From dating apps to headphone companies, brands are using their platforms to draw attention to crucial issues.
Leading brands are well-oiled marketing machines. You can’t become a household name without it. But a select subset of brands are taking that expertise and the size of their platforms, and using them to bring awareness to important issues or raise money for critical causes.
Of the 74 Brands That Matter 2022 honorees, 18 of them were notable for the extent to which they’ve married their brand ethos and cause marketing, backing initiatives and organizations that are tackling everything from racial equity and suicide prevention to anti-Asian violence and conservation. BLK used a classic song to encourage its users to get vaccinated against COVID-19, WeTransfer’s efforts to give underrepresented artists a platform earned one of its collaborators an Academy Award, and Omsom overcame decades of xenophobic sentiment to clear MSG’s name and get it Whole30 approved.
These are the brands that used their unique appeal to find a natural fit with the causes they championed.
AFLAC
Repped by one of the world’s most iconic mascots, Aflac used its duck to help highlight the vulnerability that affects families affected by sudden medical events with an animated short film. The Park Bench debuted in January alongside Aflac’s Close the Gap initiative, which seeks to educate consumers about medical debt and its work to cover costs associated with medical issues not covered by health insurance. These efforts coincide with an expansion of Aflac’s CareGrants program, specifically in 11 states that over-index in medical debt.
BLK—AFFINITY APP FOR MATCH GROUP
Who says public health can’t be sexy? Recognizing that it had the attention of one of the groups least likely to get vaccinated—Black adults under 40—dating app BLK used its platform to cut through the usual COVID-19 vaccination information, launching a campaign showing that dating and sex can be more fun for everyone when all parties are vaccinated. The Match Group-owned app reworked Juvenile’s legendary 1999 anthem “Back That Thang Up,” into “Vax That Thang Up.” The PSA version, with the lyrics, “when we got the shot we gonna be romancing” and “feeling freaky all night you need to vax that thang up,” quickly became one of the most viral campaigns of 2021. The campaign was a win for BLK, which saw a 30% increase in new users, while its overall brand awareness nearly doubled to 64%. BLK encourages vaccinated users to add a “vaxified” badge to their profiles, while unvaccinated users can use the app to find their nearest vaccine location. —Jess Bursztynsky
COLGATE
Looking to emphasize the relationship between good oral health and overall well-being, Colgate rolled out its “Know Your OQ” campaign in February, letting people visit a website to evaluate their oral health quotient, or OQ. The 10-question assessment garnered impressive metrics, including a 71% completion rate and an average visit length of 3 minutes and 9 seconds. The Colgate-Palmolive brand’s impact assessment also found that after visiting KnowYourOQ.com, there was a 33% increase in knowledge among participants that poor oral health can affect other areas of health.
COLOR OF CHANGE
Online racial justice organization Color of Change has been busy working to remove anti-Black racism from various industries with a dual-pronged approach of working with institutions while also helping everyday people take action. Its #ChangeIndustries effort grew in the past year with the rollout of #ChangeFashion, which included sharing the first inclusion rider for the fashion industry. The organization also commemorated the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor by hosting its Week of Action, which saw each day feature different programming on such topics as Black joy, public safety, and corporate accountability.
GOLD HOUSE
As an organization focused on helping the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities be more represented culturally and in business, Gold House was one of the first organizations to share GoFundMe pages around #StopAsianHate amid an uptick in reports of racism against AAPI people. It built on that in the past year, launching Gold House Futures, a fund that provides $500,00 in grants for nonprofits, short films, and recordings and live performances—all backed by such big names as Netflix and Spotify. Besides consulting throughout the year on 36 major films and TV shows, Gold House debuted its A100 list, honoring 100 impactful Asians and Pacific Islanders, generating 22.7 million video views.
HUBSPOT
When customer-relationship management platforms set out to build brand awareness, they often run up against the difficulty of making a marketing push of original content that might not transcend the B2B world. So HubSpot is leaving it to the professionals—and sponsoring them. HubSpot Creators is a program meant to help emerging podcasters grow their audience while providing them payment and content support. Podcasters who achieve a certain scale can join the HubSpot Podcast Network, where some podcasts have seen listenership grow 76% on average since joining the network, launched in 2021.
MOSSY OAK
Camouflage apparel brand Mossy Oak has long had a relationship focused on nature, with various conservation brands that include Nativ Nurseries, which grows trees for wildlife forage, and Gamekeepers—publisher of the quarterly Journal for Wildlife Stewardship and its accompanying podcast and TV show. But the company went a step further earlier this year, launching its Wild Turkey Conservation Stamp, a $15 piece of collectible artwork whose proceeds fund wild turkey habitats and population research through Mossy Oak’s Gamekeeper Grants Program. In 24 hours, the stamp raised $25,000, whose allocation the brand will document with videos, photos, and editorial projects.
NATIONAL WOMEN’S LAW CENTER
Alongside its mission to fight for justice on behalf of women of color, LGBTQ people, and low-income women with families, the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) has undertaken several campaigns to highlight issues like child work and sexual violence. Its #WeAReTheBackbone activation, launched in concert with National Child Care Provider Appreciation Day, highlighting the importance of childcare providers in keeping kids healthy and helping parents return to work. NWLC also supported survivors of sexual violence with “We, As Ourselves,” a program that allows Black survivors to share their stories and resources with others.
NOWTHIS
With the proliferation of video platforms designed to engage younger viewers, one danger is that organizations will be light on substance and possibly even facts. But NowThis, Vox Media’s video news platform, has prioritized going deep on the news and pursuing stories that might otherwise go unreported. In the past year, NowThis spotlighted women leaders addressing issues of mental health and climate change with its Vital Voices of 2021 event. It also has pursued stories about race, including Uprooted, a podcast and docuseries that examines the unsolved hanging of a young Black man in Maryland in 1986, produced in partnership with Discovery+.
NYC PRIDE
The nation’s largest—and original—Pride event got a brand makeover—both cultural and cosmetic. With the 2021 event, NYC Pride barred police from the annual march until 2025, and created programming that focused on BIPOC members of the LGBTQ community. Following it up, with new executive director Sandra Pérez at the helm of parent organization Heritage of Pride, the NYC Pride March debuted a new logo in early 2022. The flag emblem starts with a rainbow gradient but is meant to be adaptive and able to feature the colors of various LGBTQ flags—including bisexual, transgender, and nonbinary—to better highlight the multitude of identities that the annual event seeks to celebrate.
OMSOM
Using its status as a cult-favorite purveyor of Asian condiments and starter packs for dishes, Omsom became a vocal advocate in 2021 for the oft-maligned MSG and against the anti-Asian sentiment that has long informed organizations, calling it an unhealthy product. Omsom’s advocacy bore fruit—at the end of the year, MSG became Whole30 approved, with the organization acknowledging Omsom as a key driver of the decision. That it was part of Omsom’s larger strategy, to provide products with cultural integrity while partnering with companies also led by LGBTQ women of color, underscores the brand’s overall ethos.
PANDA EXPRESS
Nearly 40 years after its founding, minority-owned American Chinese restaurant chain Panda Express continues to appeal to evolving tastes, having introduced a plant-based version of its signature dish, the original Orange Chicken entrée it began serving in 1987. Panda Express also continues to find ways to break new ground in its established tradition of philanthropy. Since its inception in 1999, the company’s Panda Cares unit has raised more than $305 million from customer donations and business partners to focus on children in need. Last year, inspired by increased conversations around race, chief brand officer Andrea Cherng had an idea to extend the charitable legacy of her parents: cofounders and co-CEOs, Andrew and Peggy Cherng. Since launching in May 2021 during Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage month, the Panda CommUnity Fund has contributed more than $2.3 million to support organizations that serve BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities. “We are a company founded by immigrants,” says Andrea. “We continue to look outward—how do we best serve our people and the broader community?” —Jay Woodruff
PAX
Long one of the most prestigious vaporizer brands in the cannabis space, Pax has taken the platform that comes with that position and used it to advocate for the people—largely people of color—who have been victims of the United States war on drugs. It has partnered with the Last Prisoner Project since the criminal justice reform organization started three years ago, and produced a short documentary series, The Human Toll: How the War on Cannabis Targeted Black America, which earned a CLIO award last year. 2021 also saw Pax undertake the Veterans Releaf Campaign, raising $85,000 for advocacy organization Weed for Warriors, and to support educational group Veterans Alliance for Holistic Alternatives.
QUEST FOR HEALTH EQUITY
As a brand most Americans only think about when they’re getting their blood drawn or urine tested, Quest Diagnostics moved to play a larger role in addressing health disparities in underserved communities when it established Quest for Health Equity at the end of 2020. Since then, the organization has partnered with religious leaders, health experts, and community organizations nationwide to push COVID-19 education, testing, and vaccination through Black religious organizations. Quest for Health Equity also worked to help Puerto Ricans with Long COVID, establishing the island’s first clinic focused specifically on Long COVID, helping more than 2,400 patients since opening in 2021.
SKULLCANDY
With a strong record on sustainability around electronics—it will recycle any headphone or earbud and give the sender a coupon for its products—Skullcandy also works closely with youth mental health and climate change organizations to support them. It partnered with To Write Love On Her Arms and Protect Our Winters on custom, limited-edition product collaborations and fundraising while also also supporting both with donations. On mental health, Skullcandy spotlighted various issues, including suicide prevention and World Mental Health Day, on its social channels, and it hosted headquarters events that brought legislators and brands together to discuss climate change.
THE TREVOR PROJECT
In the 24 years since its founding, The Trevor Project has become the world’s largest suicide prevention and mental health organization for LGBTQ youth. Its 24/7 free and confidential crisis call/text/chat service remains a cornerstone of its offering (fielding 200,000 contacts last year), but The Trevor Project still had a transformative 2021, which included implementing an AI-based tool to train 1,000 counselors, publishing 19 research briefs about LGBTQ youth and mental health, and rolling out a new brand identity for the first time in more than a decade. The organization also partnered with Lil Nas X during National Suicide Prevention and Awareness Month, naming him its first Suicide Prevention Advocate of the Year, earning The Trevor Project more than 570 million media impressions. That’s on top of the more than 4 million views of its “Football is for Everyone” PSA, produced in partnership with the NFL. These efforts are paying off, literally—the organization raised almost $22 million in 2021 from corporations while tripling the donations it received from individual donors. —Danica Lo
WEPRESENT BY WETRANSFER
WeTransfer’s digital art and editorial arm, WePresent, has reached new heights in the past year, most notably including by commissioning Riz Ahmed’s short film The Long Goodbye—which presents a post-Brexit dystopia in Britain and won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short, among 15 other awards. And though Ahmed was the most prominent creator featured on WePresent recently, he’s not the only one exploring ambitious projects for the platform, which works to showcase underrepresented voices via collaborations and brand partnerships—featuring more than 1,000 creatives in a year, including Marina Abramovic, FKA twigs, and Solange Knowles.
YVES SAINT LAURENT BEAUTY
Knowing that one in 3 women will experience intimate partner violence in their lifetime, Yves Saint Laurent Beauty spent much of 2021 and early 2022 taking its Abuse is Not Love program global, aiming to train 2 million people to recognize the signs of abusive relationships by 2030 (more than 130,000 have been trained so far). The brand is amplifying this message through academic publications, support for a growing roster of NGOs, and a campaign featuring Zoë Kravitz highlighting the warning signs of abuse. The campaign garnered 763 press articles and got more than half a million impressions on social media.
This article is part of Fast Company’s 2022 Brands That Matter awards. Explore the full list of brands whose success has come from embodying their purpose in a way that resonates with their customers.
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This article first appeared www.fastcompany.com
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