Is politics too political for content marketing?

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Joel and I were lucky enough to spend many years together working at Thomson Reuters, a company governed by trust principles formed way back in 1941. Thomson Reuters CEO Steve Hasker described their importance in his recent interview with Barron’s:

While brand thought leadership is undoubtedly different from journalism, you might consider developing your own principles to govern your content and storytelling, especially relating to political events. Politics is an important one to get right in any year, but especially in 2024 as 76 democracies are holding elections.

We’ve helped brands think through this challenge numerous times, so today we wanted to jot down four rules for how to get this right. Let us know what other lessons you’ve learned on this subject throughout your career.

-Ryan

How and when to give your brand a voice in politics

Trump promised to scrap climate laws if US oil bosses donated $1bn (The Guardian)

Electric vehicles to play a key role in China's strategy in the Balkans (euronews)

UK exits recession with better-than-expected growth (Reuters)

Three recent headlines selected at random that will have a significant impact on financial markets and the global economy. Does your institution have a perspective on one or more of these events, some unique data-driven or expert insight that perhaps hasn’t been considered by the mainstream media? You betcha!

The brand uplift from an article, expert video or infographic (all other content options considered!) could be significant. Your core audiences should value your unique voice right at the time that they are hungry to dive deeper into a topic.

But how to navigate these political events without alienating a significant chunk of your audience?

Rule one: Bring something truly unique and interesting to the conversation

When you show up, make sure you are offering real value. I like to look for an angle that perhaps counters a preconceived notion. Perhaps the oil majors wouldn’t change direction even if the climate laws were scrapped?

Rule two: Be authentic (and consistent) to your brand

Make sure whatever you say aligns with your brand identity and expertise. Don’t really have a focus on the automotive market in any meaningful or authoritative sense? Probably leave the China electric vehicles expansion story alone.

Rule three: Stick to the facts

Avoid anything that might be construed as having a politically motivated stance by focusing on the facts and offering a balanced perspective. If the facts are difficult to determine, it’s a good sign to avoid the issue, or avoid mentioning any aspects that can’t be independently verified – researching the topic a variety of different sources can help ensure you’re getting the full picture.

You might think the reason the UK has fallen into recession is because of Brexit. Best to be Brexit-neutral and try to present the pros and cons of Brexit plus other factors impacting the economy.

Rule four: Write like a lawyer

Avoid the use of use emotive or provocative language. Read your content through the lens of objectivity and neutralize any words that lean too far into casting a positive or negative light (in the same way that you’d edit an email to an irritating stakeholder written in the heat of the moment). If in doubt, prune back the adjectives. It’s the difference between an ‘alleged’ crime and a ‘convicted’ one, an academic essay and a dinner-table debate.

Getting it right

Whatever you choose to do, make sure you run it through the established internal checks and balances with a few people at least. Seek out trusted advice and opinions from colleagues whose job is to protect the reputation of your brand, and make sure everyone is on the same page.

Get this balance right and your brand (and external stakeholders) will love you for it!

📈 OFF THE CHARTS

According to analysis by our friends at MarketPsych, “public US-based companies led by highly optimistic CEO’s have outperformed their peers over the last two decades”. The LSEG MarketPsych Transcripts Analytics data feed, which measures optimism levels in Earnings Calls, has revealed that CEO’s who rank in the top 5% for demonstrable optimism exceeded their peers' future stock performance by an average of 0.5% per month.

📡 ON OUR RADAR

• READ: Speaking of (possibly dubious) neutrality: “Is Hunterbrook Media a News Outlet or a Hedge Fund? The hybrid media-finance company wants to monetize investigative journalism in the public interest. Is it a visionary game changer or a cynical ploy?” (The New Yorker)

• LEARN: Vivace freelancer and brand strategist Mimi Hayton features on an upcoming panel with Initials CX to discuss whether B2B and B2C have more to learn from each other than traditionally believed. Register and tune into ‘Optimising B2B Strategies with B2C thinking’ at 10am, this Wednesday May 16th.

• LISTEN: Did you know the CIA has a podcast? PR exercise, savvy storytelling, or both, who doesn’t want a peek behind the shadowy curtain of one the most (in)famous intelligence agencies in the world? (The Langley Files)

• WATCH: For an example of a titan of business who frequently toes the line between politics and business, look no further than Jamie Dimon, who was recently interviewed by Emily Chang on The Circuit. (Bloomberg Originals)

Send us your shout-outs, strong opinions, and headlines to include in next week’s edition.

Thanks for joining us this week. Anything we missed? Something we should include next week? Please send all ideas and feedback to [email protected]. 

Spark is a production of Vivace Content, where we help our clients navigate what to say and how to say it every single day. Get in touch if you’d like to have a no-hassle consultation about how we can help you too. Have a great week ahead, and see you next Monday.