Last week, I wrote about findings of the most recent CMO Survey indicating most would like to lean away from politically charged issues. Makes sense, but the survey did not address what happens when your brand comes under fire due to news events, like the one that happened when high school students came under fire, and a grassroots boycott spawned to boycott brands collaborating with the National Rifle Association. To date, more than a dozen national brands have announced they are parting ways with the NRA due to #boycottNRA, including many in the transportation industry, such as rental cars and …

A year into the most politically- and brand-charged period in American history, a new poll of CMOs finds most of them believe they should keep their distance from politically-charged issues. Eighty-three percent of 178 executives responding to the just-released February 2018 edition of The CMO Survey answered "no" to the question, "Do you believe it is appropriate for your brand to take a stance on politically charged issues."

Four months ago, I wrote an "RTBlog" entitled "Ad Tech's Dirtiest Secret Acronym: WMD," about the revelations that had been uncovered about how the tools of our trade -- programmatic media-buying, social media, content marketing, and advanced forms of audience segmentation and data targeting -- have been weaponized by hostile foreign powers intent on destabilizing America. The revelations came out thanks to Congressional testimony by the major digital media platforms as part of U.S. counterintelligence investigations surrounding Russia's influence campaign during the 2016 Presidential Election and onward. I say onward, because the campaign continues and is expected to accelerate heading …

A new wall has entered the garden of marketing, and this one's an actual wall. Or at least, it's a political debate over building an actual wall, and the position that brand marketers are taking on it. More than a third (37%) of American consumers say they are less likely to purchase from a company that supports construction of a U.S./Mexico border wall.