Before the pandemic, all business owners we worked with believed they needed to transform, not just optimize, their businesses with digital technologies. All had a mentality of staying ahead of their competitors, taking advantage of current technologies, and standing out in this ever-developing world. We're proud to say that all, yes, all business owners we've worked with still stand tall despite the relentless blows this COVID-19 has dealt us all.
If we are to draw one conclusion from current events, it is that the pandemic is accelerating the transformation of brands, especially with regard to their digital capabilities. Meaning where business owners had once just believed they needed transformation prior to the pandemic, they now know they need transformation to survive.
Content is king in times of crisis, and the investment in content is likely to continue.
When the crisis worsened and containment measures became widespread, many brands made their adage to "do no harm", by quickly adapting their content so as not to appear disconnected from the news. The majority have adapted their creations and content to respond to the consequences of the pandemic. This trend has surpassed the grounds of just the pandemic with the increase of cancel culture that since the lockdowns.
Beware The Culture
A controversial statement, an ambiguous and old tweet or Facebook post, a compromising video ... Sometimes it doesn't take much you to get canceled. We hear about it every day with Big brands & celebrities making headlines for a tasteless commercial 10 years ago, a tweet that supported the "wrong" candidate, etc.
Businesses and individuals should be held accountable, yet to what end?
Ordinary people, you, are at risk too. What could you have said, where did that video of you as a misguided bully in high school end up? No one is safe from the "cancel culture" we see today.
Cancel culture which denounces their mistakes and demands accountability. You must "cancel" the person, literally remove them, but more concretely tarnish their image, disrupt their activity, until they surrender, apologize, try to repair. Writer Jk Rowling for example paid the price for comments deemed insulting to transgender people. Some denounce the excesses of "cancel culture" and see in this phenomenon the emergence of new power, now available to the greatest number.
Protect Yourself and Your Brand
Cancel culture is not going anywhere anytime soon. This Counter Power encourages changes in the representation of minorities, in respect of them and tends to avoid reprehensible behavior, by the threat of denunciation on the networks. If avoidance of any scrutiny is on the forefront of your mind there are steps we recommend you start considering.
Look back before others do: Take a look at your social media pages. What is there that could potential be misinterpreted? This includes business pages. It’s also never a bad idea to clean up your digital rooms anyway.
Redirect liability: To generate a consistent response from consumers, brands need to have a clear understanding of the content being created across the organization, even when it is not under the direct responsibility of the marketing department. Hiring an outside agency for design, marketing, and management have so many benefits. They also come along with mostly unthought of benefits for business owners. Have a professional handle your digital presence. See results and be able to hold them accountable if anything posted is picked up by this current trend.
Continue Education: Here's the best tip we can give. Stay informed, keep up with current events so your content is both educated and informative. Learn about the targets of cancel culture. See where they went wrong and avoid their poor task
To conclude, although we do feel accountability is an important start point for growth, we don’t agree with cancel culture. Mistakes are part of human nature and unavoidable while on this journey. Our core principles are to help business and driven individuals grow.
We do not judge others on their past or dig too deep into that past. Motivation, drive, creativity are all attributes we look for in clients. Lots of the time that drive/motivation is founded in a time of error.
Andrew Goldstein
Brand Strategist & Content Writer