Brands go where their customers are, and this year they were led into social issues, from Dick’s Sporting Goods on gun control to Starbucks on racial bias and United Airlines on immigration policy, among others. And they are learning what we have long known from our Facebook feeds and extended family Thanksgivings: that middle ground is impossibly elusive. Some, like Patagonia, are proactively wading into contentious issues. Many others, like the NFL, are finding themselves reluctantly forced to choose a side. Either way, marketers’ need for a value strategy is akin to their rush to figure out digital in 1998.
Huge is analyzing the impact of dozens of brands’ value-driven campaigns, quantifying the near and long-term lift using social analytics, benchmarks and quantitative research.

Programming descriptions are generated by participants and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SXSW.