ICYMI: Kai Deveraux Lawson Keynote

Event Recap: Marketing’s Role in Shaping the Future

Kai Deveraux Lawson, SVP of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Dentsu Creative and the 2022 Women in Marketing Storyteller of the Year, led a discussion on the power of marketing as a tool for shaping global culture and politics.

The choices that we make as marketers and communicators can have ripple effects across our company, industry, or even pop culture as a whole.

But how exactly can marketers shape the world? Kai shared how each of us has the opportunity to make a lasting impact.

Curate Perception

Culture has never been stagnant, and neither should your strategy. As the tides of popularity shift, take stock of what’s really going into your content. Be critical of the trends and tastemakers you choose to emulate and the underlying assumptions that carry over to your content.

While you evaluate your current plan, take a moment to ask the harder questions.

• Do all of your influencers look the same?
• Is any of your copy rooted in stereotypical assumptions about your audience?
• Have you been using the same essential strategies for too long?

When you remove the old, overused, and outdated plans, you leave room for something that reflects a greater truth.

Boost Visibility

As the “same old, same old” goes out the window, new faces and voices are key to your team. You have the power to choose who your brand speaks to and in what voice. If you’re looking to reach a new audience or represent a more diverse community in your content, then you need to do the legwork of finding the right modes of messaging and learning to authentically speak their language by including representation in your process. Bringing in new perspectives can be the difference between creating a new, long-lasting cultural bridge or passing an audience by.

Find Moments of Micro Power

You may not be a partner at your company, or have an office in the C-suite but you still have the opportunity to leverage your power to make changes where you are, no matter the size and scale of your role. For instance, if you participate in the hiring process or have the opportunity to suggest candidates, you can focus on finding new perspectives to bring onto the team. If you work in creative, product design, or even IT, you can be an advocate for accessibility.

These small micro-moments can feel insignificant at the time. Down the line, however, when your whole office can understand and utilize every computer function, or your new committee has a wide range of voices at the table, you can see where the choices you made led to a major shift in your workplace and your world.