Brands aligning themselves with social causes and movements should be a \u201cno brainer\u201d as long as they don\u2019t embrace controversy just for the sake of controversy. \u201cWe heard that brands need to stand for something but that doesn\u2019t necessarily mean always that they have to be controversial,\u201d is the way Scott Donaton sums up one theme of the Digital Content NewFronts<\/a> 2018.<\/p>\n

The Global Chief Content Officer at Digitas<\/a>, the agency that co-founded the NewFronts about a decade ago, says it\u2019s more about brands having values that people can relate to.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes it just means that they have to speak their own truth, they have to have values, because we think that audiences care about those values now and that those things will come into purchase decisions,\u201d Donaton<\/a> says in this interview with Beet.TV.<\/p>\n

Donaton recalls the walkup to this year\u2019s NewFronts and how many people naturally embraced the Digitas theme of The #Boycott NewFront<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time we got on a prep call with somebody to get ready for the event, we didn\u2019t even have to get out of our mouths what we wanted to talk about before they would basically say things to us that completely confirmed that we were on the right path.\u201d<\/p>\n

His takeaway is that \u201cthere\u2019s clearly this moment in time right now and our aim was to capture it and it felt like we did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aligning with causes and movement requires a smart, strategic approach because brands can be risk turning people off or, worse, sparking calls for a boycott of their products or services.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen some of this happen in the marketplace with brands that have taken a stand on more hot button issues. I think the point is, don\u2019t court controversy for the sake of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The right strategic approach means that brands must be prepared \u201cand be ready for what might happen. Have the answers, have the strategy in place to stick by what you\u2019re saying.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the job of agencies to help brands understand \u201cwhat their why is,\u201d Donaton adds. That \u201cwhy\u201d encompasses the role they play in peoples\u2019 lives and the stories they can tell in a credible fashion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen it\u2019s really just about being true to yourself and speaking that truth. As long as brands don\u2019t try to jump on something for the sake of jumping on it or doing something that\u2019s not authentic, this is actually a no brainer.\u201d<\/p>\n

This video is part of Beet.TV\u2019s coverage of the Digital Content NewFronts 2018. The series a co-presentation of Beet.TV and the IAB. Please see additional videos from the series on this page<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brands aligning themselves with social causes and movements should be a \u201cno brainer\u201d as long as they don\u2019t embrace controversy just for the sake of controversy. \u201cWe heard that brands need to stand for something but that doesn\u2019t necessarily mean always that they have to be controversial,\u201d is the way Scott Donaton sums up one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":51923,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[]},"categories":[7184],"tags":[5291,3133,3167,4366],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51921"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}