It’s Global Marketer Week in Toronto this week and the WFA is launching a new model called the "Framework for Positive Marketing Behaviors," that is designed to enable marketers to better manage risk and opportunity in a polarized world.  

The main idea is to help CMOs develop their own policies regarding hot-button topics like sustainability, brand purpose, DEI, AI, data ethics and others.  

The launch is backed by research contributed by major brand owners and WFA members looking at the increasing importance of marketers working with corporate policy leaders on issues such as sustainability, reputation and risk management, brand purpose and responsible marketing.   

A WFA survey found that nine out of 10 marketers and policy professionals agree policy is relevant to marketing, compared to 70% in 2019. Less than 10% claim policy priorities are not relevant. That figure was nearly three in 10 (28% for marketers and 29% for policy leaders) five years ago.    

The new model framework (available to WFA members only) includes sections on environmental sustainability, DEI, brand purpose, responsible media governance, marketing to children, and data ethics and privacy. Each section outlines why they matter, the risks and opportunities, case studies from leading companies, and relevant tools, guidelines and frameworks developed by WFA and its members.   

Sixty-two per cent of policy professionals say they collaborate with marketing teams on a regular basis, whereas only 32% of marketing respondents say they collaborate on a regular basis with policy teams. Forty-eight percent of marketers feel that they only collaborate with policy teams when the need arises and one in five say collaboration between the two teams rarely occurs.    

Other findings include:  

• Fifty-two percent of marketers believe that policy teams do not understand the challenges and pressures marketing teams face and two thirds (69%) believe that policy teams are not familiar with the marketing function and its role in driving business objectives.    

• Eighty percent of policy teams believe they are familiar with the marketing function and its role in driving business objectives, while only one in four marketers believe that policy professionals understand the marketing function.     

• The vast majority of marketers define policy professionals as ‘compliance officers’ (75%) or ‘regulatory firefighters’ (81%). Thirty-seven percent of marketers think that policy acts as an ‘internal police force.’