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Branding and Social Issues
This morning the Supreme Court ruled that same sex marriage is legal in the United States. A landmark decision that brings to light what I wrote about when the owner of DieselTec chose not to serve an openly gay couple. This is a moment that is to be celebrated across the country and clearly online. But, what should brands do in this moment?
It took Maytag 4 minutes to push out this piece of creative that pairs the Maytag man perfectly with himself. Let’s pretend for a moment that we aren’t suggesting that clones are the only same-sex partners that are “perfect” and focus on if this is something a brand should be doing?
Until this morning there were only 14 states that banned same-sex marriage, sadly Michigan was one of them. That means that in 70% of the country same-sex marriage was legal, however in the most recent Gallup Poll on the matter only 60% of the people surveyed agreed with, let’s just call it like it is, equality.
But should your brand interject itself into this debate?
It is tremendous to see brands prepared for the decision with creative that is on brand and supports marriage equality, my question is are they ready for what’s next?
Let’s remember in 2012 when Oreo broke the Internet by posting this on facebook around 8p on June 25th. Despite the 1 million likes they got on the post, they also accumulated comments like this “I’m never eating Oreos again. This is just disgusting.” As of this writing they are suspiciously silent on the matter- which is sort of my point.
As a brand if you want to support the landmark decision, my hat is off to you. However, many times it feels as if brands jump on these moments to pander to millennials since they read a study that millennials want to enjoy brands that do things that matter:
Make no mistake today’s 5–4 judgement is something worthy of marketing- but marketing because equality on all fronts is paramount to what this country was founded on. What it isn’t, is an opportunity to sell more cookies, washers, or airline tickets.
So why did your brand post about #marriageequality today?
I will leave you with the profound words of Justice Kennedy as we celebrate:
”No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were,” Kennedy wrote. “As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death.”
Fear the Walking Dead *new trailer
Pushed back to August, why? So that it runs right into the Walking Dead in October...which is some genius stuff from AMC. That said, GIVE ME ZOMBIES RIGHT MEOW!!!!!
The Rise of Video Content
As we round the corner towards our next Mornings@MLive where we will talk about social as a “language”I wanted to focus on what Gary Vaynerchuk calls “the most important strategy in content marketing,” video. Are you using video? If you are where? If you aren’t why not? In Gary’s latest piece entitled “The Rise of Video Content” he tackles all your questions with his trademark wit and real world advice.
Where should you start? Facebook. As Gary points out, YouTube is going in the wrong direction for your business while Facebook is housing 4 billion with a “b” streams a day – how many of those streams are from your brand?
In fact, Gary says “Facebook video for my brand has become the best way to reach my fans at scale. Couple that with their new video ad products for sales and direct response and the fact that they’re the greatest data company of all time for marketers and you have some serious reasons to spend some real money on Facebook video ads and video content for Facebook.”
If you have played in the video space on facebook, have you tried Twitter? With the acquisition of Periscope and the ability to use video natively on Twitter (although admittedly it is a bit wonky at times), Twitter is going all in where you should be playing – video.
Gary Vaynerchuk uses Twitter in a way most brands aren’t willing to engage; “Video on Twitter truly is social and the best way to use Twitter video is by connecting and engaging, rather than just pushing. As Twitter has grown in size, it’s become a listening platform. Six years ago, I could send a tweet and get more engagement on it than I do now. I had less of an audience, but the audience was paying closer attention. It was more serious. Now the amount of information and users on that platform has gotten so intense that it’s hard to have that same engagement. It’s hard to get anyone’s attention.
That’s why the game, the real way to win with Twitter video, is through engagement — using it as a “pull” rather than a “push.”
Read the rest of Gary’s thoughts here and subscribe to “Ask Gary Vee” for more such brilliance. Gary has been kind enough to share some of this content with us and we hope you will be smart enough to now connect with him as we do, every day.
Cheers.
Eric.
E3 2015 XBOX goodies
There was so much fun stuff in the XBOX E3 press conference that I want to get right to it.
Will you step, or will you leap?
Master Chief takes on new foes and some really cool editions to the multiplayer like Warzone which I am very excited to check out.
Maybe you are like me and have a decent collection of XBOX 360 games that are collecting dust, well XBOX announced this that should make you happy! A native backwards compatibility is awesome!
Perhaps you wanted an insanely dope controller? Check!
And finally there were a lot more cool games like Gears of War, ReCore, The Division, Doom (yes chainsaws), Fallout 4, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and FIFA 16 - check em out below.