core. Rushing into a standpoint could make your brand seem insincere and as if you are using a social issue to up your sales. So think hard and long before you participate in brand activism, pick one issue to work on and make it your organisations life-mission to help repair it. This way, your brand will survive amongst the many others, and in ten years you might even have been a major contributor to making a better world.