The Now Gen

DEI

Blog

The Art of Selling Bold Ideas to Risk-Averse Clients

Risk aversion in business decisions stems from several factors. For many clients, the fear of financial loss or a failed initiative is often at the forefront. The pressures of managing large budgets, the livelihoods of employees, and maintaining market competitiveness create a solid aversion to risky ventures. Past failures, even minor ones, can reinforce a mindset prioritizing tried-and-tested strategies over bold, innovative moves. External factors like market volatility or economic instability can also drive clients to stick with familiar, low-risk options.

These clients are not opposed to success—they just want to ensure that success comes without unnecessary risk.

The Hidden Fears Behind Creative Hesitancy

Beneath their cautious approach lie deeper fears that fuel their reluctance to embrace bold ideas:

These hidden fears can inhibit their willingness to embrace change, even when there’s potential for reward.

Identifying the Signs of a Risk-Averse Client

Recognizing a risk-averse client allows you to adjust your approach accordingly. Common signs include:

Hesitation with Novelty: They are slow to engage with ideas that differ from their norm.
Over-Analyzing Risk: Clients may ask for exhaustive details on potential downsides early in discussions.
Lengthy Decision-Making: Their decision-making process often involves multiple layers of approval.
Reliance on Past Success: A preference for replicating previous methods rather than trying something new.

Spotting these behaviors helps you anticipate objections and tailor your pitch to their concerns.

Building Trust Before Presenting Bold Ideas

For risk-averse clients, trust is a vital foundation. Without it, even the most well-thought-out, creative ideas will likely be dismissed. Building trust involves establishing credibility and demonstrating reliability from the outset. By positioning yourself as a trusted partner who understands their business needs, you can foster an environment where bold ideas are considered with an open mind.

Clients are more likely to embrace bold ideas if they believe you know your field inside out. Here’s how to build that confidence:

Showcase Expertise: Provide examples of past projects and share your industry knowledge.
Transparency: Be open about your process, including potential risks and how to manage them.
Case Studies: Offer real-world success stories where bold ideas have worked for others in their industry.

Clients who trust you understand their needs will be more willing to step out of their comfort zone.

Why Trust is the Key to Selling Bold Concepts

Trust goes beyond being likable; it’s about showing clients that you have their best interests at heart. Risk-averse clients must believe that your bold ideas are not just creative for creativity’s sake but carefully crafted to drive business success. Trust reassures clients that you are not taking unnecessary risks with their business. It builds the confidence they need to explore bold ideas with the belief that they are backed by solid reasoning and strategic thinking.

Relationship-Building Techniques That Ease Client Worries

Strong relationships with clients can ease their hesitations about bold ideas. Regular communication is key—keep clients informed throughout the project to reduce uncertainty. Address their concerns head-on and offer clear solutions to alleviate fears. Additionally, providing small, incremental wins can help build a track record of success, making more significant creative leaps feel less intimidating. Involving clients in the creative process can also give them a sense of control, which can mitigate anxiety around new ideas.

The ultimate goal is to transform risk-averse clients into bold advocates for creativity, which takes time and the right approach. By introducing bold ideas incrementally, clients can experience small successes that reduce perceived risk and demonstrate the value of creative solutions. As they witness the benefits, their confidence in innovation will grow. Nurturing this confidence involves involving them in the process, celebrating victories, and reinforcing the strategic thinking behind these ideas. Over time, even the most cautious clients can learn to embrace innovation and take more daring risks within their organization.

How to Turn Skeptical Clients into Champions for Innovation

Once a risk-averse client sees the benefits of bold ideas, they can become your most prominent advocate. To encourage this:

Invite Them to Share: Encourage them to speak about their success within their industry.
Position Them as Innovators: Highlight their forward-thinking approach to others.
Celebrate Their Story: Use their journey as a case study to attract other cautious clients.

Involving clients in the creative process through regular check-ins, workshops, or brainstorming sessions, builds their confidence and showcases the value of innovation. Celebrating successes together reinforces the importance of taking risks and demonstrates your commitment to meaningful outcomes. Additionally, continuously explaining the strategic thinking behind bold ideas helps skeptical clients appreciate the necessity of risks for growth and success.

DEI

Empathy, Allyship, and Marketing: How Brands Can Make a Difference

Pride Month is not just a time for celebration; it’s a time to reflect and understand human diversity; it’s a time for brands to reflect on their role in promoting inclusivity and supporting the LGBTQ+ community. 

Beyond adapting our materials for the whole month, true allyship is about taking meaningful actions and fostering empathy. In this blog post, we will explore the concept of allyship within marketing, its significance in promoting inclusivity, and how brands can make a difference. Join us as we discover the power of authentic allyship and its transformative impact during Pride Month and beyond.

The Importance of Authentic Allyship:

Authentic allyship goes beyond performative gestures and requires a genuine commitment to supporting the LGBTQ+ community. It involves actively listening, learning, and amplifying diverse voices. In an article by Entrepreneur, it was advised to be aligned, prepared, and honest to move from performative to actual allyship. By becoming authentic allies, brands can create a positive impact beyond their marketing campaigns. Authentic allyship fosters trust, builds relationships, and contributes to a more inclusive society.

Understanding the LGBTQ+ Community:

To become effective allies, companies, and marketers must strive to understand the experiences and challenges faced by the LGBTQ+ community. This involves educating themselves on LGBTQ+ terminology, identities, and pronouns. Resources such as LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations, online communities, and educational materials can provide valuable insights and promote empathy. By investing time and effort in learning, marketers can ensure their messaging is respectful, inclusive, empathic, and honest.

Building Inclusive Marketing Campaigns:

Inclusive marketing campaigns are crucial for reaching and resonating with the LGBTQ+ community. Marketers should focus on using inclusive language, imagery, and representation that authentically reflect the diversity of sexual orientations and gender identities. Avoiding stereotypes and showcasing a wide range of LGBTQ+ experiences fosters connection and creates a sense of belonging. By prioritizing authenticity and inclusivity, brands can build trust and loyalty among LGBTQ+ consumers.

Collaborating with LGBTQ+ Voices:

Partnering with LGBTQ+ influencers, content creators, and organizations is an effective way to amplify authentic voices and ensure accurate representation. Collaboration should go beyond tokenism and involve genuine partnerships empowering LGBTQ+ individuals and organizations. By centering LGBTQ+ voices, brands can gain valuable insights, co-create meaningful content, and demonstrate their commitment to inclusivity. Genuine collaboration strengthens allyship and fosters positive change.

Beyond Pride Month – Sustaining Allyship:

While Pride Month highlights LGBTQ+ issues, allyship should extend beyond a month. Brands should develop long-term initiatives that support the LGBTQ+ community throughout the year. This may include ongoing partnerships, sponsorships, donations to LGBTQ+ organizations, or even internal policies that promote diversity and inclusion within the company. By consistently demonstrating allyship, brands can create a lasting impact and contribute to a more inclusive society.

IMD said in an article, “Inclusion can only happen when individuals feel visibly supported through all levels of the organization, and it falls on all of us to set the tone for that.” Marketers should set the tone for more than this month and work toward becoming more inclusive daily. 

Authentic allyship in marketing can make a real difference in promoting inclusion and supporting the LGBTQ+ community. By fostering empathy, understanding, and inclusivity in their campaigns and partnerships, brands can create a positive impact that extends beyond Pride Month. 

Through our marketing efforts, let us seize the opportunity to be true allies, actively listen and learn, amplify diverse voices, and contribute to a more inclusive society. Together, we can make a lasting difference that uplifts and celebrates the LGBTQ+ community.

Blog

Beating Stereotypes: Diversity and Inclusion for the NOW Gen

There is a lot of talk about diversity, equity, and inclusion going on globally. This isn’t about fitting the global trend to our companies but joining the NOW generation in this matter. 

In previous blog posts, we have addressed this global issue, and it continues to be an essential topic for the NOW generation. NOW Gen brands are in the middle of this conversation and are focusing on making a real change.

NOW Gen brands have a unique opportunity to change history with respect to diversity, equity, inclusion, systemic discrimination and racism, just like they are changing history by moving us into the digital age, but without DEI transformation, digital transformation won’t be any transformation at all.” 

In a recent SXSW panel titled “Beyond Black Stereotypes: Redefining Black Fatherhood,” Kendricks Thacker shared some insights about what needs to be done to incorporate better DEI practices. He said that brands couldn’t just start talking when convenient, especially when they wade into topics they never previously championed. 

“Don’t say nothing, if you haven’t said anything before,” Thacker said. “In those cases, the best a brand can do is listen, and donate their platforms to voices that understand the issues.” 

As Thacker mentioned in this panel, to overcome the stereotypes of adapting DEI practices incorrectly, we must first learn to listen to those in the middle of the issue and understand their movements. We must not act before we think because DEI is not a vane issue and its impact on our society goes beyond participating as a brand or not.

With change comes trial and error; it will be utopic to believe that just making one change will forever change the global conversation. However, making this kind of amendment will often make us face errors. For example, DE&I has been one of the main focuses for many global companies for a while now. And although inclusion is vital to this global change, the mistake we are making is stereotyping that inclusivity. So from being stereotypical in the ways we present our DEI to making inclusion a stereotype. 

In the case of DEI, stereotypes are fogging our judgment and blinding our inclusion. We are so used to boxing people according to their race, gender, religion, and even their jobs that we see individuals as groups of people. Stereotypes have been known to humans for a long time now, and much work has been done to eradicate them in society, but the truth is that stereotyping is more natural to our minds than we can imagine. We could blame heuristics for this, but the truth is we can all do better. 

Heuristics, where stereotyping begins, are useful mental shortcuts that help us navigate life. These rule-of-thumb strategies help us shorten decision-making time and allow us to function without constantly wondering what needs to happen next. Overall, heuristics is a fantastic tool called “common sense,” but the downside is that it can lead to inaccurate judgments or biases, like stereotypes.

Theoretically, we should replace stereotypes with actual knowledge. Realistically, stereotypes are seldom challenged unless something creates a reason to change them. But this current DEI issue is a practical reason to make an effort to break from assumptions and demolish stereotypes. As Now gen brands encounter these roadblocks, they must stick to their DEI efforts and strive to make changes happen. 

“The past year has shed light on what many people already knew: Much of the onus (obligations) of diversity, equity and inclusion was on the appointed DE&I leader, who historically often worked in isolation to carry out these objectives.”

In short, as companies, we must find ways to set objectives to beat stereotypes and be more inclusive. Still, we must learn to hear those affected by the situation and work together to impact how they are perceived in society positively. In the eyes of The NOW Generation, being inclusive speaks volumes, and as the saying goes: actions say more than words.

Blog

Digital Transformation without DEI is no transformation at all

Digital Transformation without DEI is no transformation at all; social inclusion and kindness are 2 musts for a successful digital recipe.

In 2020 Americans experienced two events that at the time everyone thought would change the world forever: the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and the historic protests following the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minnesota police. But last Sunday’s Super Bowl, in which brands paid $484.7 million for 42 minutes of advertising–possibly the most notable of which having been a retro-looking QR code bouncing around old-school-screen-saver style, sending people to a crypto-currency site they ended up crashing–during a game where “End Racism” was written in the endzones, culminating the season for a league currently being sued for systemic discrimination against minority coaches, raises the question about how much things have really changed.

Brands didn’t hesitate to transform themselves in the face of the pandemic. Necessity is the mother of all innovation to paraphrase a cliche. According to KPMG’s Global Head of Advisory, thanks to the pandemic, “The move to digitization has accelerated, and the benefits will be permanent…There is no going back.” McKinsey data suggests that 80% of consumer interactions have moved online and that the pandemic has caused a quantum leap, having sped up digital adaptation by several years. Deloitte says that “to grow and thrive in a post-COVID-19 world, swift digital transformation into a pandemic-proof organizational model is vital,” and the pandemic even inspired notoriously slow CPGs to accelerate their strategies

The move to digital as a response to the pandemic has been indisputable and unanimous, and it makes sense. Consumers are demanding that companies meet them where they are and that they deliver personalized experiences. Approximately 75% of consumers experimented with new shopping behaviors because of the pandemic and 80% of them expect to continue with those behaviors. Consumers are increasingly demanding more personalized experiences and expect to experience them digitally.

While DEI has grown in importance, the change in the wake of the George Floyd protests is more of a mixed bag. It wasn’t all bad at the Super Bowl. For the first time in the history of Super Bowl advertisements, “female BIPOC representation (46%) and male BIPOC representation (41%) mirrored the 38% BIPOC US population,” and we saw the first hip-hop act to headline a history making and extremely well received halftime show. Those bright spots, however are probably overshadowed by the fact that the NFL is currently being sued for systemic discrimination. The NFL isn’t alone. In the last month Tesla has been sued by California for systemic discrimination in its factories and Spotify has been in the news for all the wrong reasons because of racist comments made by its most popular podcast host. 

In our last blog post, Talk is Cheap: Consumers Demand DEI Action, we dropped a lot of data about how consumers are demanding DEI action, just like they are demanding digital transformation.

“Research is basically unanimous that consumers want more diversity. According to Facebook IQ 71% of NOW Gen consumers expect brands to promote DEI in their advertising. According to Microsoft 70% of Gen Z consumers are more trusting of brands that show diversity. A study conducted by The Female Quotient, Google, and IPSOS found that 64% of NOW Gen consumers took some action after seeing an ad that incorporated DEI. That same study found that 69% of Black consumers were more likely to purchase from a brand whose ads positively represented their race, and that 71% of LGBTQ consumers were more likely to click ads that authentically represent their sexual orientation. Furthermore, 75% of Gen Z consumers will end relationships with companies that run ad campaigns perceived as macho, racist, or homo­phobic. These statistics pretty much speak for themselves, and the trend is that DEI is only becoming more important to consumers.”

The data raises a rather unfortunate question: in the face of equally pressing consumer demands, why can brands make monumental changes at speeds never before seen in the realm of digital transformation, but they can’t do the same in addressing issues of systemic racism and discrimination? In a famous New Yorker essay, Letter from a Region in My Mind, James Baldwin theorized that “America, of all the Western nations, has been best placed to prove the uselessness and the obsolescence of the concept of color. But it has not dared to accept this opportunity, or even to conceive of it as an opportunity.” 

Some brands do see the opportunity, and they’re making changes. Levi-Strauss says that “Digital Transformation Depends on Diversity,” and in the eponymous article they lay-out several strategies to combat discrimination that results directly from digital transformation. Google’s Super Bowl ad spoke directly to how their technology takes into account the difficulties some people have in being photographed emphasizing that their product makes sure that “everyone feels seen.” Hershey’s, for example, has created a new position, Chief Diversity Officer, that already boasts a laundry list of DEI focused action and initiatives. We wholeheartedly applaud these brands and their efforts, but it has to be said that a handful of brands alone won’t make a difference.

As no other writer has described as deftly the problems of race  U.S., we leave you with another classic quote from the great James Baldwin: 

“Everything now, we must assume, is in our hands; we have no right to assume otherwise. If we—and now I mean the relatively conscious whites and the relatively conscious blacks, who must, like lovers, insist on, or create, the consciousness of the others—do not falter in our duty now, we may be able, handful that we are, to end the racial nightmare, and achieve our country, and change the history of the world. If we do not now dare everything, the fulfillment of that prophecy, re-created from the Bible in song by a slave, is upon us: God gave Noah the rainbow sign, No more water, the fire next time!”

NOW Gen brands have a unique opportunity to change history with respect to diversity, equity, inclusion, systemic discrimination and racism, just like they are changing history by moving us into the digital age, but without DEI transformation, digital transformation won’t be any transformation at all.