This is dodgy business for any brand, as the creative world is small and the industry’s high turnover virtually ensures that everybody knows the companies that pull these kinds of stunts. They are often rewarded with substandard work in the future.
But the ethical brand runs additional risks by engaging in business practices that the average consumer would view to be blatantly unfair. In a world where the most effective fuel for propagation in social media like Twitter or YouTube is outrage, the corporations that stand behind brands with ethical positioning must hold themselves to a higher standard. Ironically JC Penney’s new positioning best expresses that standard: Treat people as you’d like to be treated yourself. Fair and Square.
It’s too early to know if JC Penney has violated this rule or not. The company did not return a message seeking comment on this story. Moreover, if JC Penney did behave unethically, a settlement of the suit that prevents any further disclosure by Hudson + Broad is very likely. And Hudson + Broad runs its own risks. When I asked Maharg whether he was concerned that he might lose business by attacking a client he said, “It’s been overwhelming the response from our various customers – from Macy’s to Kohl’s. They’ve said ‘this is a wakeup call for the entire industry.’”
To keep clean, CMO’s should consider these 5 golden rules for ethical branding: 1. Vet Changes To Your Brand Across the C-Suite: Make sure that new positioning does not make promises that manufacturing, sales or customer service cannot fulfill. 2. Train Your Staff: Ethical Branding creates an expectation of behavior that may affect the entire organization. Ellen Miller-Sonet, head of marketing at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center told me that the highly successful tagline “The Best Cancer Care Anywhere” initially created problems for the