Angie’s List makes bold move

Last week Indiana based Angieslist.com was one of a number of companies to come out against the states new “religious freedom” law which was largely viewed as an attempt by the Republican-controlled congress to legalize discrimination against LGBT couples. CEO Bill Oesterie went as far at to threaten moving the company from Indiana if the law was not changed. The question though is was this good for the companies brand?

From my viewpoint, the company made the right choice and likely gained significant brand equity not to mention all the free publicity. Opposing discrimination is always the right moral choice and is often the right positioning choice, but marketers should always proceed with caution into any politically sensitive debate. Just look at the recent “Race Together” debacle at Starbuck’s (where the coffee chain attempted to “open a national debate about race” by having baristas start conversations about race with customers before they had their morning cup of coffee) and it is easy to see that there are limits on how far a company should go in doing what might feel like the right thing.

- Casey Richards