Actions speak louder than brand books

Whenever we are introduced to a new brand we’re often presented with your new best friend - the Brand Book. This glossy document is introduced as the essential guide to channeling that brand’s DNA - the details that are meant to underpin every-single-thing you do. But when it comes to which channels deserve a place on your channel mix the document is typically silent. Instead, it’s a race to the bottom, with cost taking precedence over your painstakingly crafted set of brand beliefs.

As media channels and publishers’ behaviours become more laden with their owners’ beliefs - with Zuckerberg holding firm on his refusal to fact-check political adverts in the run up to a monumental election - the decision of who to give your advertising dollars to, whether you like it or not, now comes with a weight of morality attached to it.

Whether brands should have an opinion on politics, take sides on social issues or air their moral values has always been a thorny issue. But if we’re not afraid of making a stand when it comes to our flashy brand purpose ads, why do we suddenly stop when it comes to the sites that host our less sexy activation ads? Perhaps thinking more carefully about where we’re willing to advertise would be doing the ultimate justice to that brand book - taking conscious action to make the world a nicer, less hate filled space and genuinely shifting culture in a positive way, rather than only doing the bit of the job that could win us a Lion. 

Just as Flora have severed ties with Mumsnet following the site’s refusal to remove transphobic content in the interest of free speech, groups like the Conscious Advertising Network have been set up to help brands navigate these murky waters, helping advertisers and agencies alike take the first positive steps in making the internet a safer space, from eradicating ad-fraud, to stopping the funding of fake news and hate speech.

Perhaps these moves are the first signs of a tidal wave of change, as brands revisit those weighty, value-driven documents and apply them not just to what they say, but also where they say it- applying some much needed pressure for platforms to act more responsibly.