Branding Using Politics: Sweetinated

Preface: My thoughts were developed after reading this article about the North Face's new campaign by Ad Week. Check it out here: http://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/the-north-faces-new-campaign-aims-to-focus-more-on-women-in-advertising/

Bold topic to start a blog with huh? Political issues are an easy way to divide the crowd or even send them all home. There's strong opinions, issues labelled as 'Hot Button' topics that make people aggressive from the start, and people who hate talking about any of it. Don't worry, this isn't a political piece. Now that you can breathe easy, time to take another one as we dive into the depths.

It seems that just about everything has become political, long ago we lost the elephant and the donkey but since then there have been celebrities, late night shows, sitcoms, and even companies are stating their platforms for the public to hear. Seems dangerous. Advertise picking a side, immediately making about half the country uncomfortable. But one of the first things they tell you in advertising is if you advertise to everyone, you're advertising to no one. Unless you're Coca-Cola. The last part is from me.

That leads me into the rationale as to why companies are doing this. People who agree with their platform associate their fervor for those issues with the brand and that makes the company feel like it's part of that person's team. Sure, you may not like wearing The North Face, but they really support women so maybe you'll give them another shot.

Speaking of North Face, the article I linked at the top talks about their new campaign about how they believe women should be more represented in media so there is a plethora of role models out there. I watched the main ad and it features a bunch of women doing cool things (great pun there) wearing The North Face and that's really it.

Let's think about this a little bit more. What did The North Face have to do with any of these people? They paid them to be in the ad. Maybe they sponsored them but they didn't plug any social media or even a full name so that's unlikely. So why is this ad special or different in any way? All it really is is a normal ad while taking a political stance. Suddenly it gets attention and articles and a young blogger, (With a great Twitter you could follow below) talking about it.

This ad does nothing to lead me to believe The North Face is any different. There's no PR at work here. No foundation or charity being shown, no direct support for the women featured, just look, women wearing the clothes we've always had available except look, we acknowledge women can do cool things too.

Not to rip on just The North Face but they get to be the example for my bigger point. Getting political in this style doesn't really mean anything. It may hype up your emotions, (In a good or bad way) and in that moment make you want to take a stance on a company the same way you take stances on other issues, but once you come into the store it's the same place.

Branding can do so much more than build moments of hype. Good branding hits you every time you hear the words they've cornered, see their color, and their logo. A good example of a company taking a stance on an issue and coming out really well is GE. I just saw a movie yesterday and in the prepreviews, (Shout out to Maria Menounos) GE did this long, documentary style ad about the future of renewable energy and what their part in all of it is. Now that's what I call branding! Call the number onscreen to get hit singles from all your favorite artists. Sorry, anyway they take a stance on something relevant to their company, and actually do something to support the cause they believe in. When I see that, I know it's more than a cash grab on a 'Hot Button' topic. It's a genuine desire to accomplish something beyond selling me lightbulbs and...whatever else they sell.

In conclusion, for those of you who want to trick me into thinking you read this, here's what I'm trying to say. Getting political in ads is probably not representative of anything the company actually is beyond, we couldn't think of something better to sell ourselves as, here's something else you like. If you like the stance they took, look into it deeper to see what the company actually does to support the view you enjoy before handing over your brand loyalty because they might be doing nothing.

Well friends, that's politics for you. You've been a joy to write for, I've got a weird crick in my neck, and this has been another edition of Sweet Thoughts. Thanks for tuning in, I'll be tuning a new thing to tune to no sooner than next week. I'll leave you with my favorite quote from every YouTube video from a successful YouTube channel. If you enjoyed this video, be sure to like, comment, and subscribe.