It's February 2022 and my inbox is already full of pitches from brands wanting to "take a stand" on something. The question isn't what. It's everything. Should we say something about the trucker convoy? What about the Olympics? Are we still doing Black History Month content? Should we have a take on the Spotify-Joe Rogan thing?
I'm exhausted just typing that paragraph.
Here's a radical thought that I keep returning to: what if silence is the most strategic choice your brand can make right now?
I know, I know. We spent the last two years telling brands they had to show up, be authentic, take positions, demonstrate values. And that was true. It still is, in the right moments, on the right issues, for the right brands. But somewhere along the way, "have a point of view" became "have a take on literally everything that happens on the internet."
And the result is that everything sounds the same. Every brand statement is the same careful legal-reviewed mush of "we stand with" and "we believe in" and "we're committed to" and it all lands with the emotional impact of an expired coupon.
Consumer trust in brand activism has plummeted. A study from Edelman last year showed that only 37% of consumers believe brands get involved in societal issues for the right reasons. The rest assume it's performative. Because mostly, it is.
The brands that earned trust during the last few years didn't just speak. They acted. And they were selective about when.Patagonia doesn't comment on every news cycle. They speak when it connects to their actual mission. REI doesn't tweet about every trending topic. They close on Black Friday because it's genuinely aligned with who they are. The selectivity is what makes their positions credible.
If your brand speaks on everything, you stand for nothing. If every week brings a new "we believe" post, your audience learns to scroll past it the way they scroll past banner ads. You become noise.
Here's my framework for brand silence vs. brand voice:
Speak when: the issue directly connects to your brand's actual business, your employees are affected, you can commit resources beyond a social post, or staying silent would be a betrayal of clearly stated values.
Stay quiet when: you're reacting to pressure from Twitter, your statement would be interchangeable with any other brand's, you can't commit to action beyond words, or the conversation doesn't need your voice.
The hardest part of strategy has always been choosing what NOT to do. That applies to communications just as much as it applies to product roadmaps.
Sometimes the bravest thing a brand can do is resist the urge to perform concern and instead just quietly do the work.