If you’ve never worked with a staffing agency, you might not have any idea what a company like Creative Circle does. I certainly didn’t. In my early 20s, I had landed at a digital agency, but felt undervalued in my role and could tell things were not going well for the company. (They folded about a year later.) As I was looking for my next move, the job hunt felt all-consuming and overwhelming. My roommate at the time noticed my frustration and suggested I try Creative Circle. He had gotten a few freelance gigs through them and said it was worth a shot. Little did I know, I’d end up spending the next three years as a recruiter in the New York office.

Over those years, I learned that Creative Circle strives to be more than just a staffing agency. It’s not just about job placements, but about being partners and advocates for the candidates and clients they connect with every day.

The production team is split in two.

  • Account executives (AEs) connect with digital and creative teams who either don’t have internal recruiting teams or just need a little extra help for urgent projects or difficult roles
  • Recruiters serve as partners to candidates, helping them best present themselves and matching them with opportunities that might be a good fit.

I spoke to a few AEs across the country to give you an idea of what clients can expect when working with Creative Circle.

Jessica Maxwell

Jessica serves the Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Salt Lake City markets.

What’s the most rewarding part of the job?

“When we find people jobs and help the client find someone they wouldn’t have found on their own.”

What’s priority #1?

“For me, it’s just getting to know that client and understanding their needs and making them feel comfortable.”

“After they have someone in the seat, I want them to know they can talk to me about any issues that come up. You don’t always get to build that kind of relationship, but once you do, you’re able to have a longer and stronger partnership.”

What should more people know?

“We truly are not a one-size-fits-all service. We are a customized solution. We are humans. We want to help you solve your problems. We want to make your life easier.

“A lot of time I hear, ‘oh you’re like UpWork or 5vver,’ which couldn’t be further from the truth. We actually screen and select candidates for your needs which leads to more high quality service.”

Shamier Bouie

Shamier is an account executive for the Houston office and feels strongly about the value she brings to her clients.

“We’re not here just to sell anything,” she says. ”We’re really here to partner with our clients and understand their business.

“We help with the heavy lifting, identify gaps, and create a structure that helps them streamline their process. We want to help you sleep better at night so you’re not working 15 hours a day to keep your projects afloat.

“It’s important to figure out true solutions that will solve both short-term and long-term needs.”

To that end, Shamier acknowledges, “Sometimes we’re not the right fit.”

Once, when helping a client build a new team, Shamier suggested adding a project manager to the mix. While there was hesitation at first, her client eventually realized it wasn’t a frivolous expense and actually streamlined their whole team process.

Raquel Clubwala

Raquel is a senior account executive in New York. For Raquel, it’s all about creating an amazing client experience, from guiding initial convos, to presenting candidates, to ensuring they’re the right fit, to checking in on a more personal level.

“I’d rather catch up with someone before we dive into work, and then have to steer the conversation to: ‘So how can I help you?’”

But it’s not just for fun. Raquel explains that having that personal connection makes it easier to have tough conversations about budget, candidate availability, and creates a candor of transparency. And even when clients don’t have ongoing needs or would rather not have that personal experience, “I still want to make things easy for them so they enjoy working with us.”

What’s the best part of the job?

“I love when a client is impressed with how quickly I respond that fulfills me and keeps me going,” Raquel says.

What’s something you’d like your clients to understand?

“A lot of clients get upset if it takes a little longer than expected to see candidates, says Raquel. “They don’t understand all of the work that goes into finding a candidate and the whole interview and vetting process. But once they do, then realize it’s really worth it to pay someone to do it.”

Tips and Considerations When Working with Creative Circle

If you’re a client working with Creative Circle, here are a few things to keep in mind.

  • Transparency about full scope of work and budget is essential in order to pair you with appropriate talent.
  • That said, sometimes the want may not be realistic, or may not be doable for just one person. Creative Circle AEs will walk you through what is feasible and offer creative solutions to your needs.
  • Remember that Creative Circle had a high-level vetting process with our candidates. All candidates submitted for a particular role have been interviewed (in person pre-COVID and via Zoom post-COVID) by a Creative Circle recruiter and have been connected with yet again to ensure they are a match for your particular role.

About the author. 
Alessandra is the mentor, educator, and writer behind Boneseed, a private practice devoted to deep self-inquiry through a range of physical, energetic, and mental modalities. She has over 500 hours of yoga, mentorship, and facilitation training and can be found slinging knowledge on her website, newsletter, and @bone.seed. 

After the last year and a half that we have been through, it’s no surprise that people are on social media now more than ever. Social media is how we’ve accessed the latest news in urgent times. It’s how we were able to stay connected to each other as we isolated from each other. It’s how we processed, discussed, and learned. So yeah, we’re all extremely logged on.

The last couple years have seen huge changes in how people engage with brands on the platforms, and these changes will continue to make an impact throughout the 2020s. So, what does that mean for social media managers going forward?

Good social media management has always been about mastering the art of conversation. It’s about listening to your audience’s needs and responding to them in a unique way, while always finding the next conversation to start. But audience needs have clearly changed.

What Audiences Want

Now, more than ever, audiences choose to support brands that they feel would support them. Audiences want connection and authenticity, and they want their brands to care about the causes they do. According to a recent study conducted by Sprout Social, 72% of consumers want brands to be positive contributors to society, 64% want brands to connect with consumers, and 66% want to be able to trust brands. That’s a lot to ask of a brand, which means there’s a lot of opportunity for marketing.

Consumers are increasingly cognizant of the power their purchase has and likely to buy products from brands that make them feel good about their choices. That could take the form of an eco-friendly brand, a designer from an underrepresented community, or a product in which the proceeds go to a certain cause.

Beyond the purchase though, consumers are equally aware of the power their “Follow” or their “Like” has. Audiences are savvy with their social media use and how their actions online communicate what brands, aesthetics, and politics they “buy into,” even if they’re not buying anything at all.

Authenticity Is Key

An important part of developing a social media voice is assuring your audience that your brand cares about them and the things they’re passionate. For that, authenticity is key. Consumers can smell pandering a mile away, and your audience needs something real to connect with if they are going to champion your brand.

Authenticity is rooted in honesty and the personal. Bringing a personal touch could look a number of different ways depending on your brand. It could look like highlighting stories of real people. It could be featuring employees (or even the CEO) of the brand to give the audience a glimpse into the company. It could simply be having a confident perspective and voice in the comments that makes the audience feel like they’re talking to a friend. A strong social media strategy means being able to consistently maintain that voice and persona regardless of what the news cycle brings.

Content Over Aesthetic

Yes, yes, we all love a beautifully designed social media post, whether it’s minimal and earthy or maximalist and full of vibrant patterns. But one of the most annoying things on social media is seeing something beautiful and not knowing what purpose it serves. With products like Canva making graphic design extremely accessible, it feels like aesthetic is everything, but there is a limit, whether it’s infographics or ad campaigns for a product. The last thing you want is to bring an audience to your page, only for them to not know what your brand even is. A consumer may think your social media account is cool, but if they don’t know what it’s for, then that initial interest will fade out. So yes, design away, but don’t design away the message.

What Do Brands Believe in Anyway?

Throughout the summer of 2020 and the Black Lives Matter protests, it was impossible for anyone to not address what was going on in the country politically and racially. Some brands really rose to the occasion, donating to causes putting out statements that plainly and directly addressed the situation and where they stood on it, and amplifying Black voices. The brands who failed often did not have the vocabulary to discuss what was happening, tried so hard not to alienate anyone that they ended up alienating everyone, or put all the labor of creating the right-sounding statement solely on Black employees when all of the leadership was non-Black.

Brands these days need to be able to take a stand on issues that are important to their customers, not simply because their customers care, but because the brand genuinely cares. So identify certain topics that your consumers care about. Do your research. Understand how the conversation is playing out. Keep learning. And always back it up. Engaging with certain issues is not about just deploying the right buzzwords. It’s about being thoughtful and responsive. Also consider the brand’s limits because for consumers, brands can’t just talk about it. They need to be about it.

As social media manager, you can also be an agent of change. If you notice that your audience want the brand to make changes (like making a certain material eco-friendly or donating to a certain cause), be open to that and communicate that to other teams. The customer isn’t always right, but they can help push companies and brands to improve their product.

Social media management is all about cultivating relationships with your audience and consumers. Just like any other relationship, good social media management is about listening, exchanging, being authentic, and adapting. We live in a time where it feels like so much is out of our control, and one of the few things we do get to control is what we buy into, whether a product or a brand on social media. It takes a lot of work to meet the consumer where they’re at emotionally, visually, and even politically, but if you manage to do that, you’ll have a loyal audience.

 

Halloween is baaaaack — and it’s BIGGER and better than ever before!

After two years of tamped-down celebrations, Americans have collectively decided to go BIG to make this Halloween majorly memorable. We want trick-or-treaters galore, more decorations, and new costumes — for us, the kids, and yes, our pets.

Social media is playing a key role in the commercial growth of our favorite spooky holiday. People are looking to their feeds for costume and decoration ideas as spending is expected to reach a record amount this year, according to the National Retail Federation, or NRF.

If Valentine’s Day is a gift card holiday, Halloween was made for Instagram. It’s a holiday particularly suited to the digital age, and with the juju of social media, it’s become much, much more than a blip between “back to school” and Black Friday.

A 2019 NRF survey revealed that social media has been a growing source of inspiration for Halloween costumes since 2015. Pinterest ruled the roost at 18%, up from 13% in 2015, and 14% of those surveyed cited YouTube (up from 8%) and Instagram (up from 7%).

Women prefer Pinterest to browse for costume ideas while men are more likely to opt for YouTube. Each year, more women and men are turning to image-rich Instagram for inspiration, according to the NRF.

So, what is that people are doing this year to get their spooky on this Halloween?

Fave ways to celebrate include handing out sweets to trick-or-treaters (66%), decorating the house (52%), donning costumes (46%), carving pumpkins (44%), and hosting or going to a party (25%).

According to the NRF, American consumers are set to spend a record $10.14 billion this Halloween, up from $8.05 billion in 2020, when the CDC suggested most avoid trick-or-treating. A whopping 82% of households will get their spooky on, including 55% of those without children!

The spend is real: the average consumer is forecast to drop $102.74 on candy, costumes, decorations, and greeting cards. That’s $10 more than last year, according to the NRF. While costumes tend to be where folks spend the most, one out of ten Americans will go HUGE on candy, spending more than $100 on sweets alone!

“Americans plan to spend more than ever to make this Halloween a memorable one.”

NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay

Folks with kids are doubling down on Halloween — quite literally — and are estimated to spend more than twice the amount as compared to childless households. We’re talking $149.69 versus $73.57.

The spooky décor game is also fearsome, with $$$ spent on decorations set to climb to $3.17 billion from $2.59 billion last year.

However, without as many big parties or events to attend, costume spending, at $3.32 billion, was the only category not to break records, nosing just past 2017 numbers. But the costume game is still hot for adults and kids alike.

The top contenders for grown-ups are witch, vampire, ghost, cat, and pirate. For kids, it’s Spiderman, princess, Batman, superhero, and witch.

But it’s not just the humans getting into the dress-up action! One in five pet owners is dolling their fur babies up — with more young adults clamoring to dress their pets in costume. More than a quarter of adults aged 18 to 34 are planning to put Fido and Whiskers in snazzy get-ups. The most popular costume for pets includes a pumpkin (10%), hot dog (5%), superhero or cat (each tied for 4%), and bumblebee (3%).

 

Pandemic reality-check

While consumers are excited to get back into the spooky swing of things this year, that doesn’t necessarily mean we are all celebrating like we did two years ago. Masking and social distancing are still the name of the game, especially for children who haven’t been able to get vaccinated yet. According to data from eMarketer:

  • Compared to 2019, fewer people have plans to attend or throw a party (25% in 2021 vs. 32% in 2019) or visit a haunted house (22% in 2019 vs. 18% in 2021).
  • Folks plan to do more homebound activities, like decorate their homes (52% in 2021 vs. 49% in 2019) and dress up their pooches and kitties (20% in 2021 vs. 17% in 2019).
  • But decorations and candy will see a significant increase in spending of more than half a billion dollars. Greeting cards will also see a big bump, up 50% from 2020 to clock in at $0.66 billion.

The good news is that we are getting back into our sweet, frightful groove and embracing what is possible. Your social feeds will be full of epic spooktastic pics that may just spur 2022 to be even bigger than the blowout Halloween of 2021!

About the author

An award-winning creator and digital health, wellness, and lifestyle content strategist—Karina writes, produces, and edits compelling content across multiple platforms—including articles, video, interactive tools, and documentary film. Her work has been featured on MSN Lifestyle, Apartment Therapy, Goop, Psycom, Yahoo News, Pregnancy & Newborn, Eat This Not That, thirdAGE, and Remedy Health Media digital properties and has spanned insight pieces on psychedelic toad medicine to forecasting the future of work to why sustainability needs to become more sustainable. 

 

Employer Alert: What to Do When an Employee Quits 

“I quit” may be the phrase of the year. At the time of this writing, it has been ricocheting at organizations across the country. Forbes calls this job exodus the “Great Resignation.” Based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, “More people quit their jobs in April 2021 than in any single month in nearly a century. After a challenging and disorienting year, many people are looking for a change.” In terms of numbers, more than 700,000 workers in professional and business services left. And in the hospitality and retail sector, for every 100 workers, about five of them left their job.  

Although this exodus en masse is highly disruptive, the Forbes piece says that “a certain amount of turnover works for companies and their employees.” At any time, one, several, or more employees are bound to leave. If it hasn’t happened already, it will. “For leaders, there are two ways to respond,” this post suggests. “You can become bitter and defensive — many will undoubtedly follow this path — or you can celebrate people holistically, knowing they are better off when they pursue their passions.”  

The first option, which amounts to “outrage,” is, in Forbes’ words, “old-fashioned.” Instead of viewing the situation sourly, reframe the perspective. Be upbeat. There’s a chance now to hire another person who presents a great fit. Gain from the experience and take the high road.  

How should an employer do this?  

  • Be open and receptive to the news. It’s a fait accompli, so accept the resignation calmly. As Yoh advises: “In the end, if you already lost them, there is no need to make a scene out of it. They will probably respect you less if you do that, and losing their respect is not something you want at this point.” Hear what the employee has to say. A friendly, yet measured approach will bolster the departing person’s cooperation. Information from this meeting should help with moving forward.  
  • Speak up and emphasize the positive. Make the discussion with the departing employee pleasant and productive. It doesn’t have to be uptight or devoid of emotion. Cite the person’s strong points and accomplishments. Congratulate. Express your regrets for losing this person and keep the door open to return. Agree to provide references, if asked to do so now or in the future. Then set guidelines. Ask for a formal resignation letter with key dates, if it has not been submitted. Set goals and expectations for the exit process with milestones and touchpoints.     
  • Start your engines. Time is of the essence. You have a lot to do in the days between the employee resigning and walking out the door permanently. Ask the person to put everything he or she does in order before leaving, e.g., meticulous notes about activities, immediate needs that will have to be met in the person’s absence, where critical things are, names and numbers of importance. Ask the said employee to create a binder for this. Contact HR pronto to discuss the plan going forward.  
  • Get the word out. Announce the employee’s departure in official communications. People in the department and those at the organization who come in business contact with that person should hear about it in a timely manner through proper channels. Hold a brief team meeting about this, including potential plans, handoffs, sendoffs, and critical issues to maintain the flow of work. Keep messaging consistent and to the point. Act swiftly before rumors set in. External stakeholders are part of this too; they need to know about this through formal channels.  
  • Celebrate and have a good time. This line from a Kool and the Gang tune is apropos. Plan a send-off for the departing employee. It doesn’t have to be elaborate; small and simple, if done right, accomplishes the purpose. And that is to provide a warm farewell as well as show those on the team this is a fine place to work with a caring culture. Say a few words in the context of the communications that have circulated. Invite participants to do the same and give the floor to the departing employee to say goodbye. This creates a favorable impression all around.  

Tip: Keep a safety plan in place. If you don’t have one already, create a what-if operational backup. This document covers the ramifications of an employee quitting and changes that may have to take place. Basically: How do you pick up the slack? Enumerate the ways. Develop this guide according to job descriptions or whatever way makes most sense. Update it periodically. Include all members of the team (that means you, too). It serves as a template for all sudden departures, no matter how/why they occur, to guard against being blindsided.     

For more information from the employer angle, see: Your Best Employees Will Quit. Here’s What to Do About It and Want a Good Measure of a Company? It’s How They Treat Employees Who Quit. 

For employers, even though valuable resources may be departing, be sure to offer good tidings. Things change in the workplace. Mutual respect should not. 

About the author. 
You name it, she covers it. That’s the can-do attitude Sherry M. Adler brings to the craft of writing. A polished marketing and communications professional, she has a passion for learning and the world at large. She uses it plus the power of words to inform and energize stakeholders of all kinds. And to show how all of this can make a difference, she calls her business WriteResults NY, LLC. 

The pandemic disruption of work has been a learning experience, and the lessons keep coming.  

Many companies had planned for employees to return to the office in tandem with the beginning of a new school year, but things are getting upended — again. Amazon recently delayed its office return by four months; corporate staff is now looking at a January 2022 return. This news comes on the heels of similar postponements at Apple, Uber, Lyft, Google, and the video game juggernaut Roblox as the highly transmissible Delta variant drives a surge in COVID-19 cases.  

The sudden, pandemic-induced experiment in remote work dramatically changed the way that most knowledge workers work. For many, WFH allowed for less time commuting and more freedom while working, which led to increased productivity and happiness. But others struggled and missed the cleanly delineated separation of office life from home. 

Whatever your personal preferences, our collective remote work experiment has laid bare the holes in some long-held ways of evaluating performance. The “derrieres in office chairs” metric was once seen as a key indicator of office performance — workers who spent more time in the office were generally seen as being more productive and dedicated. But as it turns out, arriving early and staying past dark doesn’t necessarily correlate with productivity. And as we look at the options being weighed by companies large and small: 100% remote? Hybrid? 100% in-office? Combination thereof? — it’s clear that we need to move away from rewarding physical presence and instead focus on the work itself. 

Research shows that many folks thrive when they have autonomy over their work lives and environment (here’s looking at you, thermostat tug-of-war) and increased flexibility in managing their schedules. Excising stressful commutes has enabled focus and efficiency and allowed for more energy to be used where it counts — making the work magic happen. 

“Delta is probably the final nail in the coffin of the five-day return to the office,” shared Nick Bloom, a Stanford University economics professor who has studied work-from-home trends, in a recent Bloomberg article on the topic. “The five-day return was still an option after the initial pandemic in summer 2020, but became increasingly unlikely when this stretched into 2021 and we all got used to working from home.” 

And employees, it seems, are willing to pay a price to avoid a return to the old status quo. This is particularly true for older workers, who have accelerated their retirement plans, causing an exodus that may well be permanent for many. From data released in late March 2021, the labor force participation rate — the proportion of Americans 55 and older working or seeking work — has dropped from 40.3% in February 2020 to 38.3% in February 2021. That’s a sizable loss of 1.45 million from the workforce. 

Some of this is undoubtedly due to the outsize health risk COVID-19 poses to older folks. Still, for others, the pandemic may have unwittingly provided a looking glass into what really matters to them. Plus, they may have realized that the money they were making for doing unpleasant jobs wasn’t enough, an epiphany with far-reaching implications. 

By now, you’ve likely heard the term the “Great Resignation,” coined by Professor Anthony Klotz at Texas A&M. He says there’s been an accumulation of resignations stemming from realizations about work/life balance and new passion projects that are morphing into possible entrepreneurial enterprises. Many workers would rather vacate their jobs than slide back into the “old normal” of a 9-to-5 office slog that no longer fits. 

All of this has led to a tight labor market that is making hiring top talent tough. We spoke to Caroline Coons, a senior account executive at Creative Circle in the D.C. area, about how she is helping companies navigate choppy hiring waters, thorny questions about WFH, and flexibility. 

Increasingly, Coons has been recommending freelance as an interim solution for full-time roles that are increasingly difficult to fill. She shared that “with so many resignations, especially at agencies, there’s additional pressure on the folks left behind, who are taking on extra work, but then getting burned out and quitting themselves. Current teams are being forgotten and taken for granted as companies are scrambling to fill open roles.” Coons emphasized that “smart companies are reinvesting in their current employees, with some even extending retention bonuses as an added incentive.” 

Leaning into listening may offer the best way forward. If you are crafting a work plan, experts advise talking to your teams — and listening. If most of your workers want to primarily work from home (as was the case in this LinkedIn survey), then heed what you are hearing. Otherwise, your valued staff may be joining the exodus. 

Strive to cultivate a mindset that anticipates the crucial role of trial and error. Accept that it may take time to learn how to navigate the ever-shifting new normal as the mercurial winds of microbiology continue to buffet us in unpredictable ways. 

About the author. 

An award-winning creator and digital health, wellness, and lifestyle content strategist—Karina Margit Edelyi writes, produces, and edits compelling content across multiple platforms—including articles, video, interactive tools, and documentary film. Her work has been featured on MSN Lifestyle, Apartment Therapy, Goop, Psycom, Yahoo News, Pregnancy & Newborn, Eat This Not That, thirdAGE, and Remedy Health Media digital properties and has spanned insight pieces on psychedelic toad medicine to forecasting the future of work to why sustainability needs to become more sustainable. 

To say that the job market is 🔥 may be understating it.

We are in the throes of one of the most competitive and complex labor markets that we have ever witnessed — with an influx of open roles — but only a limited pool of candidates to fill them.

A sign of the times? Signing bonuses — usually the provenance of privileged white-collar professionals and professional athletes — are suddenly becoming common, particularly in the healthcare, food service, manufacturing, and logistics industries. You know the boom is booming when truck drivers, pizza delivery folks, office cleaners, and warehouse workers, not just bankers and consultants, are being offered signing bonuses of hundreds and even thousands of dollars. According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, “nearly 20% of all jobs posted on job search site ZipRecruiter in June offer a signing bonus, up from 2% of jobs advertised on the job search site in March.”

We spoke to Alexa Kornemann, a Creative Circle Senior Account Executive for NYC and the tristate area, about her take on what’s going on. “A lot of companies furloughed and laid folks off and didn’t anticipate things would come back as ‘quickly’ and are rushing to fill those slots. Clients are returning, and organizations need to staff up quickly because businesses are getting overloaded.” She added, “it’s unclear if this will be ongoing or is special to this year, but what we do know is that this is an exceptionally candidate-driven market.”

If you’re in the market for talent with highly sought-after skills, you need to act swiftly, interview smart, and be competitive with offers.

Here are a few key things Kornemann is recommending to her clients:

1. WFH flexibility

After working remotely for the last 18 months, many candidates have changed their lifestyle and are only looking for remote or VERY flexible in-office working options. If you’re open to someone working remotely or giving them the option to come into the office only as necessary, you will increase your candidate pool.

2. Consolidate/limit interviews

Interviews are necessary, particularly for full-time/long-term freelance roles; however, consider this fair warning that candidates could find other opportunities in the time it takes to schedule an interview. If possible, limit rounds and offer panel interviews with multiple teammates.

3. Nix the test

Candidates should have enough work in their portfolio to judge if they will be a good fit for your team. If not, request additional samples. A candidate’s time to complete a test (even paid) will risk them locking in another offer.

4. Full-time > freelance

A direct full-time role will outweigh a long-term freelance or freelance to a possible full-time position for most candidates. If you have the option to hire directly, we highly recommend you go that route.

5. Focus on transferrable skills

If you’re looking for an animator for your luxury beauty line and find one with all the capabilities from a tech and creative perspective but worked in high-end auto, not beauty — aim to be more flexible if the skills are good. An animator (or designer, copywriter, etc.) can adapt to brand guidelines. Auto luxury can easily translate to beauty luxury.

6. Competitive compensation

Offer what a candidate is targeting or more. It’s a candidate’s market, and aside from the role needing to be the right career move, the offer needs to be appropriate and aligned with experience and candidate skills — which can be via monetary compensation (base, bonus, stock), additional company perks, and work location flexibility. Many companies are offering all three.

If you are looking to fill open roles at your company but are having limited success, ask yourself:

  • What are you doing to shorten the hiring process?
  • What are you doing to appeal to candidates?

Take a cold, hard look at your hiring practices and see where you can streamline procedures and sweeten the pot — a little may go a long way towards upping your chances. May the odds be ever in your favor.

About the author.
An award-winning creator and digital health, wellness, and lifestyle content strategist—Karina writes, produces, and edits compelling content across multiple platforms—including articles, video, interactive tools, and documentary film. Her work has been featured on MSN Lifestyle, Apartment Therapy, Goop, Psycom, Yahoo News, Pregnancy & Newborn, Eat This Not That, thirdAGE, and Remedy Health Media digital properties and has spanned insight pieces on psychedelic toad medicine to forecasting the future of work to why sustainability needs to become more sustainable. 

Celebrating Pride in all its colorful glory has become a fashionable topic in the land of marketing.

Pride — once shunned — is now popularly supported by both public institutions and private corporations and is a widespread celebration for individuals and families from vast backgrounds and contexts. And this is a fabulous thing, reflecting the incredible leaps and bounds that have been made in the last few decades in terms of social, political, and cultural transformation that has normalized the conversation around gay rights.

Long gone are the days when advertisers only targeted the LGBTQ+ community with coyly worded campaigns. In today’s world, queering the marketing ecosystem has become big business, with rainbows emblazoned on everything from credit cards to fast food to clothing and electronics. But is this actually a win for the LGBTQ+ community or another empty marketing ploy? How many of these companies support the LGBTQ+ community — both inside and outside their company’s walls — all year round?

Welcome to the new Pride Month — a mix of well-meaning corporate intention but also prime pinkwashing season.

A mash-up of “pink” and “whitewashing,” the term describes a marketing ploy by corporations to cash in on and capitalize on the queer community — especially during prominent LGBTQ+ times like Pride month, when queer visibility is at its apex.

The popularity of shows like Queer Eye for the Straight Guy helped prominent marketers come out of the closet from Amazon to Barclays Bank to Forever 21 and even Israel, which sought to brand itself as the gay mecca of the Middle East (to the tune of much backlash). Some considered even the Obama administration to have adopted pinkwashing to distract the public from its more controversial policies.

As was the case with Israel, many perceived these companies’ foray into the rainbow-dappled Pride world as a vehicle to distract from their controversies. For example, Amazon continues to face a host of criticism ranging from tax avoidance to poor labor relations and working conditions.

Association with LGBTQ+ diversity and inclusion messaging may genuinely reflect these companies’ desire to move past former controversies and embrace a more open and inclusive future. But it can be hard to shake the suspicion that some of these businesses may be indulging in a bit of pinkwashing to blur the edges of some historically thorny reputational damage.

Pink sparkle is pretty to look at as it softs through the air, but as consumers become increasingly knowledgeable (and cynical), companies need to do more than just rainbow their logo for June and find ways to support LGBTQ+ rights year-round — authentically.

Some companies have gone beyond rainbow-hued social media posts by making their health insurance trans-inclusive, like Coca-Cola and Hyatt. And the first major hotel chain to offer domestic partnership benefits to queer couples? Hyatt. Taking action to foster a safe, egalitarian, and inclusive workplace goes a long way to creating a more inclusive society. If you’re truly walking the walk, then go paint a rainbow on it.

So, what is the role of private businesses in supporting these efforts in terms of sponsorship or emblazoning rainbows on socks and creating Pride-inspired ad campaigns?

A Pride-inspired ad campaign won’t count for much unless it’s accompanied by a robust set of inclusive internal policies that support diversity and a continuing promise to strive to do better. Recent years have evidenced how marketing campaigns advertising diversity and inclusion may harm a brand’s reputation if not perceived as authentic by the public and backed up by real action.

Want to engage authentically? Here are some assessments to consider:

1. What is your motivation?

It can be easy to get swept up in Pride-fever, but before you roll out the rainbow tchotchkes and merchandise, take a step back to assess why you want to engage and what your company wants to achieve by doing so. Start there.

2. Are you making a real contribution to an LGBTQ+ cause?

The LGBTQ+ community has long been marginalized and underserved. Is your company providing genuine support to the community or just another rainbow flag on a float? It’s vital that corporations show up year-round and contribute — not just during Pride month in June when it’s popular and PC to do so. Want to be an excellent corporate ally? Put your financial support behind issues that are vital to the community all twelve months of the year.

3. Is your company’s position consistent year-round?

Consistency is essential to successful corporate responsibility. Want to engage with the LGBTQ+ community meaningfully? Show up consistently. Here’s a good example of a bad misstep: Adidas, who for several years has shown its support for gay rights by releasing a cornucopia of rainbow-hued goods, was also a major sponsor for the 2018 World Cup, which took place in Russia, a country with an abysmal record for LGBTQ+ rights. The contradiction laid bare a fundamental disconnect between the brand’s messaging and its actions — and made Adidas’ rainbow merchandise look more like a money-making ploy than an authentic measure of support.

4. Is your company fostering a genuinely inclusive and diverse work environment and work culture?

Corporate support for the LGBTQ+ community needs to start from within. Research points to wage discrepancies between straight workers and their LGBTQ+ colleagues, while other data shows that as many as six in ten LGBTQ+ workers feel uncomfortable at work, with three in ten experiencing homophobic behavior. Before a corporation can authentically support gay rights, they need to come to terms with what may be happening in their workplace first. Some points to consider:

a. Are there strong anti-harassment policies in place that are enforced?
b. Is there anti-bias training?
c. Are there equal opportunities for LGBTQ+ workers?
d. Is there an LGBTQ+ pay gap?
e. Are there ERGs or other similar groups for LGBTQ+ workers and allies?

Pride-related diversity and inclusivity initiatives can be a win-win. By championing LGBTQ+ employees, partners, and customers, brands will see a true return with respect to brand loyalty, employee retention, and overall brand visibility. But this will only be the case if these efforts are authentic, evergreen, and sustained. If the rainbow only leads to a pot of gold, save it for the leprechauns.

About the author.
An award-winning creator and digital health, wellness, and lifestyle content strategist—Karina writes, produces, and edits compelling content across multiple platforms—including articles, video, interactive tools, and documentary film. Her work has been featured on MSN Lifestyle, Apartment Therapy, Goop, Psycom, Yahoo News, Pregnancy & Newborn, Eat This Not That, thirdAGE, and Remedy Health Media digital properties and has spanned insight pieces on psychedelic toad medicine to forecasting the future of work to why sustainability needs to become more sustainable.