Walk the Walk and Talk the Talk—Will Your Business Shift in 2022?
reGEN media contributor feature article: IABC Summer 2022
Byline: Julie Coghlan-Smith
For immediate release: Vancouver, July 2022
Are you looking to expand your brand awareness and drive your sales funnel? Do you want to be taken seriously by Gen Z, Millennials and conscious consumers of all generations? If yes, you need to re-think your organization's top priorities and how you are communicating them.
Familiar with all this market-speak yet wanting to do things differently? Different outcomes require different decisions about your marketing dollars.
The world is watching. More and more, the expectation is for businesses to walk the walk - not just talk the talk.
Less talk, more action
Walking the walk and talking the talk is precisely what General Mills, Canada did when it invested the advertising dollars of its popular on-the-go yoghurt called Yop into a creative project. The “For the Better” campaign, which includes four co-branded videos in French and English, was created by agency Cossette and Vice Media’s Montreal office. It is a mini-documentary series that “highlights youth like Evelyn Sifton, a 23-year-old transgender cyclist and LGBTQ activist, Sarah Fournier, a 22-year-old special education teacher and boxer, and Jerimy Rivera, a 24-year-old Montreal-based ballet dancer. “At a time when there is a lot of negativity and divisiveness, Yop wants to be a brand that empowers youth to be the change they think that the world needs,” said Desiree Brassard, associate director of New Ventures Group at General Mills. “We know that Generation Z, in particular, is defining themselves as less talk, more action, and we wanted to stand behind [them].” According to Brassard, the campaign's brand grew by 11% in two months. For every view the films rack up, the brand donates $1 (up to $500,000) to a #ChangeDestiny fund that will benefit organizations that support women in pursuing their destiny.
Redistribute $282.2 billion in advertising dollars
reGEN media is a 100% Indigenous-owned and female-led media impact company in Canada and has tracked the $296 billion advertising spend in North America (2021). Despite the impact of COVID19 on the industry, which saw revenues drop, the US is by far the largest advertising market in the world. However, budgets expect to rebound to $380 billion by 2024 and grow to $1 trillion by 2025. Either way, approaching $300 billion is a big chunk of advertising spend that will impact what we read, see, and listen to daily and how we choose to think and behave in Canada and North America.
The shift—more than rewrapping advertising dollars
Canada is a visually literate consumer society with high internet usage. Internet usage numbers also continue to climb. In 2021, the number of internet users worldwide stood at 4.9 billion, which means that almost two thirds of the global population is currently connected to the world wide web.
Adults spend almost 12 hours a day connected to some type of media or platforms inundated with advertising. The result is that audiences are cynical about the drive to buy more and consume more. With close to $300 billion in advertising spend on the table, the proactive approach is to invest that money positively in authentic campaigns and commitments that benefit the consumer.
The “Strength of Purpose” study, commissioned by New York-based Zeno Group, a global, integrated communications agency, surveyed more than 8,000 individuals across eight markets (United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, China, India, Singapore, and Malaysia). Participants rated more than 75 brands on their perceived strength of “Purpose”. The upshot of the survey was that consumers are four to six times more likely to buy from, trust, champion, and defend companies with a strong, well-demonstrated “Purpose”.
Zeno’s substantive research showed that globally, 94% of consumers said it is important that the companies they engage with have a strong Purpose, and 83% said companies should only earn a profit if they also deliver a positive impact.
However, while 94% of global consumers say they will reward companies with a strong Purpose, most consumers believe that only 37% of companies have a strong and clear commitment to Purpose. It is clear that companies are leaving equity on the table. How can they change this perception? By walking the walk and talking the talk. By reinvesting tired advertising dollars in fresh, purpose-driven campaigns that uplift consumers.
Charlene SanJenko, CEO of reGEN, is an expert at exploring and disrupting traditional funding and diverting it into innovative, well-curated, and creative narrative-shifting projects. reGEN is an innovative business model that matches brands and businesses with artistic endeavours that tell inspiring and transformative stories to shift our world and lift humanity collectively.
“What if we brokered impact media deals like we broker other business deals?"
The time has never been better for innovative partnerships between progressive brands with advertising dollars, investors with vision, and artists with transformative stories about the human spirit,” says SanJenko.
SanJenko represents a stable of artists and artistic projects from film, documentaries, theatre, and other forms of storytelling. Each of these projects represents key attributes identified as the most important elements of a purposeful brand. They include fair treatment of all people, advocacy for important and current social and environmental causes, a diverse and inclusive culture, issue advocacy, and the creation of new job opportunities for artists, writers, songwriters, performing artists and filmmakers with a focus on BIPOC individuals. SanJenko sees a future of marketing and advertising dollars reinvested in curating “art”. But not just any art. “Art that will impact and rewrite our future by supporting values and actions that shift behaviours, elevate mindsets, and promote environmental and social stewardship for today and future generations,” says SanJenko.
Philanthropists and global influencers are also entering this space. Melinda Gates recently announced a non-fiction publishing imprint with Flatiron Books, a division of MacMillan. The Obamas, Clintons and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Duke and Duchess of Sussex have all started production companies dedicated to media that go beyond entertainment to lift and shift the global community. SanJenko is launching a professionally managed fund, the reGEN Investment Fund (2023), that will allow impact investors to also invest directly into these projects alongside industry-leading brand advertisers.
SanJenko is clear that the shift has to be more than rewrapping advertising dollars. “Prioritizing the redistribution of advertising and sponsorship dollars is where it starts, but that’s just the beginning. To feel the full ripple of impact, businesses must also prioritize investment into socially conscious leadership programs that develop whole, healthy leaders. Regenerative media projects give a proactive, hopeful voice to the many urgent issues and innovative solutions vying for our attention as global citizens of planet earth. The commitment to behavioural-shifting programming is the follow-up. That’s where the action lies to complete the change-making potential of impact media.” reGEN's sister company, PowHERhouse has been developing and delivering relational leadership programming since 2013.
Shifting the Film Industry
“Story is the most powerful tool we have to shape society. The stories we choose to tell, and who we resource to tell these stories, is critical in addressing the multiple crises the world faces,” says Naomi McDougall Jones.
McDougall Jones is a Hollywood director and Chief Impact Officer for The 51 Fund. This Venture Capital investment fund finances films written, directed, and produced by women in the industry. In 2021, the Celluloid Ceiling report, produced annually by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University, noted that “women comprised 17% of directors in the top 250 grossing movies, down from 18% of the previous year.”
The 51 Fund’s first success is the documentary called Cusp. It follows a group of teenage girls on the cusp of womanhood living in a conservative low-income community in Texas. Cusp, directed by Isabel Bethencourt and Parker Hill, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2021 and went on to win the Special Jury Award for Emerging Filmmaker and was subsequently sold to Paramount Media Networks Showtime, making a 140% return for investors. ‘Not only are we disproving the myth that films made by women for women are not worth investing in, but we are also proving that valuable art can make money,” says McDougall Jones.
“I think businesses are in crisis at the same time as the film industry. Advertising and marketing don't work anymore. Millennials hate being marketed too, so the question is: how do you market to people who don't respond to traditional marketing?” asks McDougall.
Advertising dollars are shifting, and so is the film industry. Netflix and other streaming platforms have remodeled the way audiences access films, and viewers are no longer willing to pay to watch individual movies. “It is a business model that is impossible for the filmmakers. We know that people are watching more content than ever before but are not willing to pay to watch it. The solution is that the film industry has the audience, and companies have the money. Companies will align with filmmakers that aesthetically align with their consumers and brands. Audiences will have access to the movie for free but will have to go to the brand or product website to watch, “ predicts McDougall Jones.
Investing in and curating “art” comes with responsibility. If this is the future business model for brand engagement, companies will be tasked to invest responsibly.
Business foundations based on the UN Global Pact
Deb Alcadinho is the Chief Impact Officer and Founder of a BC-based company called Business 4 Social Good, specializing in working with business owners to build a social purpose foundation using the UN Sustainable Development Goals as its guide. Businesses, corporations, and retailers worldwide have signed the UN Global Pact and agreed to up-level the way they do business. Businesses are now required to be more meaningful, more conscious and become purpose-driven companies beyond profit.
“Urgent social and environmental issues include more sustainable production, zero waste, a reduction of water needed for manufacturing, and it does not stop there,” says Alcadinho. “It includes living wages, gender diversity, the inclusion of indigenous communities and migrant protection. Companies not only need to be acting on these urgent issues; they need to commit to talking about it in their public campaigns and creative forums other than traditional advertising.”
A Shift in consciousness amongst consumers
The past decade has witnessed a shift in consciousness amongst consumers, and when consumers shift, businesses must respond. The question remains: how?
Just when the world thought it had ridden the worst of the global pandemic wave, storms of war blew over Europe, and Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
It is no wonder 2022 is marred by a tumultuous run on the stock exchange and a steady rise in inflation. With the cost of gas rising worldwide, inflation reaching the critical levels of the 1980s, global unrest and uncertainty, and stories of travel nightmares at short-staffed airports, more and more people will be staying home engaging with their home screens for entertainment.
How companies respond to the above events is now more critical than ever before. It is an opportune time to be in the media space, most especially regenerative media.
A clear and unwavering Shift
Businesses need to take a clear and unwavering stance that may not have been expected of them a decade ago. The quality of a brand’s statements and response to current issues have real financial consequences. For example, 73% of Millennials are willing to spend more on products from sustainable brands. Roughly 40% of all consumers demand change.
Campaigns like Nike’s campaign with former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick and Ben & Jerry’s strong anti-racist corporate statement demonstrate continued support for Black athletes and social justice causes. Athleta vaulted out of the shadows of the athleisure apparel retail business when it stood by eight-time gold medalist Simon Biles’s withdrawal from Tokyo 2021 Summer Olympic Games. The company turned her announcement into a teachable moment about the importance of mental health and has gone on to present the Gold Over America tour—a celebration of powerful female athletes.
As necessary, Athleta made an important value stand when signing track and field legend Allyson Felix as its brand ambassador; it agreed to pay for her daughter to travel anywhere Feli competed. USC Annenberg Relevance Report quoted Felix saying, “If we have children, we risk pay cuts from our sponsors during pregnancy and afterwards. It is one example of a sports industry where the rules are still mostly made for men.” This action marks a significant turnaround in meaningful sports sponsorship for women and speaks to Athleta’s consumers.
Many of the 2022 high-profile Grand Prix winners at the Cannes Lions festival “reflected an urgency by marketers to address cultural tensions, inequality, climate change and more. Others reveled in long-form storytelling that proved attention spans aren’t always as short as popular opinion would have us believe”, reflects David Griner of Adweek.
A win-win platform
SanJenko wants advertising and sponsorship dollars redirected into narrative-shifting projects that support creative artists and brand engagement on a win-win platform.
“Artists are producers of culture and creative problem-solvers who give us hope for a better world. They are at the forefront of community-building, critical thinking, and cultural production, and we need more. What we see is what we believe,” says SanJenko. “We live in a time in history - a tipping point of sorts - when businesses must reach beyond their traditional role and wake up to their role as local-to-global changemakers. We have the resources, reputation, and the sphere of influence to advance positive change with our employees, suppliers, customers, and industry associates by investing outside traditional advertising structures and collaborating with creative innovators.”
Maximize Impact - the stats!
Consumer expectations are at the heart of this shift. New data from Sprout Social's Brands Creating Change in the Conscious Consumer Era, a study based on a survey of 1,505 U.S. consumers, reveals that most consumers, a whopping 70%, believe it’s crucial for brands to take a public stand on social and political issues. Taking a stand can generate awareness and brings financial benefits. But more importantly, taking a stand allows brands to make a real difference. The question is no longer: should our company take a stand? Instead, how can we maximize our impact?
As brands increasingly weigh in on the issues concerning the world today, Canadian businesses need to take note. Environics 2021 Research titled: Social Values Building Meaningful Brands Guide For Canadian Brand Marketers 2020 offers the following stats.
- 82% of Canadians say they are more likely to purchase products or services from brands whose values align with their own.
- 66% of Canadians are more likely to: purchase an item from a brand willing to take a stand on social issues.
- Causes that matter most to Canadian consumers are:
- 52% Environment
- 45% Human Rights
- 31% Health and safety
- 87% of Canadian consumers are doing more research before making an important purchase.
The stats demonstrate that brand purpose statements need to be backed by action and evidence—and marketers should expect consumers to hold the brand accountable. Companies are being asked to talk about their positive investment in the community. They are also held to a higher degree of review to walk the walk.
As of today, Canadian and international businesses need to be caring and authentic with deep-rooted, well-demonstrated priorities to make a positive impact in the world. And in doing this, they will access regenerative media partnerships to tell transformative stories. The hope is that they will look at innovative options with a growth mindset and invest differently.
