New logo - the role of brands in narrative change

How companies can have massive social change impact through narrative change

This week, hope-based certified organization Civocracy announce the launch of a campaign to mobilize companies to promote democracy - see below.

On that note, this issue offers a call for companies to get involved in promoting better narratives for social change and democracy. Narratives change when lots of people repeat radical new ideas so they become “common sense”. Brands can use their big platforms to give radical ideas, and marginalized voices, “social proof” by endorsing, elevating and amplifying them.

Brands have a huge impact on what gets talked about, and therefore on which narratives are more salient. If they intentionally promote the values that underpin support for human rights and democracy, they can have an indirect positive impact on society that actually outweighs their direct, social responsibility work.

Many brands are already promoting the kinds of intrinsic, compassionate, common interest values - they just need to build a more strategic and intentional connection between the worlds of branding and activism in order to bring these values that are already strong in our culture to bear on our politics.

Some activists might feel uncomfortable with this, so please share any questions/doubts/critiques (e.g. how to avoid greenwashing) and next week I will make the case to activists about why we need to make space for human beings who work for companies in our movements. In short, social change and the task of protecting democracy is too important not to mobilize every possible ally that we can.

Three ways brands can change narratives to promote democracy and human rights

The alternatives we need to live better lives in fairer societies are often already out there, but not being seen and heard. Activists know what needs changing and why, brands are good at reaching people with new ideas.

Companies have massive power to change narratives, something today’s activists lack. Narrative change requires constant repetition of the values that underpin social change - kindness, empathy, community - so that they become “common sense” in our politics.

Narrative strategy is really simple: we need as many people as possible to repeat and activate our narratives as much as possible - preferably also associating them with positive emotions and experiences so that they become more salient.

Step 1. Be explicit about your [intrinsic] values

Brands often do a better job of talking about intrinsic values than actual social change activists themselves. The only step they have to take is to make explicit the political and social importance of those values.

The value in your brand acting is not the act of taking a stand in itself, or the fact you are directing your audience’s attention to an injustice. It is the reason you explain to people why you are taking the stand.

Tell people why your action is an extension of who you are as a brand. Explaining a specific intrinsic motivation (“connection to community makes us who we are”) is more authentic than just saying you want to do good, which could give the impression that you are doing good just for the extrinsic motivation of looking good.

TIP. Say what you are for, not just what you are against.

This IKEA IDAHOT campaign is a good example of how talking about simple openness can actually speak to several issues. The ad is about empathy for transgender people, but the same messaging and values apply just as much to migration. 

Talking about values can actually be more effective than talking about specific policy, because it reinforces an underlying mindset that prepares people to support the policy change.

Crucially, the Common Cause Foundation tell us that promoting intrinsic values in one issue area, say biodiversity, can also strengthen support for another cause that depends on the same underlying values, say, equal marraige.

Tip. Make a values case, not a business case

We often try to justify what we want by appealing to extrinsic values (“we should welcome people on the move because its good for the economy”). For long-term societal change, it’s better to ask yourself what values are actually driving you to act, then share that motivation with others. Do you want to welcome people because its good for the economy, or because connection and kindness to others is what gives life meaning?

Also, the very fact of a company showing they are not just motivated by profit is a powerful and subversive message. The idea that the decisions people make when working for companies are only motivated by profit is itself a narrative and social construct, and like everything else, it can be changed (an idea that makes capitalists very upset).

All people, whether they work in business or activism, are motivated by both self- and common-interest values. We are just trained by society to use different values in different contexts - and all of us can learn to use common-interest values more, if we see other people also using them.

For example, this ad from a Danish TV company reinforces the idea that we are all connected, an underlying way of thinking crucial for any social change cause, from tackling climate change to welcoming people on the move.

Talking about love and kindness in our politics and business is far more radical than being outraged, something we see every day.

Step 2. Help your audience to see the world differently

Putting your weight behind a bold radical vision for change helps shift a radical alternative to a common sense solution that people are more likely to support. Don’t just tell people there is a problem. Share a vision for how things could be instead. 

Brands can offer their audiences new ways of seeing what is possible in the world.

A message about the importance of caring or welcoming refugees from an activist may not surprise people, but coming from a company it will resonate in a different way, and it is that constant activation in the minds of the public that we need to change attitudes and behavior. 

Tip. Show humans, not victims: Empathy is a muscle. Help people train theirs.

Why would we use less sophisticated tools to sell solidarity and empathy than those we use to sell soap? 

Take this ad from Vicks India about a transgender activist. We cannot have empathy for people we do not know. We cannot possibly support different ideas of family or parenthood until we see them with our own eyes. Our predictive brains are simply not biologically capable of it. 

So when Vicks produces an ad like this, they are not just taking a stand, they are already changing our minds - physically as well as metaphorically. New neurons are firing and wiring in our brain. Our empathy muscle is expanding. 

Tip. From threat to opportunity: You have permission to be joyful!

Not all activism has to be outrage. To change the world, we need to change attitudes and behavior. Those are better changed through joy and belonging than shame. This is where brand communications come in.

Step 3. Be a platform to amplify activist voices

It is easy to share a link to a petition from an activist group you support: can you go further and use your platform to let an activist express a bold, radical vision based on their aspirations, hopes and dreams for what a better future looks like?

The creative power of brands gives them unique power to shape culture and amplify new ideas. The question is, whose ideas are getting promoted by their massive brand recognition and marketing budgets. Brands are well placed to work more closely with grassroots communities whose voices, visions and values are underrepresented and bring them to life in new, exciting ways. This will also give those radical ideas credibility. 

You can tell simple stories that make marginalized ways of being more familiar and therefore more accepted in society (since our brains are wired to be suspicious of things that we have not seen before).

Tip. Be the narrative

As we also advise activists, you cannot change narratives through “magic words” alone - to change narratives, you have to be the narrative you want to see more of: your actions - the things you do every day - create new narratives. Narratives and values have to be brought to life through simple actions we can all repeat.

Companies can change narratives by standing in solidarity with people trying to make their voices heard, and serving as a platform for those voices. They can do this authentically by working in genuine partnership with communities, so the story is not just using someone’s lived experience to make a point, but real human connection (for example between humans who work for a company and humans from a community they serve). Talk with people, not “for” or “to” them.

When Nike issued the Dream Crazy ad featuring Colin Kaepernick, they were taking a big political stand. So did Gilette.

Nike followed the impact of this ad with a whole series that replaced stereotypes with new ways of seeing people from a swathe of marginalized groups. This is about going far beyond talking for communities to talking with them as equals, and trusting them to do their own talking on your platform.

We operate in a media ecosystem that is very cynical towards “virtue signaling”. But humans learn behavior from each other, and build habits through our internal reward mechanisms. In other words, signaling something virtuous is the way to make others do it! If done the right way, signalling virtue spreads virtue.  

Companies can change narrative by building a culture of welcome in our societies, finding homes and jobs for people seeking asylum, for example. Or by simply embracing more tolerant workplace practices and, crucially talking about the fact they are doing it and why they are doing it: 

As Michael Braithwaite writes here, companies can adopt human-centric work cultures, which will result in values such as diversity and inclusion spilling over into employee’s personal lives and wider social change.

Tip. Belonging fosters values

When we feel a sense of belonging to a movement, we more strongly support and promote its causes. Brands are built on this sense of connection to their audiences, and can use it to promote new ways of thinking and acting.

Brands can help the process of making movements like Pride or environmentalism part of our identity.

When a company like Renault tells a simple, human story about a same-sex relationship, they are both normalizing it but also providing social permission for others to do so as well.

In countries where space for civic society is shrinking, imagine the impact if there was a symbol like the Pride flag that represented support for civic space, and all the biggest brands, coffee shops, clothing stores, supermarkets, starting flying that symbol all around the world?

That would show people that they did not need to hide their opinion on the subject, that they could put aside their doubts and also be loud and proud in support of a greener economy / welcoming people / civic activism - things that require a level of deep and vast level of motivation to achieve and maintain. If our goal is social change, we need as many people as possible making that change happen: the change is too important to not invite every possible ally into the cause.

Next time I’ll talk about the other side of the coin - why social activists should engage more with business and why they need to make the human case for corporate accountability, not the human case. Please share any doubts or practical concerns you have about this in the comments and I will address them as best I can!

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The 9o6 Brand Movement for Democracy

- by Bente Kruijer, Civocracy

Today we are launching a simple Europe-wide social media campaign, uniting the power of companies to change the narrative for the sake of democracy. 

Politics seems to have lost the power to create a strong pro-Europe, pro-democracy narrative. Ahead of the 6-9 June 2024 European elections, companies have not only the power and trust to change the narrative, but a responsibility to turn their narrative power into a force for good.

That is why we from Civocracy, Club of Rome and GOPA com have initiated the 9o6 movement: Europe’s pioneering movement of companies for democracy. 

Together, we will mobilise our audiences to go vote in the EU parliamentary elections in June.

Our goal? Increase the election voter turnout with more than five million votes!

Building on Hope Based Communication Strategies, the 9o6 movement works with three powerful principles to shift the narrative around European elections and promote democracy.

The power of numbers. The 9o6 campaign leverages the pan-European power of big brands, retail companies, suppliers and start-ups, to reach European citizens, with one simple message across: no matter what happens on election day: go vote anyway. 

The power of cooperation. Just as democracy is not constructed by one single person, its narrative isn’t either. To work on European democracy is to co-create, participate and exchange across borders, differences and interests. The 9o6 movement is an embodiment of these values. 

By cooperating across borders to change narratives, we are “being the narrative” of thriving cross-border cooperation to life.

The power of repetition. Following the hope-based principle, narrative change involves making the new narrative widely understood as the norm. This requires consistently reinforcing the values that signal social change. This way, the movement aims to have as many Europeans as possible adopt and promote our narratives and feel encouraged to go vote.

This is a non-partisan movement for European democracy. As companies, we unite for democracy and leverage our audiences and storytelling skills. We act beyond economic purpose, beyond differences, and stand up for democracy’s intrinsic values of community, freedom, cooperation and accountability. 

Are you ready to shift the narrative with us and turn the power of businesses into a power for democracy?

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Hopey, changey stuff

• At the Fundamental Rights Forum I was struck by an AI generation of two different futures, one where we fail to tackle climate change, and another where we manage to unite as a human race and find a way to live in harmony with nature. I’d love to see similar visions of worlds where human rights are enjoyed by all, for example.

• Essential reading is hope-based expert Michael Braithwaite call for kinder, human-centered workplaces.

• Terrible cliche but came across this on my meditation app. 🫣 Mudita is a Sanskrit term that taking joy from seeing other people do well. In other words, the opposite of schadenfreude, which is a powerful dopamine-fueled driver of division and polarization. In a way, training our mudita to be stronger than our schadenfreude is what democracy and human rights is all about. This is essentially what we are asking companies to promote when they promote intrinsic, common interest values rather than self-interest, extrinsic ones (Jonah Sachs would call this inadequacy vs empowerment marketing)

  

Quote of the week

“Utopia is born of the hunger for something better, but it relies on hope as the engine for imagining such a future” - Marge Piercy (thanks to Monica Roa for sharing)