The Strategy Sessions Marketing Podcast Live - The Black Edition

On Tuesday 16 June, we took the Strategy Sessions podcast live. Steaming live on YouTube, Andi hosted Leah Clark, Rand Fishkin, Isha Edwards, Heather Physioc and Krystal Taing to discuss the #BlackLivesMatter movement from a US and UK perspective. We got stuck into discussions about how to engage with different view points on social media, the role of the tech companies and how they profit from discord, what role non black people should play in the movement and how marketers can move things forward. Marketing exists at the interface between what a company says and what its customers see. It’s crucial that marketers think about how they can be part of the solution to the race problem in their country. Why Did The Black Edition Happen Following the murder of George Floyd on 25 May in Minneapolis, a worldwide movement has sprung up fighting racism. Under the banner of #BlackLivesMatter, the movement has sought to expose racism in all forms and has spread from America to Australia and the UK to France. But the movement hasn’t always been universally loved. Social media is awash with statements like these: “Why don’t all lives matter?” “You’re just playing the race card” “George Floyd was a criminal” Further, many companies have come out to support the #BLM movement. Some of those companies have been accused of hypocrisy because of their lack of progress at senior levels in supporting diversity. It’s a difficult subject. It’s a painful subject. It’s a subject we absolutely have to talk about. The Black Edition brings together marketers from the UK and the US to discuss what’s happening on the ground in those countries, what role tech and social media can (and should) play, how can non black people join the discussion and what steps marketers can take in their organisations to make things better. We’re doing this live. It will be raw and unfiltered. It could be bumpy. Watch it back now