How brands can contribute to cultural movements

In 2023, I wrote about the potential for brands to support cultural movements. The argument was optimistic: a business has resources, an audience, and a reason to build relationships. Those things can help people working toward change.

I still believe that. I would be more careful now with the idea that every brand needs to meet every moment. A movement has people, history, and goals of its own. A company’s participation needs to be useful to them.

For a brand considering that work in 2026, the first question is what it can contribute and sustain. The campaign comes after that.

Understand what you are joining

A cultural movement is a sustained effort to change shared expectations or behavior. A trending topic may draw attention to that effort, but attention alone does not tell a team what the community needs.

Start by listening to people already doing the work. Learn what they are trying to change, where progress is difficult, and which resources would help. Pay people for their expertise when you ask them to advise a commercial project. Let their answers shape the plan.

The right contribution might be funding, access to equipment, a change in purchasing, or a better product. Sometimes the most useful role is supporting an existing organization and giving it the credit.

Find the connection to the business

The original article used a simple example: if you sell pizza ovens, consider how your business could help feed people. That connection is a starting point, not a complete strategy. A local food organization can tell you whether ovens, ingredients, money, or reliable volunteers would actually help.

REI’s Opt Outside offers a clear connection between a business and the behavior it encourages. The outdoor retailer began closing on Black Friday in 2015. It made the commitment permanent in 2022, with a paid day off for employees, and reaffirmed it for the initiative’s tenth anniversary in 2025. REI’s ten-year account of Opt Outside.

What I find useful in that example is the connection between the invitation and the decision behind it. Encouraging time outdoors changes the company’s retail calendar. That is a concrete commitment people can examine, without treating one initiative as a verdict on the whole company.

Make the commitment specific

The four tests from the original piece still help: relevance, intention, authenticity, and community. Each needs a practical answer.

Relevance means being able to explain how the issue connects to your product, your people, or the places where you work. Intention means naming an outcome, a budget, and someone responsible for the work.

Authenticity means checking whether your own practices support the position. A campaign about inclusion should prompt a review of who can use the product and who has a voice in making it. Community means giving the people affected a way to shape the effort and tell you when it falls short.

Write those answers before the launch brief. If the team cannot explain what will change or who benefits, it needs more work.

Plan for the quieter months

A useful plan should survive the end of the media spend. Decide how long the support will last, who maintains the relationship, and what happens if the budget tightens. Be clear with partners about what you can promise.

Measure the contribution on its own terms. Funds delivered, repairs completed, or barriers removed may tell you more about the work than impressions. Track marketing results separately so a widely shared post does not get mistaken for progress on the cause.

Commercial benefit is possible, but it is not guaranteed. Nor does a popular campaign establish that the underlying work helped. Ask the people receiving the support, report what you can substantiate, and change course when the evidence calls for it.

Give people a reason to participate

The strongest part of the original argument was about connection. A business can give people a practical way to do something they care about together. That might be a repair workshop, paid volunteer time, or a sustained partnership with a neighborhood organization.

Choose something close enough to the business that the team can keep showing up. Make the contribution clear, let the community influence it, and follow through. That gives the brand a story grounded in work that would matter even if nobody shared the campaign.