Is Brand Activism Good for Everyone?

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Already this year we’ve witnessed love and dislike around social responsibility advertising from Gillette, a new all inclusive venture into happiness with Coke, and a very timely move launching Guinness Clear.   Kotler and Sarkar have recently published a book welcoming Brand Activism and Philip Kotler proposes that “Brand Activism is the leader’s way forward – for your customers, you employees, society, and the planet itself“.

So, Yo Propagandhi !   if you didn’t make it along to #AAIToolkit this week you’ll have missed Trista Vincent and Paudge Donaghy from Hammer & Tongs taking a look at the current trend and broader implications of brands becoming involved in corporate activism. You can find them on Twitter and LinkedIn to find out if they might share the key take out points around keeping a brand safe while an activist.  Or, if you’re an AAI Member company you can download the slides and speaker notes from the members centre on our website. (Email meif you can’t remember your login.)

Trista and Paudge also have created a large list of video content for you to review.  This provides an excellent library of examples of do and don’t reference points as follows:

Verizon 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yND9hDpPwYA

Dodge Ram 2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jo5LsKZRwYY

Dove Choose Beautiful 2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DdM-4siaQw

Pepsi Kendal Jenner 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA5Yq1DLSmQ

Johnny Walker 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlrtPtxIB5k

MoMondo The DNA Journey 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyaEQEmt5ls

Heineken Open Your World 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKggA9k8DKw&t=4s

Lush SpyCopys 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E19S8FVbA4E

AeroMexico DNA Discounts 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sCeMTB5P6U&app=desktop

Dublin Bus Proud Dads 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5Ca5QG42dg

Lloyds Bank #GetTheInsideOut 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAHt59KGVes

A Coke is a Coke 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Hcrz4Jq9WE

Gillette The Best a Man can Get 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koPmuEyP3a0

HSBC Brexit 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ3uwPHUV9w

See also:
Patagonia, Starbucks, Stella Artois, Chick-fil-A, Expedia, Oreo, AirBnB, Yoplait, Ben & Jerry’s

And finally, a summary of #AAIToolkit views from the Hammer and Tongs poll can be found here  

Enjoy reviewing all of this – during the course of the next week we’ll send our next hot topic for 2019 discussion at #AAIToolkit which will take place on 1st March.

Why not mark your diary now for all forthcoming #AAIToolkit events this side of summer:

• Friday 1^st March
• Tuesday 2^nd April 
• Friday 24^th May / Tuesday 28^th May 

All the best, 

Barry and Su