Marketing in 2021: Conflict Readiness and Resilience

Beyond the obvious challenges presented to us in 2020, little has been done to address the challenges marketers face while trying to reach the masses, while the masses are bitterly divided along political lines. Where is it safe to advertise? What is appropriate to say? While we have cause for hope and optimism about a better year in 2021, these challenges are not going away, and it is why we launched the Media Roundtable. 

In an effort to supply marketers with new tools to face modern problems of polarization, some conflicts arise that require special attention. For example, imagine one of your key media channels finds itself at the center of a heated public controversy. Stakeholders of your business and strangers on social media begin calling for you as a brand to renounce your channel partner publicly and cease to support with ad dollars (this happens more than you may realize). How are you to respond? How can you be sure your response is in line with your core values and not compromising for profit, or worse, caving to mob justice, simply because the pressure is on? These high stakes situations are when you call Bob Bordone and the team at the Cambridge Negotiation Institute. This is also the reason Bob is a Founding Member at Media Roundtable and the provider of this week’s article. Bob and his team work both proactively and reactively to help parties find a way forward that best serves the needs of all involved. The work they do is incredibly important and we feel the quote below sums it up better than we can:

“Conflict resilience is the capacity to sit with very intense conflict, listen with generosity and courage, and also assert your own perspective with authenticity and grace. It is not about softening your viewpoint, but it is about finding a way to share your viewpoint so that you’re maximizing the chance that it lands with your intended audience.”

Bob has written an article titled, Understanding and Organizing for Conflict Readiness and Resilience, which we believe is a mandatory piece of curriculum for all Influencer readers. Whether you are a brand marketer or just a human heading into the holidays with your family or friends, Bob’s piece is an informative read that will shape the way we all move into 2021.

-Dan

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