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Stagwell is playing both sides this election cycle.
Assembly, its media buying arm, worked with Michael Bloomberg’s presidential campaign in 2020, and SKDK, which consults for Democrats, has worked with clients like Future Forward, a super PAC supporting President Joe Biden’s re-election. Meanwhile, Stagwell’s Republican political comms agency, Targeted Victory, is staffed with Republican presidential campaign alums.
While the agencies cater to different political parties, some members from each also come together to advise companies on ways to address hot-button social and cultural issues, which some brands have famously struggled to do.
That group is Stagwell’s Risk and Reputation Unit, which has been evolving to help brands navigate the polarized 2024 political climate. Together, Stagwell’s politics-focused agencies, along with Stagwell corporate comms firm, Sloane & Company, are advising brands on ways to navigate changing public interests and expectations.
“We’ve expanded our crisis practice to include political polarization, because it is such a new and startling risk to business,” Ray Day, vice chair at Stagwell, said.
The pressure isn’t just external; many companies have employees who are concerned about certain political or social issues, Pia Carusone, president of SKDK Political, said. According to her, the Risk and Reputation Unit aims to help those brands understand how their employees “are probably existing outside of their job and maybe engaging in conversations around hot-button issues.”
Elephants in the room
While some members of the Risk and Reputation Unit, like those from Assembly or SKDK, tend to work with more left-leaning or Democratic clients, others, like Matt Gorman of Targeted Victory, work with more conservative, often Republican, clients. While SKDK and Targeted Victory don’t usually work together on political consulting, they do come together to help advise brands in The Risk and Reputation Unit.
According to Gorman, when brands take stances on political and cultural issues, consumers may react strongly, and it’s wise for brands to consider the potential consequences. With that said, even if some consumers have beliefs that don’t align with a brand’s, that brand’s commitment to its principles could draw some of them in.
Either way, the work of the Risk and Reputation unit is designed to help clients understand “what are some of the hot-button issues they can expect throughout the election cycle and the campaign season, but also going into the first 100 days next year, whether it’s Biden…or Trump,” Gorman said.