Social Responsibility in Marketing

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 , 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 A group of ultra-rich women paid $11 million each to float in space for 11 minutes and branded it as a “win for women.” But here’s the thing, it wasn’t. It wasn’t about STEM, progress, or representation. It was a 10-minute PR stunt that screamed: “Look what we can do… because we can afford it.” The first woman went to space in 1963. Her name was Valentina Tereshkova. She operated the spacecraft, not just floated in it. Since then, women have 𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘵 𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘴, 𝘳𝘶𝘯 𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 for years to be part of this field. There's even a moment when Katy Perry walked past a female flight engineer who worked on the rocket, casually asking her: “𝘋𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘢𝘺?” From a marketing perspective, this is a classic example of branding without audience awareness. • A message that doesn’t match the moment • A visual that undermines the mission • And a product (in this case, the trip) that no one asked for Gen Z, women in tech, and anyone paying attention saw right through it. Because empowerment isn’t a photo op. And representation isn’t a luxury experience you can buy into. This wasn’t feminism. It was marketing (𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝) . And audiences are no longer here for it.

🎣 “They didn’t even cc me.” This was how Yumi, a senior marketing director, found out her billion-dollar product had been repositioned, without her input. The project she had been leading for 18 months was suddenly reporting into someone else. She didn’t mess up. She wasn’t underperforming. She just wasn’t "there". Not at the executive offsite. Not at the Friday “golf and growth” circle. Not at the CEO’s birthday dinner her male peer casually got invited to. She was busy being excellent. They were busy being bonded. 🍷 When she asked her boss about the change, he was surprised: “You’re usually aligned with the bigger picture, so we assumed it’d be fine.” In Workplace politic-ish: Yumi was predictable. Available. Yet not powerful enough to be consulted. 🔍 What actually happened here? Women are told to build relationships. Men build alliances. Women maintain connections. Men maintain relevance in power circles. It’s not about how many people like you. It’s about how many people speak your name when you’re not in the room. And in most companies, the real decisions - about budget, headcount, succession, are made off-the-clock and off-the-record. 📌 So, how do you stop getting edited out of influence? Try these: 1. 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝗽.    Not the org chart. The whisper network / shadow organistion.    Who gets invited to early product reviews?    Who influences without title?    Start mapping that!     2. 𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗶𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲-𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗽 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁.    If your name hasn’t been mentioned by 3 different people in senior leadership this month, you are invisible to power, even if you’re a top performer.     3. 𝗥𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴.    Skip the webinars and female empowerment panels.    Start showing up where strategy happens: QBRs, investor briefings, offsite planning, cross-functional war rooms.     4. 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹.    Schedule recurring 1:1s with lateral stakeholders, not to “catch up,” but to co-build. Influence travels faster across than up.     5. 𝗕𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗵𝘂𝗿𝘁𝘀.    If you vanished for 2 weeks and no one noticed, you’re not central enough to promote.     🧨 If any of this feels raw, it’s because it is. Brilliant women are being rewritten out of their own stories, not for lack of performance, but for lack of positioning. That’s why Uma, Grace and I created 👊 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗢𝘂𝘁𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿: 𝗠𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀👊 A course for women who are done watching strategic mediocrity rise while they wait for recognition. It’s not about becoming someone else. It’s about learning the rules that were never designed for us, and playing like you intend to win. 🔗 Get it if you’re ready, link in comment. Or wait until they “assume you’d be aligned,” too.

It’s concerning to see brands still falling short on diversity in 2024. Influencer Eleanor Wood took to TikTok to share a disappointing experience highlighting the importance of diversity and inclusivity in brand strategies. Eleanor was uninvited from a global brand trip after raising concerns about the lack of diversity—all 57 influencers invited were Caucasian. When she pointed this out, the brand claimed it was a "coincidence" based on who responded first and removed her from the trip. Despite her suggestion to offer her spot to a Black or Brown influencer, the brand ultimately replaced her with another white influencer. Diversity and inclusivity must be integral to any strategy from the beginning. Incidents like these and the backlash seen with the Pink Honey event emphasise how critical it is for brands to improve. It’s encouraging to see influencers like Eleanor holding brands accountable, even though the responsibility shouldn’t fall solely on them. So, brands: 1. Make inclusivity a priority in your strategy from the beginning. 2. If everyone looks the same in your campaigns, address the gap. 3. Don’t dismiss concerns - use them to improve. 4. Engage with Black and Brown influencers year-round, not just during campaigns.

Business isn't always about being number one. At times the greatest play is giving a purpose to others. After 18 years in branding, growth strategy & LinkedIn marketing, here’s what i have observed. Businesses that last longer than their competitors are not those who do the best at using strategies. The businesses that last are those who have the clearest “why?” Now i want to give you an example of how this works. A founder had reached out to me. Great product. Solid team. Yet, Zero engagement on LinkedIn. All of his posts were based on the features/offer/”book a call” model. No one was liking or commenting. No one was purchasing. Rather than fixing his content first, we fixed his cause. Here’s what we did. 1. Instead of selling he stood for something. His business was more than just software. It was about helping small businesses compete with larger players. This became his story. 2. We made his struggle part of the message. He built this from scratch with no funding, no connections and no safety net to fall back on. In creating vulnerability through his posts he gained trust faster than any case study ever could. 3. We created content around what he believed not just what he sold. Every post that said “this is what i think is broken in this industry”, outperformed every single promotional piece by miles. Results? Within 90 days: inbound leads, speaking invitations, community caretakers (not trolls). Not because the algorithm changed. But the cause became clear. Lessons: Winners focus on the scoreboard. Builders focus on the mission. The scoreboard changes every quarter. A real cause will compound over time. What’s your cause behind your business? Let me know by commenting below. - Nataraj Sasid

Every International Women's Day, the tech industry does something predictable. Free tools for 24 hours. A campaign. A hashtag. A carefully worded post about empowerment. And then Monday arrives. And nothing has changed. This isn't about any one company. It's about an industry pattern that has survived every awareness campaign thrown at it. I've spent decades in rooms that weren't built for me. So let me say this plainly: A 24-hour promotion is not a commitment. It's a marketing decision. If you actually want to change who builds technology, the work looks different. It looks like who you hire when no one is watching. Who you sponsor when it's uncomfortable. Who you promote when they don't look like the last person in that role. Who you retain past the five-year mark, when women in tech disappear from the pipeline at rates the industry still refuses to treat as a crisis. AI is genuinely shifting who can build, I believe that. But good intentions and awareness campaigns haven't moved the needle on representation the way the industry promised they would. The gap between what gets celebrated and what actually gets built, inside our teams, our pipelines, our leadership, is still too wide. I include my own company in this. No institution is done. The difference is whether you're honest about the gap or performing around it. The tools are getting more democratic. The institutions haven’t caught up. So this year, skip the campaign. Do the unglamorous work instead. That's what actually changes anything.

When you see lists celebrating companies for making changes to DEI policies, it’s easy to assume these organizations are champions of diversity, equity, and inclusion. But headlines often obscure the full picture. Take John Deere, for example. While this list might appear to signal their commitment to DEI, a closer look reveals a more complex reality. Their decision to cease sponsoring social or cultural awareness events and audit training materials reflects a troubling shift away from meaningful inclusion. Adding to this, their statement distancing the company from diversity quotas and pronoun identification shows a selective approach to DEI. This serves as an important reminder: NOT ALL DEI EFFORTS ARE CREATED EQUAL. True diversity, equity, and inclusion require an unwavering commitment to uplifting all marginalized communities—not just those whose support aligns with corporate comfort or public image. Companies don’t get to cherry-pick which groups they’ll support, leaving others—such as LGBTQIA2S+ individuals, Black and Brown communities, or people with disabilities—behind. DEI isn’t a token gesture or a PR move. It’s a pledge to create equitable spaces for everyone. So when you see these articles and images, dig deeper. Are these companies truly embodying the principles of DEI, or are they merely reacting to external pressures? Performative actions and diluted commitments aren’t enough—not when real lives and livelihoods are at stake. Rejecting anti-DEI sentiment is a start, but it’s only the beginning. What we need are organizations willing to lead with courage and advocate unapologetically for inclusion. Because when even one community is excluded or seen as “other,” we all lose. As Audre Lorde wisely said, “There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.” It’s time for companies to embrace this truth, take real action, and build a better, more inclusive future for everyone. True inclusion doesn’t allow for exceptions—when even one group is left behind, the work is incomplete.

In an era where only 63% of consumers trust brands to do what is right, here’s how companies can crack the code by becoming true guardians of societal good! Consumers are increasingly skeptical of brands that appear self-serving in their marketing. I found this particularly relevant when reading a fascinating 2024 study examining more than 150 award-winning Cannes Lions campaigns from 2018-2023. Here's what stood out to me about brands that successfully built trust and drove real impact: 1️⃣ They identified authentic societal challenges where their involvement could make a tangible difference. Take Patagonia's "Don't Buy This Jacket" campaign. The company encouraged consumers to think twice before making purchases and choose quality over quantity, emphasizing environmental sustainability. 2️⃣ They demonstrated unwavering commitment beyond quick publicity stunts. Consider Domino's "Paving for Pizza" initiative: in 2018, the brand filled potholes in towns across America and earned one billion media impressions in just eight months. 3️⃣ They prioritized education and mentorship. For instance, K-Lynn, a multi-brand lingerie retailer, creatively used its catalog poses to demonstrate breast self-exam techniques. This led to greater awareness of mammogram benefits and an increase in local mammogram screenings. In my view, the most impactful brand initiatives emerge when companies identify problems where their expertise and resources can create meaningful change. The focus shifts from "getting attention" to "driving impact." I'm curious to hear your thoughts—what examples have you seen of brands successfully balancing business goals with genuine societal impact? #BuildingTrust #SustainableMarketing #SocialGood

How do we make the Amazon rainforest relevant to politicians? Last week, I was asked to tackle a tough challenge: delivering a hopeful message on Amazon conservation amid daunting political headwinds. I structured my remarks around: 1️⃣ Positive trends in the Amazon 2️⃣ Why success stories matter—they empower people to act rather than feel overwhelmed 3️⃣ How framing can engage audiences beyond the usual "choir" 4️⃣ Strategic communications Reframing the Amazon for Broader Impact (3️⃣) To make the Amazon relevant to U.S. decision-makers currently in power, Amazon advocates must connect conservation to politicians’ priorities. A few potential angles, among many presented: ✅ National & Economic Security: Deforestation disrupts water supplies, agriculture, and livelihoods, potentially driving mass displacement and migration pressures at the U.S. border. ✅ A Strategic Asset: The Amazon regulates global rainfall, impacting agriculture—including U.S. farms. Instability there can drive up food prices at home. ✅ Law & Order: Illegal logging, gold mining, and deforestation fuel organized crime, drug trafficking, and human rights abuses. ✅ Property Rights & Local Control: Indigenous- and community-led conservation are important forms of “responsible” management without top-down overreach. ✅ Faith & Morality: Protecting the Amazon aligns with religious values—stewardship of creation. ✅ Supply Chain Resilience: Destruction breeds market volatility. A stable Amazon supports stable supply chains and economies. Strategic communications (4️⃣) To make conservation efforts more effective, advocates for the Amazon need to consider how they communicate to various audiences: 🔹 Audience Targeting: Tailor messages to specific groups. 🔹 Solutions Journalism: Highlight what’s working, not just what’s wrong. 🔹 Influencers Over Institutions: People trust familiar voices more than experts—leverage parasocial and peer-based influencers. 🔹 Shift Messaging: From “experts say” to “people like you say.” 🔹 Emotion Over Data: Facts inform, but emotions drive action. Facts of course are still critical. 🔹 Personal, Not Just Global: Make issues locally relevant. 🔹 Prebunking Misinformation: Equip audiences with accurate information before falsehoods take hold. 🔹 Transparency Builds Trust: Show, don’t just tell. People are more likely to trust science they understand. 🔹 Visual & Shareable Content: Simple, striking formats travel further. 🔹 Support Local Media: Community-based storytelling can resonate deeply. 🔹 Foster Collective Action: Shift from individual guilt to shared solutions. The overarching message: the challenges are immense, but so are the opportunities. Broadening the constituency for the Amazon will help better protect it.

Ever notice how that one customer who can't stop raving about your product or service is like a walking, talking billboard? Well, guess what? They're also your secret weapon for growth. It's like having a friend who tells everyone they know about this new restaurant they discovered. Word of mouth is powerful, especially for SMBs. So, how can you use that to your advantage? 👉🏾 Start by identifying your superfans—the ones who leave glowing reviews, refer their friends, and can't get enough of what you offer. Treat them like VIPs, and make them feel like a part of your inner circle. It could be as simple as sending them a personalized thank-you note or offering them exclusive access to new products or services. 👉🏾 Next, encourage them to spread the word even further. Ask them to share their experiences on social media, write testimonials, or participate in case studies. Their authentic stories and recommendations will resonate with potential customers far more than any ad campaign ever could. 👉🏾 Remember incentives. Consider creating a referral program using tools like Viral Loops, which rewards your loyal customers for bringing in new business. It could be a discount, a freebie, or a unique experience. Not only will this show your gratitude, but it will also motivate them to keep spreading the love. The beauty of this approach is that focusing on those who already love what you do will likely attract similar individuals who will become loyal fans. It's a win-win situation. So, stop overlooking your happy customers. Nurture those relationships, empower them to become your advocates, and watch your business thrive. #apollineadiju #ABM #b2bmarketing #demandgeneration

💥 Are businesses that only focus on shareholders doomed to fail? 💥 With growing pressure from society, can companies afford to ignore the demands of their stakeholders and still survive? Gillian Tett in Financial Times just made a compelling case for why the answer is no: 💡 Attacks on #ESG have escalated, but the pushback is just as strong.   In Texas, a lawsuit against anti-ESG policies is challenging the state's blacklisting of companies focused on sustainability. This fight goes beyond environmental strategies—it’s about free speech and the right to operate in line with core values. ⚖️ 📈 Business Roundtable stands firm on stakeholderism. Despite pressure to return to the shareholder-first model, major corporate groups like the Business Roundtable are doubling down on the need to invest in workers, communities, and the environment alongside profits. Companies "can and must" balance purpose with profit. 💼💪 🌍 Right-wing critics are redefining stakeholderism, not rejecting it. Instead of rejecting social responsibility outright, ESG critics want to replace progressive values like diversity and clean energy with more traditional causes, such as family values and fossil fuels. This shows the debate isn’t about if companies should serve society, but how they should do it. 🔄 📊 Public trust in business is higher than in government. With only 40% of Americans trusting government, but 53% trusting business, the expectations on corporations are rising. Consumers want brands to take positions on social issues, with 75% willing to switch companies if their values don’t align. 🤝🌱 🌱 Ignoring stakeholders is a risk. The biggest shocks to business—whether pandemics, political strife, or climate crises—are no longer just financial. Failing to recognize stakeholders in this environment isn’t just short-sighted; it’s dangerous. 🚨 The message is unmistakable: businesses that fail to build meaningful relationships with stakeholders are setting themselves up for long-term risks. 🌟 Here are three key pieces of advice to navigate this shift: 1️⃣ Build the capability to understand conflicting stakeholder demands. Companies must develop the capacity to map and balance the often conflicting needs of stakeholders, ensuring that these diverse expectations are integrated into decision-making. 🔍🎯 2️⃣ Leverage innovation to resolve trade-offs. Stakeholder conflicts can fuel innovation. Use these tensions as opportunities to create solutions that benefit both social impact and profitability. 🚀⚖️ 3️⃣ View stakeholder relationships as long-term assets. Stakeholder interactions aren’t transactional—they’re relationships built on trust that evolve into intangible assets, providing long-term value to the business. 🤝💼 #StakeholderCapitalism #ESGInnovation #Sustainability #CorporateStrategy