Momentum Moment: Juneteenth

By Mike Berland
June 17, 2020

Momentum for Juneteenth, the holiday that marks the end of slavery in the United States, is rising rapidly according to our MFactor data. It comes on the heels of a significant increase in momentum for Black Lives Matter, company “mea culpas,” employee activism, and Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer roles over the past three weeks. This momentum in America is turning these important changes into widespread adoption. 

Through successful grassroots initiatives led by employees, companies are showing support to recognize Juneteenth (June 19th). Estée Lauder Companies, Twitter, Square, Nike, BuzzFeed, Lyft, NFL, Adobe, and Levi's (and Decode_M!) have recently announced that Juneteenth will be a company holiday. [See a running list of more companies here].

States and companies making this change marks a major turning point for a holiday that hasn’t been treated like one in the past, even though the federal government is not following suit. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo will sign an executive order recognizing Juneteenth as a holiday for state employees and advance legislation to make Juneteenth an official state holiday in 2021. 

The majority of Americans hadn’t known of or heard about Juneteenth before this year and in just three weeks, Juneteenth’s MFactor increased by over 6x from 10 to 64, a 50% increase from last year.

Juneteenth_Jul+Jun_Blog_Updated.jpg


HERE’S HOW JUNETEENTH HITS ON ALL 5 DRIVERS

  • Disruption: For the first time, Juneteenth is no longer just local. The holiday that was typically celebrated on a state-by-state and local community basis will be observed by the entire country this year. This disruption from local to national is in large part due to the grassroots efforts of employees urging their employers to take concrete action. The spread is the result of corporate action.

  • Innovation: In past years people have celebrated Juneteenth in groups with parades and street festivals. This year businesses / brands and individuals are innovating ways to bring everyone together virtually. Musical performances and educational stories will be live streamed in Florida. Online collective HellaCreative has assembled a list of Juneteenth experiences across the globe: virtual baking session, film festival, workout parties. Media and news outlet Axios is hosting a virtual event to commemorate the holiday and unpack the steps forward for the country.

  • Polarization: This year, Juneteenth raises conflicting emotions. Historically Juneteenth has been billed as a celebratory occasion -- “Independence Day” for African-Americans. This year, “the fanfare has been underscored by uncertainty, uprisings and killings, making Juneteenth a holiday that symbolizes unfulfilled promises.” Many are frustrated that it has “taken this long” for the country to recognize its importance. “Still, many black Americans will lean into joy as a form of resistance rather than choke on the smoke of inequality” (Nicole Taylor, NYT).

  • Sticky: With so many companies offering Juneteenth this year as a day off to their workforces, employees will expect the same next year. The day off for Juneteenth will be one of the changes that sticks.

  • Social Impact: Observing Juneteenth is one of the first tangible, immediate initiatives that indicate brands and businesses are holding themselves accountable for the statements they put out last week. In addition to offering the day off, some companies are taking it a step further: beverage brand 02 is donating 100% of proceeds on June 19th to raise awareness for the holiday, software company Pulimi is participating in a donation-matching program and SeatGeek is organizing a Day of Service for employees. 

THE TAKEAWAY

Momentum for Juneteenth reflects the growing importance for companies/organizations to recognize all stakeholders (from employees to shareholders) and the community at large and ensure corporate values more closely reflect societal values. Grassroots employee activism is a driving force in this as employees demand to see the values of the company they work for more closely reflect their own values.

kate strassman