Create ideas using: Support the underdogs
How do I support underdogs without it looking like performative virtue signaling?
Actually help them in tangible ways, not just with words. Put money behind it, create real opportunities, amplify their voices with your platform. If your support is just a hashtag campaign with no actual resources or change, people will see through it instantly. Real support costs something--time, money, power. If you're not sacrificing anything, you're not supporting, you're posing.
What if supporting underdogs alienates my mainstream audience?
Then you chose wrong or executed poorly. Supporting underdogs should feel like supporting fairness, not picking sides. Frame it as leveling playing fields, not punishing the established. And be prepared--real advocacy does sometimes cost you customers. If you're not willing to lose anyone, you're not actually standing for anything.
Example: How it could look
Patagonia doesn't just say they support small environmental groups--they donate 1% of sales and give grassroots activists free gear. They fund legal battles against corporations. They put their money and legal team where their mouth is. It costs them, pisses off some customers, and proves they're serious. That's real support.
Or like this:
Why is Support the underdogs a great technique?
Supporting underdogs positions your brand on the side of fairness and creates powerful emotional bonds with overlooked audiences.
Builds passionate loyalty from supported communities
Differentiates through values-based positioning
Creates authentic stories worth telling
Attracts customers who value fairness
Everyone loves an underdog story. When your brand actively supports those who deserve a shot but lack resources, you're not just marketing--you're creating actual change. That authenticity is magnetic to people tired of empty corporate speak.
! When not to use the Support the underdogs Technique
When you're using underdog narratives for clout without actually helping anyone. Performative allyship is worse than staying silent.
Technique first described by www.deckofbrilliance.com