Your woke audience
The report acknowledges why some brands might be nervous about being labeled “woke.” Roughly 63% of consumers feel the term “woke” has been politicized. While that sentiment varies significantly among generations—81% of Baby Boomers feel that way, compared to 55% of Gen Z—only 34% of shoppers overall feel that the term is important to advocating for social justice.
According to the report, 64% of consumers are motivated or strongly motivated to support brands that sponsor multicultural events or create inclusive ads. Another 62% feel similarly inclined to back brands that offer products, services or experiences targeted toward specific communities.
There’s similar support for brands that treat all employees and consumers equally, regardless of gender (71%), race/ethnicity (72%), abilities (72%), age (68%) and sexual orientation (66%).
In a breakout session at Masters of Marketing focused on gender equity, 4A’s president and CEO Marla Kaplowitz focused on her former career as a media planner and noted that many brands started their plans with a “general market” and would have to justify including Black, Hispanic, Asian and LGBTQ+ audiences. Despite the report’s findings, it’s an issue that persists in the marketing industry.
“If we live in a world of inclusion, why do we still have to justify including other audiences?” Kaplowitz asked. “Why don’t we start from a place truly of inclusion and have to justify exclusion?”
The case for inclusion
By the study’s own numbers, approximately 12% of people are actively against inclusion, with a quarter feeling indifferent. That inspired AIMM to present brands with a multistep plan to align their data, invest in multicultural marketing, dig into representative research, build diverse teams, identify strong partners, commit to education and recommit to plans made after the murder of George Floyd in 2020.
“Does that mean that that small minority is going to stop speaking loudly and stop screaming ‘exclusion’? No—they’ve already been empowered by the silence that they’ve heard so far, so we know they’re going to continue that—but if we stand for inclusion together, we’re going to be moved forward much better than when we step back.”
