Episodes
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The influencer market is evolving, but there’s no need to worry about falling behind. We’ve got your back.
HAVAS Red released its inaugural “The State of the Influencer in 2024: A Client’s Perspective” white paper, diving into the findings of a client survey that covered 10 markets — Australia, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Japan, The Philippines, Singapore, UAE, the U.S. and the U.K.
In this episode, Lara Graulich, HAVAS Red account executive based in London, dives into the findings covered in the white paper with the Redsters who created it. Stuart Hood, executive director of social and content, and Tina Provis, PR account manager, both representing HAVAS Red Australia, joined Lara on the podcast to share where the influencer market is heading.
"Red Sky Fuel for Thought" is a monthly podcast produced by HAVAS Red, examining emerging themes relevant to brand communicators and marketers.
What did you love? What would you like to hear about next?
Remember to rate and review today’s show; we’d love to hear from you!
For further learning:
https://bit.ly/44oVEYX
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Is the Metaverse still relevant to brand marketers? This month we answer that very question. When Meta launched its Metaverse, the virtual universe felt unbaked to many comms professionals. Promises of unimaginable audience connection were put back into the oven indefinitely. However, these promises shouldn’t be left in too long to burn…
Lara Graulich, a HAVAS Red account executive based in London, interviewed Umbar Shakir, Partner - Experience, Digital and AI at Gate One, and Sabrina George, CMO and executive producer at Xcyte Digital Corporation.
In a two-part series on the Metaverse, Lara speaks first with Umbar, who gives us an introduction to the Metaverse in part 1. In part 2, Sabrina drives it home, covering how brand marketers can use the Metaverse to their advantage and what caution brands should take before jumping in.
"Red Sky Fuel for Thought" is a monthly podcast produced by HAVAS Red, examining emerging themes relevant to brand communicators and marketers.
What did you love? What would you like to hear about next?
Remember to rate and review today’s show; we’d love to hear from you!
For further learning:
https://www.thevrara.com/
https://metaversebusinessconference.com/
https://www.virtualworlds.museum/
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/microsoft-mesh
https://www.xrwomen.com/
https://metaversefashioncouncil.org/
https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/the-web3-cmo-brief-7063083421643730944/
https://www.linkedin.com/groups/2093378/
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Episodes manquant?
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Is the Metaverse still relevant to brand marketers? This month we answer that very question. When Meta launched its Metaverse, the virtual universe felt unbaked to many comms professionals. Promises of unimaginable audience connection were put back into the oven indefinitely. However, these promises shouldn’t be left in too long to burn…
Lara Graulich, a HAVAS Red account executive based in London, interviewed Umbar Shakir, Partner - Experience, Digital and AI at Gate One, and Sabrina George, CMO and executive producer at Xcyte Digital Corporation.
In a two-part series on the Metaverse, Lara speaks first with Umbar, who gives us an introduction to the Metaverse in part 1. In part 2, Sabrina drives it home, covering how brand marketers can use the Metaverse to their advantage and what caution brands should take before jumping in.
"Red Sky Fuel for Thought" is a monthly podcast produced by HAVAS Red, examining emerging themes relevant to brand communicators and marketers.
What did you love? What would you like to hear about next?
Remember to rate and review today’s show; we’d love to hear from you!
For further learning:
https://www.thevrara.com/
https://metaversebusinessconference.com/
https://www.virtualworlds.museum/
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/microsoft-mesh
https://www.xrwomen.com/
https://metaversefashioncouncil.org/
https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/the-web3-cmo-brief-7063083421643730944/
https://www.linkedin.com/groups/2093378/
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This month, we got to pick the brain of a communications insider at IBM — so you get to, too! The February episode of the “Red Sky Fuel for Thought” podcast is part of our #BehindTheBrand series, which pulls back the curtain on an iconic brand to focus on the people shaping that brand’s communications and marketing strategy.
Linda Descano, CFA®, EVP at HAVAS Red interviewed Brandi Boatner, manager of digital and advocacy communications at IBM. Together, they discuss the 3Ds: digital, data and diversity and how they’re shaping Brandi’s career path and IBM’s mission.
We launched the Behind the Brand series in April 2023, with Gráinne O’Brien, senior director of corporate affairs for Kellogg Europe and look forward to continuing it with other brand insiders.
"Red Sky Fuel for Thought" is a monthly podcast produced by HAVAS Red, examining emerging themes relevant to brand communicators and marketers.
What did you love? What would you like to hear about next?
Remember to rate and review today’s show; we’d love to hear from you!
For further reading:
New York Women in Communications Public Relations Society of America PRSA Tri-State District “Behind the Kellogg’s Brand” with Gráinne O’Brien episode “Behind the Meltwater Brand” with Dino Delic episode -
In this month’s episode of the “Red Sky Fuel for Thought” podcast, host Lara Graulich, merged media account executive at HAVAS Red, is joined by Redsters Nancy Anderson, SVP, social and content, and Audrey Arbogast, associate vice president, to discuss our Red Sky Predictions 2024 surrounding social media and influencers.
Together, they time travel, jumping back to analyze HAVAS Red’s 2023 predictions and then looking forward to those in 2024. The goal: to help prepare brand communicators to tackle the virtual landscape ahead.
Nancy explores how our 2023 predictions came to life, covering topics such as TikTok as a recruitment method and how reactive content can be used to insert brands into cultural conversation. When looking to 2024 trends, Nancy breaks down how social media managers will use AI to fuel social strategy and content creation and reduce workload.
Audrey, our resident influencer guru, gives us the lowdown on our 2024 influencer predictions, focused on the “minfluencer,” aka the next generation of young influencers: Generation Alpha. Audrey covers how the minfluencers have already begun to take over the social landscape and the potential impact these mini tastemakers can have on brands. Importantly, Audrey also highlights the legal considerations brands must take when it comes to working with children online.
As you create your social plans for 2024, consider us your trends barometer. Read up on our Red Sky Predictions 2024 to help you navigate 2024’s volatile communications landscape.
"Red Sky Fuel for Thought" is a monthly podcast produced by HAVAS Red, examining emerging themes relevant to brand communicators and marketers.
What did you love? What would you like to hear about next?
Remember to rate and review today’s show; we’d love to hear from you!
For further reading:
Red Sky Predictions 2024 -
In this month’s episode of the “Red Sky Fuel for Thought” podcast, host Ellen Mallernee, Editorial Director at Havas Red is joined by Redsters Linda Descano, CFA®, EVP and client partner Bianca-Maria Cavuoto to discuss our 2023 Word of the Year: “CHAOS”.
Together, they walk through our process of selecting “chaos,” other Words of the Year that have been announced so far (from “AI” to “rizz”) and each of their own personal picks for Word of the Year.
As our survey respondents who selected this word wrote, “Chaos encapsulates 2023’s tumultuous global events — embodying uncertainty, disruption and the need for collective solutions. It reflects our shared experience and challenges ahead.”
One wrote that we have “too many changes without clear objectives,” while another pointed to “global waring factions (Ukraine, Russia, Israel, Gaza), U.S. congress disruption, Trump indictments, the impact of global warming on the global temperatures and weather phenomena.”
The opposite of chaos? It’s peace. That’s our hope for 2024. We hope it’s peace that has the last word.
"Red Sky Fuel for Thought" is a monthly podcast produced by Havas Red, examining emerging themes relevant to brand communicators and marketers.
What did you love? What would you like to hear about next?
Remember to rate and review today’s show; we’d love to hear from you!
For further reading:
Merriam-Webster: Authentic Oxford University Press: Rizz Collins Dictionary: AI Cambridge Dict HAionary: Hallucinate Oxford English: Pay harder Australia National Dictionary Centre: Mathilda Germany youth word of the year: Goofy -
In this month’s episode of the “Red Sky Fuel for Thought” podcast, Ryan Kisiel, partner and head of Sustain at H/Advisors Maitland, joins host Linda Descano, CFA®, EVP, Havas Red, to discuss trends in climate and sustainability disclosures and reporting, and implications for how brands and businesses communicate internally and externally about these topics in 2024.
2023 has marked another year of climate and sustainability in the spotlight. There’s been continued — if not increasing — scrutiny on whether brands and businesses are actually following through with their pledges, particularly around climate and net-zero, and whether there are real data and actionable plans behind those pledges.
In many countries, the push for mandatory disclosures has gained momentum during this period. Back in July, the European Commission adopted the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), standardizing how companies within the European Union report climate change and other ESG-related actions. Meanwhile, in the U.S., where policy on climate disclosures remains in limbo, the state of California has taken matters into its own hands, signing into law the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act, known as SB-253, which has implications well beyond companies operating in California.
"Red Sky Fuel for Thought" is a monthly podcast produced by Havas Red, examining emerging themes relevant to brand communicators and marketers.
Note: This H/Advisors’ article was referenced in the podcast: “California sets the standard for mandatory carbon disclosures”
What did you love? What would you like to hear about next?
Remember to rate and review today’s show; we’d love to hear from you!
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In this month’s episode of the “Red Sky Fuel for Thought” podcast, Linda Goldstein, EVP of customer experience and marketing at CSAA Insurance Group, joins host Linda Descano, CFA®, to discuss the current challenges of marketing and communications, the keys to creating campaigns that break through and marketing trends to watch out for in 2024.
Goldstein, who was recently recognized as one of PR Daily’s Top Women in Marketing, provides insight into CSAA’s viral campaigns featuring musical artists like Rick Astley and iconic ’90s boy band members. She also touches on CSAA’s proactive approach to supporting initiatives including a California Wildfire Innovation Fund and the climate resiliency challenge the company spearheaded this past summer. Finally, she addresses the role of comms in the insurance industry in regards to ESG-related issues.
This episode is part of our #BehindTheBrand series, which pulls back the curtain on an iconic brand to focus on the people shaping that brand’s communications and marketing strategy. We launched this series in April 2023, with Gráinne O’Brien, senior director of corporate affairs for Kellogg Europe.
"Red Sky Fuel for Thought" is a monthly podcast produced by Havas Red, examining emerging themes relevant to brand communicators and marketers.
Background reading:
· The Power Nostalgia & Music Bring to Insurance Marketing
· “Boys No More,” Featuring Joey Fatone, Nick Lachey, Joey McIntyre and Wanya Morris
· How CSAA Pulled Off the Ultimate ‘Rickroll’
· Climate Resiliency Challenge Unveils New Solutions to Address Climate-related Disasters
What did you love? What would you like to hear about next?
Remember to rate and review today’s show; we’d love to hear from you!
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Getting Ahead on Generative AI: Ep. 40 of Red Sky Fuel for Thought Podcast
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
· How marketers and PR professionals can use generative AI to make our lives easier
· Where we should not use generative AI from a legal or ethical perspective
· How to strike the balance between being better with AI and being better than AI
Now that the dust is settling on the AI maelstrom that’s raged for the past few months, our September episode looks at what we've learned about generative AI in particular: the good, the bad and the uncertain. Host Lara Graulich examines how artificial intelligence, or AI, has become a buzzword that elicits many emotions: wonder, excitement, confusion and anxiety, among others. As she says, “One thing is certain: This technology is here to stay, and it's important for us to understand it as marketing and public relations professionals.”
To help you make out the full picture of generative AI today, we’ve divided this episode into two parts. First, Umbar Shakir, a partner and client director at Gate One, gives us a whip-smart introduction to generative AI, what it's capable of and what its limitations are. In part two, we dig into the specific implications that generative AI has in the PR and marketing space. For this roundtable, we’re chatting with Rachael Sansom, CEO of Havas Red U.K., and Myrna Van Pelt, head of technology and business for Havas Red Australia.
The episode begins with Umbar (pronounced “Amber”), who differentiates traditional AI from generative AI. Traditional AI, she says, is the ability of machines to mimic human intelligence to perform tasks and automate workflows. This is AI as we’ve known it; it’s what’s been around for decades, and it’s something technology consultants have been implementing for clients for a long time. However, when large language models began arriving over the past five years or so, generative AI stole the spotlight. With generative AI, trillions of bits of crowdsourced data can be used to synthesize new data.
Does this new capability represent a threat to human creativity or to job security?
No, says Umbar: “As marketers, your whole value add to customers is differentiation and personalization. Even though generative AI can generate content for us, you need the human brain to give the differentiation. And then you need the human heart and emotion. In all the marketing campaigns I've been involved in, an emotive response is really important to memorability. That comes from heart, and a lot of our emotional intelligence comes from our values, beliefs and moral judgments. At the moment, you can't mathematically program that in. What we need to remember is that we've built this tool, and we can interact with it; it might be faster than us, and it might be able to process more data than we can at any point in time, but it doesn’t replace our humanity.”
Instead, AI can create space for those of us in this industry to get back to our craft and to doing some of the things that drew us here in the first place — to creating human connection, for example — rather than the monotony of data analysis or transcription. Plus, with generative AI, we’re going to get richer insights much more quickly than we would on our own.
When it comes to humans’ job security, Umbar says, “I've got a slightly provocative view on things. When people worry that generative AI will cause people to lose jobs, I say there are some jobs out there that humans should never have been doing. We have taken really tedious work and turned it into careers for people. We’ve normalized tedium. How do we unshackle ourselves from some of that tedium? How do we then free up capacity to solve for bigger and better problems for society? How do you use this technology to replace what humans have been doing that fundamentally doesn’t tap into our humanity or our values or our creativity?”
Umbar’s segment ends with her answering these questions, before Lara then welcomes Rachael and Myrna to the podcast. She first asks them what excites them most about generative AI and the capabilities it brings to our clients and which tools they’ve most enjoyed using.
“Gen AI cannot create ideas, but what it can do is take great ideas, by humans, and push them faster and further and help iterate them more brilliantly,” says Rachael. In marketing and communications, Myrna says AI also has a distinct role to play in helping us in the area of rapid decision making.
“As humans, we have finite ability to scan volumes of information,” she says. “However, AI does this at a fraction of the time. So, for example, when it comes to understanding audience preferences, or demographic nuances, AI can help sort through this massive volume of content, identifying patterns and trends, anticipating future scenarios, and then categorizing the data. We then have an absolute smorgasbord of useful pre-categorized content we can use to inform campaigns, particularly so in industries where a rapid pivot of a campaign might make the difference between success and failure — particularly so in political campaigns.”
Among Myrna’s go-to AI tools, she highlights Brandwatch, which provides media monitoring and competitor tracking; TLDR, which summarizes high-tech articles; and DeepL Translate, which can accurately translate content in dozens of different languages.
Next, they talk about the inherent risks of using AI, including where we should and shouldn’t use it from an ethical and legal perspective — e.g., is a press release fair game?
Thank you to each of our guests for weighing in on the transformative power of AI. We hope you’ll give “Red Sky Fuel for Thought” a listen, and subscribe to the show on iTunes, Spotify or your favorite podcasting app. Don’t forget to rate and review to help more people find us!
Also mentioned on this episode:
· ChatGPT
· Brandwatch
· TLDR
· DeepL Translate
Follow Red Havas for a daily dose of comms news:
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· Facebook
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Subscribe:
Don’t forget to subscribe to the show using your favorite podcasting app.
· iTunes
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What did you love? What would you like to hear about next?
Remember to rate and review today’s show; we’d love to hear from you!
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Meaningful Workplace Transformations 101: Ep. 39 of Red Sky Fuel for Thought Podcast
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
· Trends that have influenced the need for increased focus on the employee experience and meaningful work
· What steps an organization can take to maintain the alignment between what they say and what they do
· A framework for building trust with employees
August’s episode digs into the subject of meaningful transformation and why it’s increasingly important for organizations today to think about how to connect the values they espouse with what their employees experience day to day.
Host Linda Descano, CFA®, EVP, Red Havas, starts by asking Hannah Caldwell, principal of Gate One, a London-based business and digital transformation consultancy within the Havas network, to define what “meaningful transformation” means.
A “meaningful transformation” is a business transformation that delivers a step change in the impact and results delivered for the business but that’s also meaningful for the individuals involved in that change — it’s about making it really matter to employees to ensure that it lasts, says Hannah.
Hannah cites the statistic that 70% of large transformation projects fail; she then explains why that’s the case: “One of the key reasons why those big transformation projects fail is the human element. Fundamentally, it’s not organizations that change; it’s people that change — or in some cases, they don’t. If people don’t believe in the vision that leadership is sharing, if they don’t trust leadership, they’re not going to adjust to new ways of doing things or make the effort required to create a step change in the way you operate, regardless of how brilliant the strategy and rationale is.”
Linda and Hanna’s exploration of meaningful transformations dovetails with Havas’ new 2023 Global Meaningful Brands™ report, “Welcome to the Me-conomy.” The report, which serves as a playbook for how brands can be meaningful in people’s lives, was the subject of our May podcast episode.
Says Hannah, “A lot of companies are increasingly aware of the need to connect meaningfully with their customers on issues they care about, such as sustainability and supporting Pride, but this has focused more on attracting customers. We’re now also seeing a complementary desire to focus on the internal side: what employees experience and the internal culture as a measure of whether organizations are authentically living the values they say they stand for.”
So what trends are influencing the increased focus on the employee experience and meaningful work?
Three things stand out, says Hannah. First, post-pandemic employees are rethinking the meaning of work and priorities and seeking purpose from work (contributing to the great resignation). And generationally speaking, Gen Z is a purpose-driven generation. Their desire to know how their individual contributions help support the organization’s mission differentiates them. Finally, information travels so quickly in the digital age, and social media means many more voices are heard.
Linda then asks what steps organizations can take to maintain the alignment between what they say and what they do. What’s most critical, says Hannah, is for organizations to listen and understand — without an ego — what people are experiencing within your organization. She also advises bringing together those teams that traditionally only managed elements of external or internal communications so that both have a full view. And if you’re building an external campaign on a topical issue such as ESG or DE&I, Hannah says there are a lot of ways to involve employees in those campaigns.
When organizations neglect their corporate culture, the repercussions can be enormous. Hannah cites research from MIT that found that toxic corporate culture is 10 times as likely to lead to attrition as poor compensation, whereas positive company cultures are more likely to attract top talent and see 33% higher revenues.
The conversation closes with a discussion of practical steps that marketers and communicators can take to drive a positive culture within their teams and the businesses they support.
Look and listen for tangible examples of how employees describe your culture and values, says Hannah. “Believe it or not, there’s a mathematical equation for building trust!”
She tells us of Charles H. Green’s Trust Equation, which details four components that affect trust. Three of them increase a person’s trustworthiness: credibility, reliability and intimacy. The fourth one, self-interest, reduces a person’s trustworthiness.
“If people believe that you’re doing these things because you have an ulterior motive, or it’s part of a corporate initiative and you’re just trying to tick a box, they’re all undermined by that,” says Hannah. “So it’s really important that you balance that carefully. In an organizational context, there will always be some elements of self-interest because of strategic decisions that need to be made, or economic imperatives, but it’s very important that people see that you’re very thoughtfully balancing your values with those challenges, and they don’t just get pushed to one side when times are tough.”
Give “Red Sky Fuel for Thought” a listen, and subscribe to the show on iTunes, Spotify or your favorite podcasting app. Don’t forget to rate and review to help more people find us!
Also mentioned on this episode:
· What It Takes to Be a Meaningful Brand in the Me-Conomy: Ep. 37 of “Red Sky Fuel for Thought” podcast
· Meaningful Brands 2023 report
· Analyzing the Changing Workforce of Young, Highly Engaged Employees: JUV Consulting
· Putting Purpose to Work: PwC
· Why transformations fail: A conversation with Seth Goldstrom
· Help your employees find purpose—or watch them leave: McKinsey & Company
· Employees Seek Personal Value and Purpose at Work: Gartner
· Gen Z study: EY
· The Trust Equation
Follow Red Havas for a daily dose of comms news:
· Twitter
· Facebook
· Instagram
· LinkedIn
Subscribe:
Don’t forget to subscribe to the show using your favorite podcasting app.
· iTunes
· Spotify
What did you love? What would you like to hear about next?
Remember to rate and review today’s show; we’d love to hear from you!
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What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
Why influencer marketing, ESG and misinformation were the hot topics at this year’s Meltwater SummitWhat differentiates companies that succeed in the short term from those that succeed in the longtermThis episode is part of our Behind the Brand series, which pulls back the curtain on an iconic brand to focus on the people shaping that brand’s communications and marketing strategy. We launched this series in April 2023, with Gráinne O’Brien, senior director of corporate affairs for Kellogg Europe. This month, host Linda Descano welcomes Dino Delic back to the pod (he previously chatted with us in December 2020 about our Word of the Year). Dino has been with Meltwater since 2009, having grown with the company through four promotions and roles in Melbourne, New York, Chicago and now Los Angeles.
Now with 27,000 global customers in 50 offices across six continents, and 2,300 employees, Meltwater empowers companies with a suite of solutions that spans media, social, consumer and sales intelligence.
Linda kicks off her conversation with Dino by asking him to describe his role at Meltwater, to which he replies, “My job is to help our team help our clients connect the dots as much as possible with all the external data that we collect. What we're really helping companies do is collect information outside of their four walls, make sense of it and make more informed decisions so they can better understand where they're spending money wisely and not spending money.”
Dino says he landed in the external intelligence field many years ago, by accident. “I studied marketing, but I got my first sales job at the age of 18; I was just hooked on interacting with people. It turns out, if you like problem solving, sales is a pretty good profession. But I didn't stick around in a sales career for over two decades now because I love sales. It was just through pure luck that I landed on a company that has such an interesting data set.”
The company also has an immense following, having recently attracted more than 800 attendees and more than 50 speakers, including Bethenny Frankel and Trevor Noah, to the Meltwater Summit in New York. At the Summit, Meltwater introduced two new AI Assistants, leveraging the latest technology in generative AI (learn more through the link in our show notes). The first is a PR Assistant which helps PR professionals draft press releases and personalize pitches to journalists in record time. The second is the AI Writing Assistant, powered by the ChatGPT API, which drafts highly engaging social content, saving teams time and increasing social engagement at scale.
Dino says, “There's a lot of interest in AI, especially because of how excited people are that automation can save time, but I'm kind of sick of the conversation going into fear mongering about AI. Especially in professions in strategy, customer service, sales, brand marketing, PR and comms, the biggest gripe for everybody is that they're so busy, that they don't have time to do their job because they have to do a lot of manual work. There are so many things that people just pull their hair out about. That's what I'm excited about — is that AI can eliminate all those menial tasks. That shouldn't be replacing jobs. That I think is just hype and hyperbole.”
Linda and Dino also talk about what defines a successful company today and how data can be used to ensure not only longevity but collaboration between departments.
“The companies that do better, versus the ones struggling with business, are the ones that have a nice, central unifying mission and set of values, and everybody contributes to those goals,” says Dino. “The companies that do well, but only for a short period of time, are the ones that have a really strong marketing discipline or function, but it doesn't last because they don’t work all well together.”
He points to use cases highlighted at the Summit, whereby PR and sales teams are working together, using Meltwater’s media monitoring tools to track competitors or key accounts and ultimately inform customer service and sales.
“The holy grail for PR is to be able to say, ‘We ran a campaign and generated this much business,’” says Dino. “That's next to impossible because that's not how people make purchasing decisions. But a good PR campaign changes user behavior. What keeps me employed and excited is realizing that, especially in PR and comms, people don’t often connect the dots between what they're doing and what their company is doing. They’re just looking to measure their own performance. With the benefit of data, and the tools that we have, you can really inform strategy, but you can also inform other departments.”
The most popular track at this year’s Meltwater Summit was the influence track, says Dino, explaining they couldn’t put enough chairs in the room. “What was interesting is when I looked around at all the name tags, and all the disciplines that were in that room, it wasn’t just marketing or PR,” he says. “Influencer marketing is becoming such an interesting space, because it’s at the confluence of a really good earned campaign, backed by an influencer campaign, and then also a paid strategy. It’s customer acquisition, it’s building trust, it’s creating awareness.”
The Summit’s second most-talked about topic: ESG and how consumers crave authenticity and desire tangible actions from brands. This is particularly relevant in influencer marketing, where consumers seek a genuine connection with influencers and desire behind-the-scenes content.
Dino emphasizes that it’s not enough for brands to make promises, such as electrifying their fleet or implementing sustainable practices. Consumers want to know how these promises will be fulfilled and desire influencers who genuinely share their passion for the brand. They want to see influencers who can take them behind the scenes and provide an authentic look at the brand's actions and values.
Linda closes by asking Dino a few rapid-fire questions, including what his superpower is, what’s the best career advice he’s ever received and if he lives by any particular motto or mantra.
Give “Red Sky Fuel for Thought” a listen, and subscribe to the show on iTunes, Spotify or your favorite podcasting app. Don’t forget to rate and review to help more people find us!
Also mentioned on this episode:
Our first Behind-the-Brand episode with Gráinne O'Brien
Our 2020 word of the year episode featuring Dino Delic
Meltwater announces new AI-powered assistants, summaries and analysis at Meltwater Summit
Recapping Meltwater Summit
Follow Red Havas for a daily dose of comms news:
TwitterFacebookInstagramLinkedInSubscribe:
Don’t forget to subscribe to the show using your favorite podcasting app.
iTunesSpotifyWhat did you love? What would you like to hear about next?
Remember to rate and review today’s show; we’d love to hear f
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What It Takes to Be a Meaningful Brand in the Me-Conomy: Ep. 37 of Red Sky Fuel for Thought Podcast
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
What the “Me-conomy” is and how it’s driving the creation of new services, products and purpose narratives How cultural and societal forces are changing what it means for a brand to be meaningful today Key considerations for brands that want to make meaningful connectionsThis episode of the Red Sky Fuel for Thought podcast examines findings from Havas’ new 2023 Global Meaningful Brands™ report, “Welcome to the Me-conomy.” The report, which serves as a playbook for how brands can be meaningful in people’s lives, examines the cultural and societal forces changing what it means to be a Meaningful Brand™ today. In the first phase of the research, Havas partnered with leading pollster YouGov to survey more than 91,000 people across 10 markets, generating 782,000+ data points across 1,300 global brands and 42 categories.
Linda Descano, CFA®, and Red Havas EVP, moderates the roundtable discussing the report with its co-creators, Seema Patel, global managing director of Mx Intelligence, Havas Media Global, and Mark Sinnock, global chief strategy officer, Havas Creative Network.
As Seema tells us, Havas has measured Meaningful Brands™ annually since 2009. Now, nearly 15 years into this landmark proprietary study, it continues to be a vital sense check about people’s aspirations, guardrails and expectations of brands. The methodology examines a brand’s impact and equity based on consumers’ perceptions and expectations across three key pillars — its personal, functional and collective benefits (listed across 40+ dimensions and attributes). The most Meaningful Brands™ are the ones performing well on all three metrics.
“[The report] explores the strength of a brand's role and how it translates to business performance through our proprietary metric, the Meaningful Brand Index,” says Seema. “It identifies how brands can meaningfully engage with or through media, customer and brand experiences. It also really helps to identify the deficit or gap between what consumers’ expectations are versus a brand’s delivery.”
As compared to years previous, Seema says the report signaled an energetic shift from a doom-and-gloom mentality (the last report was called “The Age of Cynicism”) to more positivity and resilience.
“People want to engage with brands that are optimistic, that bring them joy, that support their health and wellbeing, and that at the end of the day, make their lives simpler and easier,” says Seema, who explains that the expanding definition of purpose is leading people to expect brands to provide more tangible benefits in their day-to-day life.
That’s where the Me-conomy comes in. People are now acutely aware that we’re living amid global crises affecting nearly every aspect of our lives — environmental, economic, political, societal and health crises. All are carrying a huge threat to our ability to survive and thrive. Consequently, people are having to adapt and change, and with that, what they require from brands is changing too.
With 54% of those surveyed saying they’re optimistic about the future, despite experiencing crisis in their lives, the time is right for brands to turn their more austere pandemic-era purpose conversations into optimistic narratives that are focused on enabling citizens to do good, says Mark. “People want brands to help them feel more energized and alive. They want to feel good about themselves. [The report has] a strong theme around how brands can help people generate greater well-being.”
After citing the finding that 71% of people feel that companies and brands should be improving and supporting their personal health and wellbeing, Mark says, “That could be a really powerful opportunity for brands moving forward — people want to continue to experience and feel more. They want new ideas about connecting in new ways, building self-confidence and feeling good.”
What else should brand marketers and communicators be considering?
Mark asserts that that are two types of purpose now — a business purpose and a brand purpose. Mark says sophisticated consumers expect a business’ purpose to be about doing good in terms of how they treat their employees and deliver on ESG pledges, while they expect a brand’s purpose to be about making consumers’ lives easier and better. Mark says brands need to get back to basics by entertaining, pleasing, empowering and driving citizens’ well-being.
When it comes to the connection between the meaningfulness score of a brand and its financial performance, Seema says top-rated Meaningful Brands™ aren’t just good for the world, but also have stronger bottom lines. In fact, they outperform the stock market by 222%, which is consistent across years.
Linda then asks Seema to highlight two or three of the top meaningful brands on the index. She points to “those daily brands that people utilize on a day-to-day basis,” naming WhatsApp, Amazon and Amazon Prime as brands that performed well across all three of the Meaningful Brands pillars.
“I found it interesting that high-end car brands — BMW, Porsche — brands that are very much associated with carbon offset performed really well this year,” says Seema. “So did a lot of utility brands, such as Vanish and Lysol. Daily usage of a brand’s products very tangibly makes a difference in people’s lives.”
Overall, the top Meaningful Brands™ in 2023 deliver on the “me” as well as the wider world issues.
Linda closes the episode by summarizing what stood out to her from their conversation. “To me, it comes back to brands being very consistent with what they say and what they do. Your products and services have to deliver; they also have to be relevant and enable me to be my best self, make my life better and easier, help me achieve my goals and do right in my community. Because if my community is thriving, I’m also thriving.”
Give “Red Sky Fuel for Thought” a listen, and subscribe to the show on iTunes, Spotify or your favorite podcasting app. Don’t forget to rate and review to help more people find us!
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Behind the Kellogg’s Brand with Gráinne O’Brien: Ep. 36 of Red Sky Fuel for Thought Podcast
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
· How an in-house brand team can get the best work from their agency partners
· Insights on communicating effectively through splits, spins and other catalysts of change within a business
· How to listen to the voice of the employee through employee resource groups
In our annual predictions report, we said 2023 is the year in which Behind the Brand will become a staple theme in every content marketing strategy. We’re certainly making it a theme of our own strategy because we’ve used episode 36 as an opportunity to roll out a new series called Behind the Brand. Rather than bring in several voices to weigh in on a topic (our normal format), we’re pulling the curtain back on an iconic brand — Red Havas client Kellogg’s — with a one-on-one interview with Gráinne O’Brien. She currently serves as senior director of corporate affairs for Kellogg Europe and in July will take on a new role as VP, corporate reputation and KNA Communications for Kellogg’s.
Kellogg’s recently announced it will soon become two companies as a result of a company spin off. Kellanova will serve as its global snacking powerhouse, with a leading presence in international cereal and noodles, plant-based foods and North America frozen breakfast, while WK Kellogg Co, will become its North American food company.
Nancy Anderson, our VP of social and content, kicks this episode off with a quick chat with Linda Descano, CFA® and EVP, who then embarks on a far-ranging one-on-one interview with Gráinne, starting with a recap of her career journey to date.
Born in Northern Ireland, Gráinne tells how she grew up in Sligo. Her father was involved in the country’s early civil rights movement with people like John Hume and Seamus Mallon, and her brother was a journalist, sparking her interest in current affairs and politics. She attended University of Ulster in Coleraine, where she studied media studies and history, before taking on post graduate work in journalism in the University College, Galway, under some of the finest journalist and writers in Ireland at the time. Post-college she got her first job with a local radio station and worked for three years covering everything from court cases to local council meetings to agricultural shows. She then migrated out of journalism into PR, when she became a press officer for the young farmers’ lobby in Ireland. From there, she made her way into the agency world, working primarily for food and agri clients.
In 2015, Gráinne joined Kellogg’s Europe in Dublin to set up a regional comms function, before going on to head up its corporate affairs in 2019. As Gráinne tells it, “When I initially joined Kellogg’s, I joined to lead the external comms work that we were doing across Europe. That was really about trying to identify the right stories to tell around our brands, across various different markets, and it was about trying to build a team that could do that. At the time, we were quite siloed, and we had various different reporting lines. That was one of the things I tried to fix first — that we were one team reporting into the function together so that we didn’t have mixed priorities. Then I sort of created a vision for the team, which was having a best-in-class, agency-style in-house team. That rally cry unified us all.”
Linda then asks Gráinne what in-house teams can do to get the best work out of their agency partners. As Gráinne sees it, “PR for the sake of doing PR is very old school thinking. It's so hard to cut through now, [so] you really want to work with agencies, partners, who help you be authentic and help you create the content and stories that will connect your brand or your company to consumers.”
When working with these external partners, in-house teams have to be really clear about what they want to achieve, says Gráinne. And they need to understand whether or not they have a track record in certain spaces that qualifies them to tell those stories. She cites two examples from Kellogg’s, about how it earned the right to speak on matters of food poverty and men’s mental health.
“We’ve invested a lot in measurement in my time in the role,” says Gráinne. “That’s really helped inform the types of stories we tell and how we tell them. And it’s had an impact across leadership because the more you can demonstrate your improved reach or your improved impact, the more you can argue for funds to execute, and the business takes notice.”
When Linda brings up the three P's — the pandemic, polarizing politics and protest around social inequity — the two get to talking about brand purpose and how Kellogg’s determines what to focus on and when to act.
“Our brands are world famous,” says Gráinne. “They have long histories, and whoever is a particular brand manager at a given time is only a custodian of the brand. So, we did put a process in place. We ask ourselves a set of questions, whether we think a partnership will be deemed low risk or high risk. And if the proposal or the idea is deemed high risk, we go through a process to challenge ourselves around, ‘Do we have a track record in this space? And does it make sense for the brand? Would it make sense to consumers?’ We want to avoid accusations such as greenwashing. So we have quite often referred to partners or taken external advice, or indeed [we] talk to our own employee resource groups around their thoughts. So that’s the process we’ve put in place, and it’s worked very effectively.”
The two wind the episode down with talk of Kellogg’s historic split into two businesses — a time Gráinne calls “phenomenally exciting,” explaining how they ushered employees through the changes.
“There has been a regular cadence of comms, have been town halls, have been surveys,” she says. “And the company has been very open and honest throughout the process. Even when we didn't have a lot of news, we engaged. And I think that has brought people through the change. I think people are optimistic for the future, and I think it's been a masterclass in how to do it.”
Linda closes by asking Gráinne a few rapid-fire questions, including what her superpower is, to which she replies, “I don’t think I have a superpower to be honest. What I would say is, I'm always authentic. I think it's great to work with people you like and to be kind. Even if it's a demanding, high-paced environment, I try to be authentic. I try and meet people where they are and understand what's going on in their personal lives, and at the same time deliver for the business.”
Give “Red Sky Fuel for Thought” a listen, and subscribe to the show on iTunes, Spotify or your favorite podcasting app. Don’t forget to rate and review to help more people find us!
Also mentioned on this episode:
· Kellogg’s support for school breakfast clubs
· Kellogg’s Reaches Gender Parity Target, Three Years Ahead of 2025 Goal
· Kellogg’s food hunger research
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Is the Future of Marketing Earned? Episode 35 of Red Sky Fuel for Thought podcast
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
o The difference between paid, owned, and earned media
o Why earned media is more essential than ever before
o How to capture the attention of journalists in the current ‘news you can choose’ environment
o Advice for brand marketers looking to master the art of earned media
In this month’s episode, we focus on the sometimes-elusive form of media known as earned. This was the crux of a recent Adweek article, which argues that earned media is the best tool in the marketing playbook due to its ability to appeal to consumers who are wary of ads. (82% of consumers aged 18-24 use some kind of method to avoid seeing ads – and we’re finding that clients, too, are wary of spending big money on ads.)
We also dug into this topic in our recent News You Can Choose white paper, where we explored three major trends shaping the news environment today. These include the sheer volume of content that people now must filter through, consumers’ deepening distrust and apathy toward the news media, and the changing business of news as it becomes more difficult to capture the attention of journalists.
However, only about 11% of U.S. marketing budgets are now allotted toward earned, according to a CMO Study. So, what do we make of this?
To answer all these questions and more, moderator Linda Descano, CFA® brings in three of our most savvy news pitchers and news makers at Red Havas— Jodi Einhorn, Neil Johnson, and Bianca-Maria Cavuto – to discuss all things earned media.
To kick off the conversation, Neil Johnson, Head of Media & Publicity at Red Havas in London, helps to define owned, paid, and earned media.
“Owned media is content that the brand itself owns, such as a website, logo, or email newsletter, whereas paid is content that a brand pays for but does not own, such as a TV commercial, paid search results, or a sponsored advertorial,” explains Neil. “Earned media is content that a brand neither owns or pays for, such as an organic newspaper article, a user review, or a comment on social media.”
Next up: the growing importance of earned media.
“As the merits of ‘earned’ media imply, we have to go out and convince media to write about a timely topic at hand,” says New York-based Jodi Einhorn, SVP, Media Relations at Red Havas. “The pros are that it has tremendous reach and opportunity to influence; the cons are that you have less control over the messaging. So, when you pay for coverage or post owned content, there is a bit more of an opportunity to own the messaging. Each has their own purpose, and one is not more versatile than the other.”
“There’s only so much control you can have with earned media, but there are things you can do to make sure brands are getting a desired outcome.” says Bianca-Maria Cavuoto, Associate Director at Red Havas, based in Manchester, U.K. “Agency partners must manage their expectations and establish clear communication and be upfront about what it is they want to get out of a campaign. Life moves fast, media moves fast, and relevancy moves even quicker.”
“We in earned media are storytellers,” says Neil. “With ad spending being cut and shrinking across the board, earned is a trusted bet more than ever before.”
Jodi then walks through what it takes to earn the attention of journalists in the current media climate: “Building meaningful connections with journalists starts with understanding what topics will grab their attention. It requires you to listen to what is happening around you. Once you’ve done your homework and listened to an established connection to inform your strategy, you can start to build out tidbits of news that will tell a compelling story for your audience.”
Next, Neil explains how earned media comes with a ‘sheen of credibility’: “Authenticity and credibility matter more than ever for brands. Unlike paid or owned media, earned goes through a vetting process, needing endorsement and approval by the journalist, content creator, or influencer you’re working with. Ultimately, word of mouth is what we earn through these activations, which is a powerful tool.”
Our guests then discuss the notion that we must treat consumers ‘like participants, not targets.’
“The consumer is always right,” says Bianca. “When a campaign falls flat, you must learn from it and go back to the drawing board to understand why the intended impact wasn't achieved. Then, you have to take those learnings and reshape your future campaigns and the way that you communicate based on what the consumer wants. There is always a requirement to deliver something that resonates with them.”
“When it comes to earned media, media is the channel used to reach the end consumer, as opposed to an owned channel where we’re going directly to the audience” says Jodi. “Earned has the added layer of convincing the media to share something that is of note to the consumer. While the playing field is a bit different, the end goal remains the same.”
Another key element to earned media is making sure a story is relevant on a local level across global markets. Jodi explains, “We operate on a global platform, and many of our companies are global businesses trying to reach new markets. Tapping into the expertise of relevant regional teams is one of the most critical assets to ensure we can jump on trends and create a narrative that will resonate with local markets around the world and not just here in the US.”
To round out our discussion, each of our guests provides one piece of advice for brand marketers and communicators who are rethinking their marketing mix and want to master the art of earned.
“Your agency partner needs to be well informed and well connected and needs to be coming to you with some key insights and journalists with an understanding of the news agenda,” says Neil. “Every day is a news day, so every day is a school day.”
“Even though it's only getting a small portion of budget, earned should be in consideration from the moment you start to plan and develop an idea for a campaign,” says Bianca. “You have to bring in an agency and your PR specialists to make sure that the campaign is fit for purpose across all the channels, including earned.”
“As we think about external communications at a global level, mass media in regions across the globe, in markets big and small, play a key role in the interconnectedness of the world,” concludes Jodi. “To facilitate the cultural exchange of information, brand visibility, and positioning between countries, earned media, international news, and regional publications that capture the nuances of certain regions are critical in not only creating a strategy for brand communications through earned media, but enabling us to tell the story at a local relevant level.”
Give “Red Sky Fuel for Thought” a listen, and subscribe to the show on iTunes, Spotify or your favorite podcasting app. Don’t forget to rate and review to help more people find us!
Also mentioned on this episode:
· Red Havas: News You Can Choose White Paper
· AdWeek: The Future of Marketing is Earned
· Patagonia’s “Don’t Buy This Jacket” environmental campaign
· Wimbledon 2022 nail art campaign (Red Havas client)
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2023 SOCIAL PREDICTIONS: Episode 34 of Red Sky Fuel for Thought podcast
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
o What’s the current state of the social landscape?
o Which brands are doing social the right way?
o What is most in-demand for brands on social?
o What should brand marketers be thinking about in 2023?
The world of social media is constantly changing and keeping us on our toes, from year to year and month to month. That means our expertise in social is only as good as our ability to change with the platforms. To that end, Redsters stay obsessively up to date on what’s happening and how we can make the most of it for our clients.
Our Red Sky Predictions report, which we put out at the top of each year, is one of the ways we demonstrate our evolving expertise in social. In it, we cast several predictions focused on social media, along with guidance about how to best manage the changes ahead. In this episode of our Red Sky Fuel for Thought podcast, host Nancy Anderson brings in two of our global experts on the topic — Redsters Davitha (“Davs”) Tiller and Stuart Hood – to talk about what we can expect for social media in 2023.
To start off the conversation, Davs, our EVP of social and integration, gives her overview of what she’s seeing happen with social right now.
“Over the last year, the social landscape has undergone big and unexpected changes,” says Davs. “From Meta to Twitter, we've seen a major shift away from the ‘go-to’ platforms for marketers, with newcomers such as TikTok poised to step in and take over some of that space. And with that, we've seen some exciting changes in behavior and trends.”
Stuart Hood, executive director of social and content at Red Havas AU, then chimes in about the growing popularity of TikTok and Instagram for news consumption, referencing our Meaningful Brands study.
“People are still looking for entertainment and inspiration on social, but they want to be entertained in many different ways,” says Stuart. “We’ve found that almost half of all content provided by brands is not meaningful to consumers, and help content is the most desired category from brands today. So, whereas content that rewards or inspires is the most expected, people are really wanting to see that help content which the news agenda is pushing for consumers.”
Next, Davs walks through our “Behind the Brand (BTB)” prediction.
“Following the pandemic, people-focused storytelling has become a staple in social strategies for brands,” she says. “This trend started with executive visibility and bringing in the CEO perspective but has since expanded to bringing in voices from people on all levels of the organization who are usually behind the scenes. The social landscape has become incredibly competitive, so offering an authentic perspective of what goes on in your business can help to differentiate yourself and break through the noise as a company and as a brand.”
The conversation then shifts to brands that are getting it right on social.
Stuart lists the following as best-practice brands that take users on a journey of what it’s like to be part of them:
· The Daily Aus
· Lurpak Butter
· Red Bull Racing
· Bailey Nelson
Davs adds to the list with brands she thinks are doing social the right way:
· Delta Airlines
· IBM
· Trader Joe’s
Next, both of our guests discuss what’s most in-demand from their clients regarding their social channels.
“Brands are finally starting to look at paid social as part of their always-on organic strategy,” says Stuart. “Many social channels don't provide very good organic reach anymore, so it's been a bit of a battle to convince clients that while great creative is important, you also need to spend some money to ensure that people are seeing your content. But we’re seeing a big shift in how brands are becoming more educated in how paid efforts can boost their organic performance and amplify their brand storytelling.”
“We are getting an incredible amount of demand for social listening and social intelligence to look at what audiences are talking about, what they're looking for, what they're missing, and then proactively plugging those gaps through content,” says Davs. “We’re starting to use social listening in a much more sophisticated way to look at brand reputation, not just on the social side, but holistically from an earned social, paid influencer perspective as well.”
“In the last few months, we've had about five different briefs from separate clients come through asking us to develop a social listening strategy,” says Stuart. “Some clients want to understand what people are talking about from a brand point of view and what their competitors are doing, and other clients are asking for a monitoring service to understand what's happening daily. Overall, brands are really starting to tune into what people are saying about them, and they're using data and insights from social listening to help feed into their content strategy.”
To close out our discussion, Davs provides advice for brand marketers and communicators on social:
“Having a full understanding of the versatility of social is more important than ever. There is nothing across the marketing funnel that social cannot accomplish, whether it’s driving awareness, consideration, conversion, advocacy or customer service; it really spans the gamut. Social is a complex channel, so it is vital to invest in specialism. There's more about it to know than ever before, but there's also a lot that can go wrong. If you're a brand that doesn't have an internal point of contact or agency partner that is versed in all things social and can advise how to activate on the latest changes, then now is the time to get amongst it.”
Give “Red Sky Fuel for Thought” a listen, and subscribe to the show on iTunes, Spotify or your favorite podcasting app. Don’t forget to rate and review to help more people find us!
Also mentioned on this episode:
· Red Sky Predictions 2023 report
· Red Havas Meaningful Brands Study
· The Daily Aus
· Lurpak Butter
· Red Bull Racing
· Bailey Nelson
· Delta Airlines
· IBM
· Trader Joe’s
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· LinkedIn
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Remember to rate and review today’s show; we’d love to hear from you!
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Red Sky Predictions 2023: Ep. 33 of Red Sky Fuel for Thought Podcast
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
What are we predicting for communicators in 2023? Which of our 2023 predictions stand out most? How did our 2022 predictions pan out?As Red Havas’ new Red Sky Predictions report explores, it’s a wild time to be alive. Around us, wars are being waged. The pandemic continues. Our climate is its own battlefield. The economy is hurting and the cost of living growing. Many of us are traumatized, outraged and despairing over the state of social, racial, reproductive and criminal justice. When we pick up our phones — which we do constantly — we’re confronted by headlines about these things and more. It’s no wonder peace eludes so many of us now.
Of course, this is also the context in which organizations are operating — making it a critical time for brands and employers to consider their purpose and how they want to make a positive impact on the world and earn greater trust with their stakeholders.
Our 10 predictions for communicators in 2023 are also the subject of this month’s podcast episode. Host Ellen Mallernee, VP of content, speaks to Tom Norquist, SVP of corporate innovation at PlayCore, and fellow Redster Lesley Sillaman, EVP, to walk through our 10 predictions for communicators in 2023, including which predictions stand out most to them and how our 2022 predictions panned out over the last year.
Our 2023 Red Sky Predictions are as follows:
1. ROWING BACK IN THE WAKE OF ROE V. WADE
Companies will need to extend their ESG strategy to include a proactive framework for navigating highly charged political waters in a way that supports and complements their business strategy, especially with those issues that matter to their key stakeholders internally and externally.
2. MALICE, MANIPULATION AND OPPORTUNITY IN THE METAVERSE
We’ll have to build confidence and trust among key stakeholders for brands that will want to have a meaningful presence in the metaverse and ensure the security of the people and data that enter. Governments will also need to heed what we have learned from the social media space and get on the front foot with rules and regulations.
3. VIRAL HEALTHCARE MISINFORMATION EXPOSED
Improving individual health literacy and equity will become a greater focus as misinformation surrounding health conditions increases. Artificial intelligence, similar technology tools and digital health literacy efforts are positioned to play a key role in disrupting the viral nature of misinformation.
4. CLIMATE CHANGE-D
The conversation around climate change will continue to change — in the media, in politics, within corporations and amongst the general public — moving away from denial and toward demand, as more climate events occur, the costs of inaction become clearer and more get on board with taking a stand.
5. BRAND VALUES TO INCREASE IN VALUE
As the impacts of global economic and geopolitical uncertainty really start to bite, purpose-aligned brands will be the ones that succeed at talent retention and attraction and supporting sales enablement. But it’s going to be an increasingly competitive space as brands across all categories compete for share of voice and mind.
6. THE DIGITAL DIVIDE AND GREATER SOCIAL SEPARATION
More campaigns and activations will consider how to reach populations that we have left behind with the acceleration of digital during the pandemic, causing an increased emphasis on user experience, education and awareness about digital inclusion, as well as (re)consideration of more direct interface interactions for services.
7. NEWS TAKES ON NEW SOCIAL SHAPES
Every brand is increasingly seen as a news brand and will be expected to help its audience by providing meaningful social content that equips them with new knowledge or tools. In addition, brands will be more careful about the platforms they use, thinking as much about brand loyalty and love as they do about reputational risk.
8. HERE, THERE, EVERYWHERE: THE HYBRID QUANDARY
As people exert further control over their preferences for the ways, times and places in which they work and live, employers, retailers, landlords and homeowners will need to think creatively about what it means to design with flexibility. We predict more customized spaces that encourage collaboration, relaxation and team building.
9. OUR MENTAL FITNESS MUSCLES ARE FLEXED (FINALLY)
Mental fitness is finally at the forefront, and we expect it to be embraced further, being viewed through the same lens as physical health — and soon it could become a requirement in schools like physical education. We’ll also see a greater investment in mental health services by governments, businesses, communities and individuals.
10. BEHIND-THE-BRAND (BTB) TAKES SOCIAL BY STORM
2023 is the year in which BTB will become a staple theme in every content marketing strategy. Both B2C and B2B marketers will prioritize all forms of people-led content production, from employee- and customer-advocacy programs to influencer co-creation and serialized branded content production — as authentic-by-design social storytelling becomes the new norm.
Give “Red Sky Fuel for Thought” a listen, and subscribe to the show on iTunes, Spotify or your favorite podcasting app. Don’t forget to rate and review to help more people find us!
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2022 Word of the Year: Ep. 32 of Red Sky Fuel for Thought Podcast
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
o Why we chose “resilience” as our 2022 Word of the Year
o Other interesting words our survey yielded
o Other 2022 words of the year from institutions around the globe
Since 2020, Red Havas has named a global word of the year (WOTY). The selection of this word is informed by quantitative input (via a Havas Group employee survey) and qualitative input (from a mix of global communications pros and thought leaders across the industry). Ultimately, it’s identified by an internal team at the agency who considers all words received, not only numerically but thematically.
This year, when reviewing the submissions that poured in from every corner of the world, two categories of words stood out to us. One stream was around words related to flexibility, fluidity, adaptability, agility, comeback and change. The second was around our feelings, behaviors and attributes as people. The category with the most “votes” were resilient/resiliency, grit, enduring, tenacious and persevere/perseverance — all of which are aspects of resiliency. Ultimately, we chose resilience as our 2022 Word of the Year.
In this month’s episode, host Nancy Anderson, VP of social and content, speaks to fellow Redsters James Wright and Ellen Mallernee to discuss our 2022 Word of the Year and dig deeper into some of the other popular and interesting words, both from our survey and from around the world.
To kick off our conversation, James Wright, CEO of Red Havas Group and global chairman of the Havas PR Global Collective, talks through our rationale for selecting resilience as our 2022 word of the year.
“I think resilience encapsulates 2022 perfectly,” says James. “It's a great word that has a lot of stretch for what's happened to us all in this last year. I love its connection to resilience theory, which looks at how people are affected by things such as adversity, change, loss and risk and how they can adapt and become stronger as a result. So, it has some symmetry to last year’s word of the year, which was adapt.”
“It's a beautiful word with a backbone,” adds Nancy. “Resilience is not a matter of getting knocked down by a difficult circumstance and then staggering blindly into the next challenge. Rather, it's about gleaning wisdom from those difficult circumstances and getting back up with conviction and confidence.”
“Our word of the year really shows that we have been through the wringer, but we're always going to keep trying,” says Ellen Mallernee, VP of content. “Language has the power to help us reframe difficult circumstances in positive ways, so each year we aim to choose a word that has some forward momentum to it. Resilience just feels right.”
Next, Ellen walks through some of the other words of the year chosen by institutions from around the world. Some of the ones she touches on include:
· Gaslighting, chosen by Merriam Webster, which is the act or practice of grossly misleading someone especially for one's own advantage
· Goblin mode, chosen by Oxford English Dictionary, defined as the idea of rejecting societal expectations put upon us in favor of doing whatever one wants to
· Permacrisis chosen by Collins English Dictionary, which is a term used to describe the plethora of ongoing crises that nations across the globe are facing
· Teal chosen by Australia National University, which is an adjective relating to an independent political candidate or politician who advocates for greater integrity in Parliament and more action on addressing harmful climate change
· Smash chosen by DW, an English word popularized among German youth that roughly means to start something with someone, pick someone up, or have sex with someone
· Homer chosen by Cambridge Dictionary, which was searched for nearly 75,000 times on the Cambridge Dictionary website during the first week of May when it was a Wordle answer, disgruntling many players whose winning streaks were ended by the unfamiliar American baseball term
Within our own survey, we also received some interesting submissions, including words like transmogrify (to change or alter greatly and often with grotesque or humorous effect) and quiet quitting (doing the minimum requirements of one's job and putting in no more time, effort or enthusiasm than absolutely necessary).
Each of the panelists then walk through some of their personal WOTY submissions.
“Similarly to last year’s word, I chose adaptability, which is the quality of being able to adjust or adapt,” says James. “We now live in a constant state of adapting and adjusting the way we work, live, think and educate ourselves. We also must adapt our expectations for current issues, from equality and climate change to war and conflict; from navigating misinformation and disinformation to adapting our approach to business and politics. The art of adaption is a craft we're all learning to master. The world needs a rethink, and we need to be open to modifying every part of our lives to help improve our communities and society.”
“It's always tough to identify a word of the year because it requires introspection and retrospection and the ability to examine the collective experience,” says Ellen. “Ultimately, I chose metamorphosis as my word. We've all been through the gauntlet, and this was the year we got to decide how we wanted to emerge from a painful chapter.”
“Most people focused on the positive with their chosen words,” adds Nancy about our survey results. “I think that really ties back to our word of the year, as we're forever resilient, always picking ourselves back up, treating hardships as a learning lesson, and marching forward.”
Closing out our discussion, our guests reflect on this year’s word and look ahead to what 2023 may bring, foreshadowing our annual Red Sky Predictions report that will be releasing in January.
“In 2023, I'm hoping for growth as a nation, as a human race, as a community and as an economy,” concludes James. “But I also think there’s a word we may or may not be talking about in a year’s time: Twitter.”
“I hope that next year, our word isn't so much about having to cope,” adds Ellen, rounding out our discussion. “So, while I haven't identified what my ideal word for 2023 would be, I just I hope for good things for all of us. We deserve a break.”
Give “Red Sky Fuel for Thought” a listen, and subscribe to the show on iTunes, Spotify or your favorite podcasting app. Don’t forget to rate and review to help more people find us!
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Marketing With a Cause: Ep. 31 of Red Sky Fuel for Thought Podcast
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
o What’s the current state of cause marketing?
o The implications of cause marketing on a company’s relationship with its employees, community and clients/customers
o What should brands and nonprofits consider before entering a cause marketing relationship?
In this month’s episode, hosts Linda Descano, CFA®, and Lara Graulich speak with nonprofit leaders and advisors Arlene Fortunato, Katy Sherratt and Dr. Merary Simeon to explore cause marketing, including whether or not it’s still relevant and what brands and nonprofits should consider before entering a cause marketing relationship.
To kick off our conversation, Arlene Fortunato, founder of Fortunato Consulting Group and interim chief development officer at YW Boston, thinks of cause marketing as a vehicle that companies can use to engage existing and future employees—something particularly important in light of the Great Resignation and tight labor market.
She then describes the essential ingredients for a successful cause marketing initiative: “It’s all data-driven. Corporations know who their customers are and what they care about, and they’re looking for relationships with nonprofit organizations that are going to deliver on those promises. The key on both sides is authenticity.”
“The cause marketing partnership is more than the money,” concludes Arlene. “Establishing relationships with companies at the leadership level can create opportunities for thought leadership and networking that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. The more that you can knit together the two entities, the more value there is for the nonprofit and the corporation alike.”
Next in our discussion, we speak with Katy Sherratt, CEO of Back on My Feet, and Dr. Merary Simeon, vice president of human resources at PepsiCo and member of Back on My Feet’s board of directors. Back on My Feet is a Red Havas client.
“It’s important for your customers to feel that it’s a genuine relationship, integrated into more than just the marketing sphere,” says Katy. “If your core values align and you're looking to make meaningful impact that helps both communities and individuals, then it's a natural partnership.”
“It’s about transforming lives every day,” adds Merary through the lens of Back on My Feet. “We go out every day and find those powerful stories in the community — it isn’t just finding one story and using it for the rest of the year.”
Next, both guests describe what it takes to establish a successful partnership.
“Successful partnerships are multifaceted — integrated at every level of the organization,” says Katy. “It takes a village. We need, as every nonprofit does, all the support we can get to continue to have impact and to grow.”
“You must have a passion for investing in humanity and for making meaningful changes in society,” says Merary. “These are human lives — fathers, sons, brothers, sisters, mothers, daughters. They aren’t just a box to check.”
Closing out our discussion, both guests offer advice for nonprofit marketers and communicators to consider when forming partnerships.
“Don’t go blindly into partnerships — do your homework,” says Merary. “You have to be clear on what you're offering in your cause marketing relationships, not just for the communities you’re working to benefit, but also for the organizations themselves.”
“Be selective about the partnerships you do take on,” concludes Katy. “Take a step back and reassess if you feel unsure about their commitment to the work you’re doing. Ask more questions, and make sure that you're on the same page about what this partnership means for both of you.”
Give “Red Sky Fuel for Thought” a listen, and subscribe to the show on iTunes, Spotify or your favorite podcasting app. Don’t forget to rate and review to help more people find us!
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Creativity in a Time of Change: Ep. 30 of Red Sky Fuel for Thought Podcast
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
o What does creativity in communications look like in an increasingly polarized marketplace?
o How can communicators stay inspired and keep their creativity flowing?
o How can brand marketers and communicators elevate the creativity of their campaigns in 2023?
In this month’s episode, Red Havas’ Linda Descano, CFA®, is joined by two creative thinkers and culturally savvy storytellers: Andrew Stevens, executive creative director at Red Havas U.K., and Aaron Padin, founder of design firm VSLMTH and former head of art and design at J. Walter Thompson. Together, they explore the theme of creativity and their takeaways for brand marketers and communicators who want to keep their creativity sparking in a post-pandemic, purpose-driven and highly polarized marketplace.
“Creativity is about using ideas to solve problems,” says Andrew, kicking off our conversation. “That’s where we can add real value for clients. You have to ask yourself, ‘Is my idea new, novel, unexpected or surprising in some way?’ And crucially, ‘Is it aligned to what's happening in culture?’”
“Creativity really brings purpose to life,” says Aaron. “It boils down to the purpose of what we're trying to solve, whether it's a business solution or awareness play.”
Next, our guests talk about how creativity can help bridge the divide between brands and consumers.
“People need to fall in love with brands,” says Aaron. “The top brands in the world, like Nike or Apple, don’t reach that point overnight; they have been years in the making. Consistency is the key to establishing authenticity for your brand.”
“You need to stand for something, otherwise you stand for nothing,” says Andrew. “It's one thing for a brand to say it's doing something with purpose, but creativity allows you to show what that purpose looks like and why it matters to your audience. Some brands don't want to take a position on anything because they fear they’ll alienate certain audiences. This has led to creative outputs that are overly earnest or bland, which is disheartening because creativity should excite, inspire and illicit an emotional response.”
The conversation then shifts to how both of our guests stay inspired and keep their creativity flowing.
"I approach the world with open eyes," says Aaron. "The world can be jaded and dark sometimes, but I keep a sense of innocence, optimism and acceptance, which creates cool creative opportunities for me and excites me to wake up every day. It also helps to hear about what others are doing in the creative space and how it can inspire my own work."
“I try to expose myself to as many different things as possible,” says Andrew. “In order to be creative, I need to be able to view things in new ways and from different perspectives, which requires setting up points and counterpoints. It's all about creating new contexts for your brain to do its work and reach that ‘eureka’ moment.”
Our discussion closes with advice for how brand marketers and communicators can elevate creativity in their campaigns and communications in 2023.
“You need to be honest and empathetic,” says Aaron. “As creatives, we must be able to put ourselves in other people’s shoes to understand and talk to them in a way they connect with. You also need to be provocative, whether it’s being fun and whimsical or triggering an emotional response. Brands can’t play it safe.”
"Brands need to be radical and daring," says Andrew. "The world is in a state of radical disarray, and we have everything to lose and everything to gain with the solutions we put forward in response. We all need laughter and positivity right now. Start putting bold ideas in front of your clients that may not have been approved or well-received just a few years ago."
Give “Red Sky Fuel for Thought” a listen, and subscribe to the show on iTunes, Spotify or your favorite podcasting app. Don’t forget to rate and review to help more people find us!
Also mentioned on this episode:
· “Human Motivation” by Robert Frank
· ‘Imagine’ gender equality campaign by CPB London
· British Museum Disputed Artifacts Tour by Vice
· 'The Lost Class' gun reform stunt by Leo Burnett
· Cadbury ‘Chocolate Fingers’ sign language campaign
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Marketing to Women with Authenticity: Ep. 29 of Red Sky Fuel for Thought Podcast
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
o The current state of the female consumer
o How brands can effectively reach women and avoid ‘pinkwashing’
o How social media has helped women take over brand marketing
o The importance of authentic representation of women in media
In the late 1990s, the phrase ‘marketing to women’ became part of the corporate lexicon. Seemingly overnight, financial services brands, among others were waking up to the power of the female consumer.
Some brands responded with a ‘shrink it and pink it’ strategy – just changing the size, color, or packaging of products; others created bespoke products & services designed for women by women; and others changed how they marketed to women, in terms of how they featured women in their advertising and spoke to them with email or other communications. Over the ensuing two decades, many brands put forward real game-changing campaigns, but not without a fair share of tone-deaf ones as well.
In this month's episode, Red Havas’ Linda Descano, CFA® is joined by Aliza Freud, Founder and CEO of SheSpeaks Inc., and Jeannine Shao Collins, President of SeeHer, to explore the state of marketing to women and offer actionable tactics for how brands can build more authentic, meaningful connections with women across different touch points, whether advertising, marketing or PR-driven.
Aliza kicks off the conversation with a look into the current state of the female consumer and how women are responding to brands, a topic covered in a recent survey conducted by SheSpeaks.
“Women are feeling burnt out,” says Aliza. “The instability caused by many outside factors in the last few years have interrupted the lives of women and impacted the way they are feeling, both mentally and physically.”
Aliza goes on to explain how this has changed the expectations women have for brands trying to reach them: “Women have hit a point where they have too many important things to focus on and don’t have enough time or energy to cut through the marketing of it all; they are looking for brands to talk to them authentically about how their product will make their lives better and easier."
“When women are seeking out brands, they want to understand a company’s purpose, values, and what they stand for,” says Jeannine. “Standing up for what you believe in as a company can be a driving force for growth for your business. We’ve also seen that when a company has high gender equality scores, women are more likely to make purchases and have a better perception of its brand reputation.”
Next, our guests discuss some insights from their personal experiences for creating meaningful engagement with women and avoiding ‘pinkwashing.’
“Women want a benefit-driven conversation,” says Aliza. “You also need to be highly aware of the macro-environment, such as the political and economic landscape, because women are very much plugged into how these issues affect themselves and those they care about.”
“We believe that if you can see her, you can be her,” says Jeannine. “Through that intersectional lens, we deal with the seven tenants of inclusivity, which include race, gender, race, and ethnicity, body type, age, and ability. We make sure that we are talking to all women, not just one type of woman. In our research, we found that ads perform better and lead to better sales when women are portrayed as counter-stereotypes, doing things that are unexpected and being represented in their full lives.”
Our guests then discuss the creative shift occurring in brand marketing as more women begin to have a seat at the table.
“The advent of social media content creators has democratized brand marketing for women,” says Aliza. “With 86% of social media influencers being women, they are dominating in terms of building followings and creating engaging content. When you compare a piece of content from a female influencer with a brand-developed asset, the influencer content is winning every time, largely due to the benefit-driven messaging it provides.”
Jeannine talks about SeeHer’s series of “#WriteHerRight” guides, which were developed to help writers, show runners, media executives, and actors to understand how to portray women authentically. The series also includes guides specifically centered around portraying Black female characters and Latina characters, with more in the works.
“It's important that women are represented in all aspects, whether it’s front of or behind the camera,” adds Jeannine. “There is a lot of unconscious gender bias that people don’t realize they’re putting forward when there are no women present in the room.”
To close out the conversation, both of our guests provide one recommendation for brand marketers and communicators to keep in mind when marketing to women as they plan programs and campaigns for 2023.
“In this environment, gender equality is not something to take for granted,” says Jeannine. “Equip yourself with the tools and resources needed to combat your unconscious gender biases so you can better understand what consumers want and how you can produce creative that resonates with them.”
“It’s important to recognize that women are not a monolith,” says Aliza. “You need to be mindful that not every woman believes or thinks the same way. Be aware of this as you come up with your campaigns, messaging, and the products and services you're offering to the women's market.”
Give “Red Sky Fuel for Thought” a listen, and subscribe to the show on iTunes, Spotify or your favorite podcasting app. Don’t forget to rate and review to help more people find us!
Also mentioned on this episode:
· SheSpeaks Women’s State of Mind Survey
· SeeHer #WriteHerRight
· Fidelity’s influencer program
· Always #LikeAGirl campaign
· P&G #ShareTheLoad campaign
· Adidas x Havas Liquid Billboard case film
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