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Problem
A leading European food company built one of its brands around historical value. Its product packaging prominently showed the centuries-old origins of the company. Similarly, its marketing campaigns in the Europe and the US highlighted the authenticity of the product. However, both the company and its product were firmly rooted in historical practices of slavery.
Through its social media presence, Branwen spotted increased attention to the slavery-related origins of the product. After reaching out to the company, it turned out management was unaware of this growing sensitivity. Management also lacked a firm grasp of the actual involvement of the company in historical slavery. Branwen agreed to draft a risk analysis, focussed on historical fact and marketing risk.
Approach
Results
Branwen first assessed the involvement of the company's predecessors in historical slavery. As this was quite noteable, Branwen reported a strong risk. Especially the US marketing campaign was at risk, as activists had already forced several other companies to rebrand. Branwen therefore designed several risk mitigating strategies, with preemptive openess being a key option.
Contact: info@branwenadvisors.com
© Bram De Ridder, Berkendreef 5, 1700 Dilbeek, Belgium
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