Democrats Will Lose Black Voters Unless They Figure This Out

Forbes

With Black voters making up at least 10 percent of the population in several swing states, Larry Adams, Founder and CEO of XStereotype sat down with Ali Jackson-Jolley to talk about why authenticity and representation in content and political ads are crucial in winning this demographic’s vote.  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Hi, I'm Allie Jackson Jolly. I am here with Larry Adams. He is the founder and CEO of

00:09X Stereotype. He was also a former campaign staffer with the Bloomberg presidential campaign

00:18where he worked on advertising. Larry, welcome and thanks for being here.

00:23Thanks, Allie. I really appreciate it. It's so cozy here. Thank you for having me.

00:27I'm excited because listen, it's 47 days until the national election.

00:33Feels like that's what everyone's talking about. But you're specifically here to talk about the

00:38fact that the black voter is hungry for more authentic advertising content. So let's just

00:49start by explaining what does that mean? And how do you know that that's true?

00:56Great. Thank you for having me. Great question. I think when we take a step back and we think

01:03about what authenticity is, there's many forms of it. It really comes down to language. It comes

01:09down to image and portrayal. And it also comes down to context. And oftentimes, those pieces

01:17all live within someone's mind or opinion. At X Stereotype, what we've done is actually

01:23gone out and studied content over a long time horizon and are able to actually quantify these

01:32feelings and created these psychometrics of understanding. So taking it out of the realm

01:38of it's my opinion versus someone else's opinion, we've actually quantified how someone feels about

01:44authenticity. And when we pull that into a mix of other metrics that we look at, sentimentality,

01:52emotionality, low bias, that gives us a sense of what is someone's openness to lean towards

02:02favorability. And so it's not just black voters that want this authenticity. Women, people of

02:12over a certain age, it's just a general human instinct to want to connect authentically.

02:19The problem is there haven't been measurement tools to help quantify and calibrate that for

02:24communications. And so we developed that. And so when it came time for actually connecting with

02:32this really important constituency of us black voters, we thought this is a perfect not only

02:38application of what we've been doing on the commercial side, but also much, much needed in

02:44political communications. The sense overwhelming that politicians are inauthentic is just,

02:50you can ask anyone. But what the job of the communicator is to create that connection,

02:57create the connection to the constituency and drive the favorability, which we hope leads to a

03:05vote. Yeah. And so you said that representation isn't the same thing as authenticity. And yet

03:12many, looking at many of the ads on TV, it's not necessarily clear that those creating those

03:21advertisements understand that. So what is the difference? And then question two, part B of that,

03:29if authenticity is required, does this mean that we should start to see an influx of dollars into

03:38black owned media and those who have more than just a few black people working in their firm?

03:48This is you're, you're hitting on a couple of points that we are trying, we tackle every day

03:54and is a personal passion for me is driving, driving equality in decision making in the,

04:03in the, in the back room. And oftentimes when you don't have the right people in the room to

04:08concept and to bring diverse lived experiences, it, it is communicated in the work. And so

04:16are there enough black and brown and, and, and gender gender included consultancy firms in the

04:26space? No, there aren't enough. And I think there's been a lot of talk about that. And I

04:31think, especially this cycle, we're starting to feel that because I think there's a sense that

04:35because are the democratic candidate is black, that that gets you black and it doesn't. And

04:44when you talk about authenticity, it's not one thing. And, and because we're not a monolith,

04:50there has to be an understanding of who are you actually talking to and how do you drive

04:55authenticity with, within, within the right context of who you're talking to.

05:00And so having diverse voices in the room lets you get into the sort of drive the insight that,

05:08Hey, I'm not representing all black people, even though I'm in the room, but I can tell you

05:13that there's probably three or four or five different ways that we can look at this. And

05:17let's bring in other voices in, or let's bring in the right data to make better decisions. I think

05:23one of the things that I've been grappling with as, you know, a long time communications executive

05:28is we can't fill the room fast enough. There aren't a pipeline of us to sit in all of these

05:34decision-making rooms and start to impact. And so my point of view is data is our new advocacy.

05:40How do we start to add, use our new signals to drive into the decision-making of these closed

05:49rooms, change the, create awareness through KPIs, change understanding through impact measurement.

05:57And then that will, I think from a cycle perspective, stop, break the cycle of you

06:03can't make the same decisions over and over and expect different outcomes, right? And so with the

06:09data that we're able to surface now through a measuring authenticity, measuring that as it

06:15relates to favorability, it really starts to drive home the fact that you need, you know, as a

06:22decision-maker that is not of the community that you're marketing to, it makes, it begs the question

06:28to them and highlight something that is not aware to them because of their lived experiences.

06:33I have a problem here, or I have an opportunity. And I think more than a problem, we see

06:39it's opportunity, it's growth. And true growth comes from incremental audience acquisition.

06:46You can't fake that. You have to actually connect with that audience authentically. And so

06:51having the right measures, having the right tools in place to calibrate that is essential. And

06:57today's day and age, there's no excuse for it because we have data piped into every decision-

07:02making tool that's out there. And so as we think about the future of Black inclusion and

07:12other colored group inclusion, we have to start to look at what data sources are driving our

07:18decisions. And that's why xStereotype was formed. And that's why we've got ourselves right in the

07:22middle of content creation in the cycle because the same datasets that led us astray for so many

07:29years and also were the back, the underpinning of how the whole conversations have been set up

07:37are falling apart. Yeah. So let me ask you, because obviously you wear the hat of being

07:44an entrepreneur, of a business leader. But you also, again, back to that time at Bloomberg,

07:51were really in the political arena. So what I've been thinking about is the fact that we're even

08:00talking about this speak to the fact that there is maybe fear of attrition amongst Black voters.

08:09So for years and decades, the Democratic Party often expected, especially on the national level,

08:16that they were going to get the Black vote. Less so now, but for many years, the Republican Party

08:22didn't even try to look to attract the Black vote. The fact that you are here with this tool and

08:31talking about the need for authenticity, does that speak to that changing demographic or the

08:38understanding that the Black community is not a monolith and can vote different ways?

08:43A hundred percent of growth from a population perspective came from multicultural segments.

08:52The electorate and the population is shifting underneath these old frameworks. And it's not

09:02necessarily that we are there feeling the pressure of attrition. It's really just the whole

09:09landscape has changed. And I think with that change also comes a shifting of how people

09:16view the legacy architecture. What a party meant to my parents doesn't mean the same to me.

09:23And I think you have a lot more people who would define themselves as more independent

09:28and not aligned so holistically to parties and will move to where they feel they are the most

09:34welcomed. And feeling welcomed and belonging comes through that authenticity and that context

09:42building. And so if the Republicans could figure it out, they would probably attract a high level

09:51of those people that feel themselves fluid between parties. Because it's not about in the past we

09:58labeled people and now people are taking back their own identities and moving in a way that is

10:05more fluid and changes over time. So speaking about that, just while you were talking,

10:12it made me think about the fact that there are even, let me ask this question again as a political

10:21expert, are there people that are not from this community who also may be interested in seeing

10:31more authentic Black voices because, for example, it could give them permission to vote for a certain

10:40candidate or make them feel like that party is actually more inclusive even though, for example,

10:48the Republican candidate is inclusive. So it's okay if I do vote this way.

10:56One of the strongest emotional triggers to action for segments is admiration. And so when

11:05there are high levels of inclusion and belonging and low sense of bias,

11:09you get this admiration emotion that drives people closer to favorability. So

11:14amongst white audiences, everyone, once you trigger this admiration through inclusion,

11:22you actually start to move people towards that favorability. So I think there is a huge

11:29opportunity across the board. I think Democrats, we have the, I would say we have the diverse

11:37coalition and the mandate because of that to create these spaces and platforms that are

11:43welcoming. And we've seen the other side really take a position of extremism and polarization.

11:51And I think though, and from a tactical perspective, they're also sort of underneath

11:56that leveraging social media to connect with some of those vulnerable audiences and through that

12:03create some context of perceived authenticity. Yeah. And how about when you were talking about

12:10this with me, I was thinking for the national election, again, 47 days out, there are likely

12:19a lot of folks that are very staunchly set with who they're going to vote for having been exposed

12:26to so much media and content for the past year around this. Is this more impactful for local

12:34and state, you know, specifically by this, I mean, campaign advertisements that are showing

12:42authenticity or is it regardless of, you know, if it's a national election, a state election,

12:48a local election, it's able to move the needle. It's one of the mentors I've met in

12:55politics has taught me all, everything is local. All politics is local. And it really comes down

13:03to how I feel in my neighborhood and on my block and people make decisions that way.

13:08What's really interesting when we look at the polling data for multiple sources, the amount

13:13of awareness on issues is so low. People are not leaning forward into this and they actually are

13:21leaning away from it because it's so, it's been so toxic for so long. And there's so many things

13:28that matter more than what are they saying on cable news or on social media platforms. So I

13:35would say that it is really about local and it's really, and I think specifically for black, it's

13:41very, very local. And I think that there is, I know that there is a sense that, okay, if we're

13:48hitting all the airways and we're hitting all of the major channels, we're covering it. You're

13:53actually not, it's creating a lot of perception. I would say it's false precision and everything

14:02has a top and you have to also have a really strong ground game, especially if you're trying

14:07to influence an audience that's leaning out. And so being on the block, being at the community

14:13center, and that doesn't mean like a community center is like where the people gather and having

14:18a presence there and not talking about the brand of the candidate, but talking about the vibes and

14:26how is it going to affect that neighborhood? So a tactic that we actually use really well is

14:32hyperlocalization. So really getting into naming the neighborhoods when we're advertising. When you

14:39have large generic communication, it feels disconnected. But if you can pull in elements

14:46of local flavor, of local personalities, it really does make a difference. It makes

14:52that identification just snaps and people feel like, okay, I can lean into this. This gives me

14:57permission and gives me a sense of they know what's up. I feel seen. And that's really,

15:03I would say that is like the biggest part of that feeling of belonging is feeling seen. I would say

15:10at the end of the day, all the metrics that we're providing is a way for the audience that we're

15:15talking about to be seen by the decision makers. And that unlocks everything. So that's what we're

15:23really focused on. I think from a political perspective, there are a lot of transitions

15:28happening. We have generational issues and those things are coming to bear. We even saw that at the

15:34top of the ticket. We see lots of those same sort of cohorts now transitioning. And it is a transition

15:42of skill sets. It's just of tried and true may not work anymore. And a bit more risk taking has

15:51to happen. And that is very, very scary to most political operatives making the shift.

15:58So Larry, now we are out of time. Thanks so much for being here with us.

16:04It's so great to be here with you.

16:04Making us all a little bit smarter about how ad campaigns can maybe impact the national election.

16:11And how the black voter may be attracted to authentic content. I'd love to keep the

16:18conversation going.

16:19Yes. Great. Thank you so much, Ali. Great to be here. Thank you.

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