Not An Ad: Betty Crocker
We all know the heavy hitters of the disability inclusive advertising space to be Apple’s The Greatest, Google’s Javier in Frame, and if you’re in PR / Strategy, Degree’s Trainers for Hire. Profound, beautiful content that shows the brand understands the struggles the disability community faces, and is committed to supporting and celebrating us.
To do this effectively brands need a top down, a bottom up, and an all around buy in that disabled people matter, and a commitment to learning from and about our community. With less than 4% of companies even prioritizing disability within their DEI at all, this is rare to see and we cry literal tears of joy when we see these ads. Brand loyalty, forever.
Let’s look at some of the key things leaders like you need to think about in order to tap into the $13T buying power of people with disabilities.
NARRATIVE:
First, let’s learn:
At Misfit Media, we’ve got a framework for everything. One of our frameworks we use is to describe the variety in narratives you can use to show disability:
Gen Pop: This approach sees disabled models and characters integrated into mainstream campaigns or shows aimed at the general population. It’s rooted in the understanding that disabled individuals are a part of society, using and enjoying the same products and services as non-disabled people.
Functional: Here, the focus shifts to showcasing products that, while beneficial to the general population, hold additional value for disabled individuals by meeting specific access needs.
Narrative: In this framework, the narrative is intentionally centered around disability. It often involves storytelling that educates the audience and promotes solutions offered by a brand that explicitly addresses the challenges disabled individuals face.
The heavy hitters we spoke about before, they do all of these. And most of the time, the campaigns that really stick with us, are able to combine all of these narratives at once.
But what does that mean if you can’t get that top down, bottom up and all around buy in? What if you lead a team of creatives, but your CMO at the corporation you work for just… doesn’t see the value in disability marketing? What do you do when you want to do something inclusive, but you don’t have the power to make heavy hitting business decisions? Should you do nothing?
It’s really as simple as baking a cake. Click here to see the same video content filmed for a fake client (as of now) / but real brand (Betty Crocker) to show how you can easily embed different narratives with just a bit of strategy and nuance.
Second, let’s apply:
These are only three of dozens ideas for narrative that we came up with in literally 30 minutes. A few other narratives would be:
General Population Examples:
A mother in a wheelchair bakes with her daughter.
A blind man bakes a cake for his father.
A person with Dyslexia, ADHD or TBI makes cupcakes for a friend.
Functional: (adding on from each of the gen pop examples)
A mother in a wheelchair finds cleanup easier due to fewer ingredients required.
A blind man uses a screen reader for simplified baking instructions.
Neurodivergent person uses visual cues on the back help them make sure they’re understanding the directions correctly
Narrative (adding on from functional):
Stories highlight personal challenges
mother’s past difficulties with inaccessible kitchens
blind man’s appreciation for streamlined baking processes
ND person talking about how they love being able to take instructions in through multiple formats to insure accuracy.
STRATEGY + PLACEMENT:
Once we’ve got a narrative in place, we’d look to how we best position this so that as many disabled eyes as possible see it. Here’s the process we’d suggest.
Identify Creators:
Look and see who is out there creating content that fits these narratives, or similar ones. We’ve got a list of creators that have a reach of over 30m followers, and we’ll refer you to orgs like The Shineside or Whalar to book premium talent.
UGC vs Influencers:
Choose if you need someone with a big reach like an influencer, or just someone who can create content. Remember that even if their reach isn’t huge, disabled influencers have a 20% higher engagement rate than nondisabled influencers because our community is so tight knit and loyal to one another.
Whitelisting + Retargeting:
There’s currently no way to target market people based on disability - this is good. It protects vulnerable people from being exploited and sold items we don’t need. But, that also means we have to get creative with placement. By partnering with UGC creatives and micro influencers, or influencers in general, and whitelisting this content Betty could reach their audience who all care about disability inclusion immediately. Then, for maximum reach, we’d recommend they redirect viewers of that content to a website that talks about Betty’s commitment to the disability community over the years, and steps they’re actively taking to continue the legacy.
Example: Betty Crocker could host an online baking class led by Occupational Therapists, Physical Therapists and disabled chefs / bakers to help home bakers with disabilities figure out how to make delicious treats, and tricks they can apply to make it easier! Once they’re there, retarget baby!
Media Placement:
TV / Network:
Let’s say you have a creator whose UGC performs really well and you want to turn it into a full blown ad campaign - where should you place it? You’ll need to think through shows that communicate about disability respectfully and with equity. For example, the show In The Dark has a great narrative surrounding disability and blindness… but they casted Perry Mason as the lead who plays a blind character. This may shock you but Perry Mason is notorious for not being blind. At all. Be sure the content you’re positioning it on is content that doesn’t perpetuate stereotypes, stigmas or tropes that we hate. If you’re unsure what those are, it sounds like it’s time for a training.
Let’s dive a bit deeper as to why: Let’s say you have two options for placement.
One is on Peacock: SNL has recently platformed Shane Gillis, who decided to use the R word and his 7 min monologue to mock disabled people. Not only did the network never issue an apology or statement, they aired the episode again. The disability community is really annoyed, with many boycotting the programming or network entirely. Not only will your ad not get as far of reach while this is ongoing, imagine your amazing inclusive campaign coming after… seven minutes of a comedian mocking people with Down Syndrome. What’s this telling disabled audiences? Our money helped make this happen. Big yikes.
The other is on Hulu: Hulu has both Abbot Elementary and This Is Us - shows illustrate the challenges that often accompany raising a child with a disability in a world with inaccessible systems. They use the social model to tell the stories and avoid any of the stereotypes, stigmas and tropes that perpetuate ableism. Imagine your ad following that narrative - big yes! Other placements that would be smart would be on Netflix for Queer Eye, or on Disney+ considering the Autism representation on The Proud Family.
News + Media Platforms:
Find organizations that talk about disability issues and stories from the right lenses. If we see you sponsoring content that uses the charity or medical models of viewing disability, we’re going to get a real gross feeling in our stomachs. If we see you sponsoring content that uses the social model, we’ll love you forever. Let’s look a bit deeper:
Disability Scoop: DS features stories that are all about disability but… most are written through inspiration porn, medical model or charity model lenses. By and large, when well intentioned folks send us articles from this platform, the community rolls our eyes.
Good Good Good: GGG is one of the best reporting outlets I’ve seen when it comes to disability justice. They are nuanced and show people who are working to be the change while also not negating the real, systemic issues disabled people face.
Work the Halo Effect:
Rather than position themselves as a hero to disabled people, Betty should let the content creators and community sing their praises, and position themselves as the super allies they have been - and always will be.
Co Branding:
In the video we used for sample content alone, there were opportunities for co branded partnerships with:
Target: showcase Target pickup as a tool for people with chronic pain who can’t stand for long periods
Crate & Barrel: all the kitchen items shown and appliances are from C&B, great opportunity for them to use this as a Gen Pop partnership (or we could pull in appliances for Functional, showcasing how they make it even EASIER to do kitchen prep)
Fairlife / Vital Farms: another natural opportunity for Gen Pop inclusion for supporting partners.
Experimental Marketing
Disney / Disney+: Other immediate opportunities we’d see for partnership would be with Disney or Disney+ with Wish, considering a supporting character Dahlia uses crutches, whose best friend, Asha, is a baker. Misfit would suggest a longer term strategy here, using this as an opportunity to engage in a Disney+ and Betty Crocker experiential marketing opportunity, and host workshops for disabled children and their besties to come and learn to bake with Betty Crocker in cities across the country.
We have a set of twins here locally in MN we’d tap where one twin uses crutches, and the other does not, to create an ad campaign promoting the launch of the experiential marketing launch, showing the importance of interabled friendships and relationships, just like Wish!
Now, let’s apply:
If you look at this video here, you’ll see how amazing and easy it is for us to do in a matter of minutes.
Let’s conclude…
If your wheels are spinning and you’re like… wait - could my product do this, too? The answer is yes. I once had a challenge in a live training I did where I let participants try to yell out random businesses or services to try to stump me if they thought I couldn’t make a disability inclusive campaign fit, and all I’ve gotta say is… if I can do it for a plumber… I can do it for you.
Ready to do the work? Download our free“Inclusive Creative Insights” PDF that will give you the blueprint of many of the key frameworks we talk about or click here to inquire about booking a once off strategy meeting with our team.