Retailers’ Digital Brand Activism (DBA): Embracing Risk to Create Value

In a world shaken by pandemic scenario, social inequalities, economic crises, low trust in institutions and scarce faith in the future it has become more than ever a priority for brands to look out to the external environment to collect the necessary information to understand what their target consumers are looking for from them, and what is mattering the most to them. Many companies, in these days, are taking positions on the Ukrainian crisis, with concrete actions (i.e., abandoning the Russian market or taking action to support the most affected populations in a humanitarian way) and/or communication statement. This type of actions attracts great consumers’ attention: in some cases, they espouse the causes of their brands, in some others they believe that certain sectors (sport, for example) must keep away from politics. In many cases, people point out to companies that they have not exposed themselves in previous humanitarian cases, or that despite professing to be opposed to Russian actions, they continue to sell Russian products in their point of sales. In short, the degree of attention on the subject and on how the brands are behaving (or how they are not behaving), is really high. Also, retailers are witnessing new and transformational challenges and opportunities, in terms of strategic decisions and commitment, as suggested by many studies about CSR and Brand Activism. In this context, Social Media have a pivotal role in offering the opportunity to stand for a cause and to deeply engage with the customers.