Brands Have to Do Better on Race with Katie Kern

“Enough is enough. It’s the responsibility of companies to stand up.” Following the murder of George Floyd, the nation has seen a critical shift in the growth and power of the Black Lives Matter movement through protest and action. But what should leaders and companies do? This week on the On Brand podcast, Media Frenzy Global Partner and COO Katie Kern returns to discuss how brands can start having tough conversations about race.

About Katie Kern

An innate storyteller and strategic creative, Katie Kern has navigated her career with two passions at the helm: building bold brands and pouring into tomorrow’s creative leaders through mentorship. As Partner and COO of Media Frenzy Global, Katie extends her 15-year industry expertise and business knowledge in the agency to drive business growth and advocate a ‘Go There’ company culture.

Episode Highlights

“Black lives matter. As leaders and companies, we have a platform, and a duty to our Black employees, clients, and industry professionals to speak up,” says Katie. “We can't be afraid of offending our customers and associating their brands with sensitive subjects. By aligning our corporate values with what customers care about, I hope to build a sense of loyalty and a deeper sense of personal connection. It’s about coming together for what is right and what will move us in a positive progressive direction. Change is happening and the time is now.”

How can brands start taking action on race? We talked a lot about brands' responses to Black Lives Matter mostly being limited to posting a black square with a thoughtful paragraph of text and a few hashtags. What else can they do? Where can we start? Katie provided a helpful list of questions for companies wanting to look inward and start the difficult work.

• Company culture—What does your company culture actually speak to? Ask your Black employees what they think and how they feel.
• Human resource policies—Do your HR policies sanction against microaggressions? Do you have diversity guidelines and policies within the company?
• Black employees at every level—What are your numbers for hiring Black people throughout all levels of your organization?
• Black leadership—What’s the makeup of your board and executive leadership?
• Mentoring Black leadership—Are you doing all that you can to see that Black people get promoted to executive and decision-making positions?
• Having tough and constant conversations—How will you sustain this momentum moving forward? This is not easy work. These are not easy conversations. You have to keep talking internally and doing the required work.

Hopefully, your brand can find an onramp from these suggestions. At the very least, it’s a start. And it’s a start you can make today.

“The challenge here is to sustain the current sentiment,” notes Katie of the need for continued, sustained action. “We have to think about it every single day.”

What should you do in the next five minutes? As recent guest Tom Peters says, excellence is the best short-term strategy. What can we do in the next five minutes as brands to impact race? Katie says: “Reach out to the Black people you know. READ. Read history books. Read the history of Black people. This isn’t a time to be afraid and silent.”

What brand has made Katie smile recently? After deciding that this is an odd time to smile about brands, Katie reframed this by noting that, “A lot of brands have made me sit up and pay attention. We’re looking at brands and how they respond through a different lens.”

To learn more, follow Katie on LinkedIn and Twitter and check out the Media Frenzy Global website.

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