Unstereotype Alliance Empirically Proves That Progressive Ads Significantly Uplift Sales
Last week at the Cannes Lions Festival, Unstereotype Alliance (convened by UN Women) revealed the preliminary findings from a world-first study testing whether progressive advertising leads to increased sales. The study was conducted by Oxford University’s Saïd Business School academics Dr Felipe Thomaz and Prof Andrew Stephen, and used data from Unstereotype Alliance members Bayer Consumer Healthcare, Diageo, Kantar, Mars Inc, Mondelēz International, and Unilever. The full report will be launched in September.
To prove that diverse advertising is more than doing ‘social good’ the study looked at advertising and sales data for 392 brands across 58 countries from 2020 to 2023. While the Unstereotype Alliance predicted that there would be a positive relationship between diverse advertising and more sales, the statistical significance of the findings astounded them. The preliminary findings showed that both short-term and long-term sales were positively affected when brands engaged in diverse advertising; short-term sales were improved by 3.46% and long-term sales saw an uplift of 16.26%, respectively. Furthermore, brands that engaged in progressive advertising reaped the benefits of higher customer loyalty – defined as ‘intent to repurchase’ – standing at 1.29 times higher compared to brands that didn’t. The Unstereotype Alliance describes these results as “pleasant shock”.
Diverse and progressive advertising has an expansive and intersectional lens when it comes to representation and it’s necessarily inclusive of men and boys who are likewise underserved by the current advertising landscape. The Unstereotype Alliance says that “the portrayal of men in advertising and content is largely monolithic, particularly in how indicators of success are represented” as evident in data collected from the past 75 years of ads. Progressive and diverse advertising is then a chance to speak to men and boys directly while moving away from prescriptive and entrenched ideas of masculinity, which the Unstereotype Alliance explored at one of their Cannes events, ‘Are We Leaving Men and Boys Behind?’.
LBB spoke to the Unstereotype Alliance about the report’s preliminary findings; how brands can – and why they should – engage in progressive advertising, even against a backdrop of the culture wars; and the necessity of making this type of advertising part of brands’ long-term corporate strategy.
LBB> The study is empirically proving that diversity and business growth are in perfect alignment. Going into the study, was there any doubt or hesitation about this relationship?
Unstereotype Alliance> There was definitely a slight nervousness, particularly on behalf of the advertisers, because they have invested so much in this work and in their commitment to leveraging advertising as a force for good. But we have long seen correlations between progressive advertising and purchase intent and other brand equity measures, so there was a strong pre-existing evidence base that gave us confidence. We also know that brands that have been consistent with their progressive content have continued to thrive and grow over sustained periods of time, and there are many examples of those brands amongst the Unstereotype Alliance’s 240 members – Unilever’s Dove being just one. However, brand equity measures, predicted ROI and purchase intent can be seen as ‘soft’ metrics by some, so we wanted to take this to the next level and provide compelling, definitive proof that this purchase intent converts into sales, to reroute the beliefs of any doubters.
LBB> Are you able to share anything about the study’s methodology and whether an intersectional lens was deployed to analyse diversity’s impact?
Unstereotype Alliance> The study used data from the Gender Unstereotype Metric, developed with Kantar for the Unstereotype Alliance, as well as data from the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media to identify and qualify ‘progressive content’ from across five of the world’s biggest advertisers and Unstereotype Alliance members – Bayer Consumer Healthcare, Diageo, Mars, Mondelez International and Unilever.
We then requested their sales data, which gave us advertising and sales for 392 brands across 58 countries, covering four years (2020-2023) and a wide variety of product categories – consumer health, snacks and confectionery, alcohol and beverages, pet care and consumer packaged goods. So we’re happy with the comprehensive representation of global households. The initial findings released at Cannes are just a snapshot of overall findings, but the characteristics of the ad content captured by the Unstereotype Metrics (Gender Stereotype Metric and Progressive Unstereotype Metric) enable intersectional analysis, and that will be included in the full report which we’ll release in September 2024, in the margins of the United Nations General Assembly. What we know already from previous analysis is that the Gender Unstereotype Metric works as a strong proxy for other measures of inclusion and representation in ad content.
LBB> Can you please share some of the initial findings and whether any of them surprised you? If so, why?
Unstereotype Alliance> The initial findings far exceeded what we’d hoped to see. While we were expecting to see sales impacts, we hypothesised these might be a longer-term impact rather than short term, so it was surprising to see uplift for both – and significant lifts at that, which any CFO would ignore at their peril. There is an improved direct short-term sales uplift of 3.46% and 16.26% greater direct long-term sales than less progressive ads. Similarly, we expected an uptick in brand equity measures but not the enormity of the growth potential that was identified. For example, intent to repurchase is 1.29 times higher for more progressive advertising than less progressive advertising. That was a pleasant shock.
LBB> One of your events at Cannes was titled ‘Are We Leaving Men and Boys Behind?’ – Can you talk about how and why diversity mustn’t omit men and boys (including white men and boys, who are seen as a dominant cultural group) from its remit?
Unstereotype Alliance> Given the Unstereotype Alliance is convened by UN Women, people are often surprised that we prompt this discussion around men and boys. Of course our brother programme at UN Women, HeForShe, has promoted male allyship since 2015. But worrying trends in multiple data sources told us we absolutely had to delve more into attitudes towards gender. In 2022 our Gender Equality Attitudes Study found regressive attitudes towards gender equality among young men across 20 countries, and we needed to understand why. So we worked with members and allies of the Unstereotype Alliance to find out. Data from BBD Perfect Storm’s New Macho ‘The Price of Success’ study, an analysis by Getty Images that looked at advertising over the past 75 years, as well as data from men’s health charity Movember, revealed a distinct pattern: the portrayal of men in advertising and content is largely monolithic, particularly in how indicators of success are represented. We saw a dearth of options as to how men show up, and very few positive role models – and even they were quite monolithic in terms of who and how they show up in the content.
These visual narratives impact men directly, in terms of who it tells them they need to be and how they need to perform in order to be seen as ‘successful’ as men. It’s harmful for the mental health and self-esteem of young men in particular. And it impacts the people around them, which is why we must work to remove all harmful stereotypes from ad content. Advertisers are communicators and storytellers, and brands have a responsibility to ‘do no harm’ with the stories they tell. This is just the beginning of the conversation for us – an intersectional lens must always be applied when we look at any portrayal, with particular attention to traditionally under-represented and under-served groups and this is where we want to take the conversation next. Because we need to depict multiple masculinities in all their diversity.
LBB> Staying with the previous question, how can/should brands address men and boys in a way that feels positive and expansive, not preachy?
Unstereotype Alliance> Expansive is exactly what it should be – there is no singular way to show masculinity, because that would be such a reductive approach. We want brands to open up the ways in which men are shown – to give a broader spectrum of options as to what that can look like. We put this exact challenge to the Young Lions at this year’s Cannes Lions festival, across three competition categories – film, print, and media. There were some phenomenal responses from across the world with winning work from Ecuador, China and the UK, and each of those responses had a common theme that aligned with our guidance: move on from money, muscles and misogyny – masculinity comes in many, many forms and that should be embraced. For the good of young men, and progress towards gender equality, we urgently need to progress from monolithic to a myriad of representations of masculinity.
LBB> Diversity and inclusion are frequent targets in the ongoing culture war. What advice would you give to brands who want to do social good while reaping business benefits, as the report says they will, in this environment?
Unstereotype Alliance> These things aren’t mutually exclusive, and the great news is that our research proves it – inclusion does indeed equal income. In terms of advice, positive portrayals of all people should be baked into every single piece of content that reaches our communities. And it’s important to be consistent with this, it’s not a ‘one and done’ solution. Be true to the values you espouse as a brand and as an organisation, ensure the teams you create and work with are diverse and working within an inclusive culture, support the communities you represent in your content, consult and pay them appropriately and finally, stay the course and share your stories of success with the industry to help breed more work that helps business and promotes positive social norms.
LBB> Is it worth for brands to weather out cultural storms if the study says that there are business benefits to be gained – so trading short-term negative sentiment for long-term benefits?
Unstereotype Alliance> Absolutely, the compounding effect of progressive advertising we have seen in this study is a clear demonstration of how brands can futureproof growth with multiplying effects. Brands are crucial intangible corporate assets that, when they hold value and are strong, provide future revenue streams and help protect companies from economic downturns and other variable challenges.
LBB> Finally, is there anything else that you would like to share with our readers about the report’s initial findings?
Unstereotype Alliance> This is just an initial snapshot. In September we’ll release a full report that looks at market and category differences and evaluates other ad characters and dimensions of inclusion as well, so stay tuned for that. It will include case studies that give tangible guidance and advice in terms of who’s doing it well and what success looks like, which we’re excited about. One final request is that readers share the initial findings widely and get them in front of those within their organisations who need to see it. Inclusion equals income, and we don’t want to keep this good news to ourselves.
