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Good morning.
As President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took their oaths of office, several brands were quick to share their support of the new administration on social media. On Wednesday, Patagonia thanked Biden in a series of tweets for re-joining the Paris Agreement to fight climate change and also for placing a temporary moratorium on oil and gas drilling in the Arctic. Meanwhile, Ben & Jerry’s celebrated Harris becoming the first woman to become vice president, as well as the first Black woman and first Asian-American woman to hold the nation’s second-highest office. The Unilever-owned ice cream brand also published a blog post detailing what it hopes to see happen in the first 100 days of the Biden presidency.
The role of brands in politics is something that continues to be a topic of discussion, especially in the days following the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Several notable companies including American Express, AT&T, and Best Buy have announced they will pause political donations to politicians who objected to the results of the U.S. presidential election. (Hallmark Cards said it wanted Republican U.S. Senators Josh Hawley and Roger Marshall to return two years' worth of donations.) In fact, a new survey conducted last weekend by The Harris Poll found that 72% of 2,000 U.S. adults want companies to pause political contributions and 37% hope the pause will be permanent. Meanwhile, some surveys over the past several months have found that consumers increasingly want brands to take a stand on the social issues and causes they support.
With the new administration now in place, several notable companies have already offered to help with Covid-19 vaccine logistics. Earlier this week, Starbucks partnered with Washington State to help with “operational efficiency, scalable modeling and human-centered design expertise and support.” And on Wednesday, Amazon offered to help President Joe Biden with the nation’s vaccine rollout.
While Biden has pledged to vaccinate 100 million Americans in the first 100 days of his presidency, the newly inaugurated president will have his work cut out for him beyond logistics. There’s also still the hurdle of getting people to trust the vaccines. According to the Edelman Trust Barometer released last week, just 33% of people are willing to get the vaccine “as soon as possible” while another 31% say they'll get it in six months to a year. Edelman found that respondents with “good information hygiene”—or those who engage with news, avoid information echo chambers, verify information, and don’t amplify unvetted information—are more likely to take the vaccine within a year. And those hesitations are something that companies and groups such as The Ad Council are working to address through upcoming ad campaigns and other marketing efforts. For more on Edelman’s findings—including how people trust CEOs more than the government—read on.
And finally, we’ve extended the nomination deadline for CMO Next 2021 which will be released next month. The third annual list will highlight 50 CMOs who are using innovation, technology, creativity and culture to reimagine, reshape and reinvent the CMO role. Applications are due by January 22, and CMOs or marketing leaders with an equivalent title are eligible to apply. Learn more about CMO Next and how to nominate yourself or someone else. Also, be sure to attend our accompanying event on February 11. Register for this free event.
As always, if you have story pitches, news tips, or anything else to share, please get in touch.
Marty
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