PRWeek and Campaign reporter Michelle Castillo highlighted M Booth’s groundbreaking Cultured research, tying it to Brooks’ bold Let’s Run There campaign—the brand’s first global initiative in 25 years. Here’s a top takeaway:
M Booth’s recent Cultured survey talked to over 3,000 Americans between ages 18 and 55 and found three out of four wanted companies to be connected to culture. Six out of 10 thought brands should even help shape culture.
“It was higher than I thought, especially as we have seen brands make missteps over the past two years specifically,” said AG Bevilaqua, the Next Fifteen group agency’s chief creative officer. “But consumers are still craving for brands to be part of culture and ingrained in culture.”
The M Booth research found multiple ways for brands to engage consumers around culture, build their business and audiences, and use it effectively to forge relationships.
“Have you laid the framework?” said Bonnie Ulman, the firm’s chief insights and planning officer. “Do you have an authentic reason to be there? And how are you going to see that through? It’s really the three legs of the stool.” M Booth identified four ways brands could tap into culture. Some could chase it by sponsoring major festivals such as Coachella. Others could catalyze culture by creating an attitude around the brand, similar to Dunkin’s recent saucy Halloween spider donut social posts.
More could choose to impact culture by having a social cause. For example, Ben & Jerry’s uses its platform to talk about justice and equity. Or brands could catalyze culture and change the discourse, similar to how Tinder introduced the idea of “swiping right” and normalized online dating.
The key to any cultural strategy is understanding the audience. In the case of M Booth client Brooks and Renner, it found the role it played in people’s lives.
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