Has Trump really killed woke? + 2025 blockbuster content + JFK’s rhetorical trick

Hi

‘Woke’ has been a powerful influence on the communications and policy environment for the past 10-15 years. In this edition I explore whether declarations that ‘woke is dead’ are premature. Plus, I look at why delivering some big ‘blockbuster’ comms and content projects is important this year. And I examine a neat trick JFK used to create memorable lines.

Thanks.

Ben

Has Trump really killed woke?

With the Trump-led war against ‘woke’, and many corporates – even ‘woke Disney’ – ditching their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, many people are now declaring woke dead.

The Economist has declared ‘peak woke’.

But while woke – a catch-all phrase for efforts to stamp out disadvantage and discrimination – may be in retreat, I’m in two minds about whether it is truly dead.

Reasons why woke is dead

There are reasons to suggest that woke peaked in 2020 but is now in terminal decline:

· Fewer academics are being canceled. 

· Media mentions of woke topics have declined. (As American sociologist, Musa Al-Gharbi, author of ‘We Have Never Been Woke’, argues, the current woke cycle began after the GFC in 2011 when the media suddenly ramped up their focus on all forms of discrimination and prejudice. That seems to be declining.)

 · Corporates, which moved left, are now backtracking on woke. Companies are simply not talking about DEI; or they’re actively ditching DEI policies, including Accenture, Walmart, McDonald’s and Meta (Facebook).

 · Many traditional left-liberals have turned against woke, concerned by its illiberalism, its focus on identity at the expense of economic inequality, and its rejection of universal values.

 · In the US, Trump and many states are unwinding woke policies or enacting anti-woke, anti-DEI legislation.

 · A large portion of voters clearly dislike woke; some 40% believe the term is now an insult.

 · In asset management, there has been a sharp decline in interest in ESG investing and sustainable funds, with the number of new funds launched falling and outflows increasing.

 · Tougher economic conditions have forced businesses to get ‘back to basics’, with growing calls to focus on profit-generating activities. The ASX, for example, has been accused of focusing on DEI while the number of firms listing on its exchange fell.

 · Woke doesn’t seem to have helped disadvantaged people that much. For example, there is little evidence that diversity training leads to … more diversity.

Reasons why woke isn’t dead

But there are some signs that, despite the backlash, woke could persist for some time (and even surge back when Trump leaves office):

· Yes, as The Economist reports, woke has declined. But it has declined from a very high peak. Many woke metrics remain significantly elevated from when the paradigm emerged in 2011.

· While fewer academics are being canceled, academics in higher education – those who educate the young – remain overwhelmingly left-leaning, which won’t be unwound overnight.

· While a chunk of Gen Z broke for Trump at the last election, young people generally – particularly Gen Y – have moved left politically and they don’t seem to be becoming more conservative as they age at the same rate as previous generations. Women have also been moving to the left.

· Many people (52% in the US) still believe DEI is a good thing in the workplace.

· The underlying philosophies upon which woke rests – particularly postmodernism (no objective truth exists, cultural relativism, a focus on power, etc) – remain in ascendance and don’t appear to be challenged by a cohesive new paradigm … or a sustained return to Enlightenment values (reason, progress, truth, etc).

· Unlike the US, major countries such as the UK are not unwinding woke initiatives but are actually entrenching them further.

The underlying communications environment hasn’t radically changed

As communicators, we operate amid social constraints: what society deems is an acceptable range of ideas to discuss (the Overton Window, context, or commonplace).

The woke era from 2011 to 2020 shifted this range to the left. There is now somewhat of a move back towards the centre.

But even after the woke backlash, I don’t see the underlying structure of society changing that much:

· People at the top aka ‘elites’ – the winners in the knowledge economy – will remain heavily invested in woke beliefs because it delivers them cultural capital, which allows them to signal their education and sophistication, and differentiate themselves from non-elites.

· But ordinary people, non-elites, will continue to rebel against woke, which they feel has little relevance to their day-to-day lives.

· Various politicians and activists will seek to exploit this gap.

What does that mean for communicators and leaders?

Given the environment remains complex and fluid, it’s important we:

· Increase our ‘listening’ efforts to stay abreast of shifts in sentiment. Just by listening to people’s concerns in recent years, it was clear that a woke backlash was brewing.

· Ensure our organisations, particularly elite organisations, have true diversity of thought. We can’t assume that everyone thinks the same, and we need to accept that is ok – we should to be able to engage in civil debate. Insights from all schools of thought and political leanings provide a true picture of what is going on in society.

· Not make any knee-jerk changes to policies to pander to woke or anti-woke activists.

· Above all, we should do good because it is good … not because of the zeitgeist, from fear, or because it has been mandated.

***

What’s Your 2025 Blockbuster Content?

While Disney has suffered from the anti-woke backlash, the company still remains good at what it does (great content), and they can provide lessons for communicators, marketers and leaders.

LinkedIn’s The B2B Institute released an interesting report, 2030 B2B Trends. The authors decided to look at marketing business trends, not for the year ahead … but way out to 2030.

One of the trends the report highlighted was a move to ‘Blockbuster’ marketing.

(Interestingly, the report outlined the Disney formula: Creative success = (Big Bets) on (Familiar Stories) with (Distinctive Styles) in (Every Channel).)

They also referenced the work of Harvard’s Anita Elberse, author of Blockbusters.

In the book, Elberse argues that small bets are riskier than big bets because they fail to cut through in a highly competitive media environment.

She tells the story of contrasting approaches to content adopted by two executives:

· When he was at Warner Brothers, Alan Horn found all the big returns were made on the biggest bets. So he focused the studio’s production and marketing each year on just four to five event films, such as Harry Potter.

· But over at NBC Universal, CEO Jeff Zucker, chose the opposite strategy. He focused the studio on producing more, smaller-budget television shows to boost margins.

Horn’s strategy paid off and Warner rose to number 1. But NBC slumped from the highest ratings network to fourth.

As the 2030 B2B Trends authors note: “Horn got poached by Disney (where he became chief creative officer). Zucker got fired.” (NBC has since reversed Zucker’s strategy.)

Elberse calls Horn’s strategy the ‘Blockbuster’ strategy, which she argues is more effective and profitable than risk-averse strategies.

We all know the content and comms space is highly competitive, so as people plan for 2025, it is worth considering incorporating the blockbuster strategy.

What are some blockbusters/big bets you can make that can cut through in a competitive marketplace? Could it be a major report, book, e-book, big video production, product/service launch, or event?

***

JFK’s neat rhetorical trick

Of course, effective communication isn’t always about big ideas; it’s also about getting the small things – words and sentences – right, so they resonate with audiences.

One of my favourite techniques is chiasmus (pronounced kigh-az-muhss): it’s basically when you flip/invert the grammatical structure of one phrase in the next.

Perhaps the most famous example is John F Kennedy’s inauguration speech when he said:

· “Ask not what your country can do for you. But what you can do for your country.”

JFK flipped the sequence ‘country-do-you’ into ‘you-do-country’ to create a powerful message of serving your country, rather than waiting for it to serve you.

(In the Elements of Eloquence, Mark Forsyth describes JFK’s inauguration speech as ‘chiasmus crazy’ because there were so many in there.)

Forsyth says JFK probably got chiasmus from his father, Joe, who coined:

· “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”

Chiasmus works because the symmetry is pleasing to our ears; and it allows the two thoughts to be neatly contrasted.

Perhaps because of JFK, Americans love chiasmus; though Australians are generally more suspicious of grandiose rhetoric.

Still, it’s fun to play around with chiasmus to loosen up your language and find interesting lines.

· Ben Power Communications … Communication that powers your organisation!!!