Give Your Brand a Higher Purpose to Achieve Higher Performance
by Toby Smalley, EVP Client Service at MERGE
The purpose-driven brand — we see a lot of content about it now more than ever before, but is your brand really purpose-driven? Be honest. We’re told our brands should have a purpose, and there are numerous studies talking about how important it is, but my guess is most marketers really don’t have a true brand purpose. Usually, it’s talked about as an add-on, as a way to create shared value, improve employee morale and commitment, give back to the community, and help the environment. It becomes a section under “Giving Back” in an annual report. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Consumers don’t want just lip service, they expect transparency and authenticity. And in today’s world, they can see if you’re living up to a higher purpose.
More and more marketers are realizing how important a real, living/breathing, authentic brand purpose really is. Brands are expected to be transparent in their actions and to follow through on commitments to wider society in order to gain trust from consumers, who are increasingly looking beyond a product to see whether the corporate brand is one with which they want to align.
According to Unilever, two-thirds of consumers around the world choose brands because of their stand on social issues, and 90 percent of Millennials would switch brands for those that champion a cause. In 2018, Unilever’s Sustainable Living Brands grew 69 percent faster than the rest of the business, compared to 46 percent in 2017. Unilever now has 28 Sustainable Living brands, of which seven are in its top ten brands — Dove, Knorr, Omo/Persil, Rexona/Sure, Lipton, Hellmann’s, and Wall’s. Unilever’s Sustainable Living brands are those that communicate a strong environmental or social purpose, with products that contribute to achieving the company’s ambition of halving its environmental footprint and increasing its positive social impact.
So, how does one go beyond an add-on brand purpose to a brand purpose that is at the core of everything your brand does? First, understand that your brand has to stand for something. For a brand to be successful over the long-term, it must not only create value for shareholders — but must also benefit the community it serves. You can make your brand better by making the world better.
You can make your brand better by making the world better.
Patagonia is a great example. The company shifted from a product/purpose hybrid of “Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis” to the clear purpose-driven mission, “Patagonia is in business to save our home planet.” Nowhere in this purpose does Patagonia mention clothing, climbing pitons, or any tangible product. But there is no doubt what it is trying to achieve: Its “worn wear” and “buy used” initiatives are ways to reduce the amount of clothing that goes into landfills. How many brands would urge consumers to not buy their new product, but instead buy used? This is a commitment to a larger purpose that is about the community, not the company.
OK, let’s say you know what you stand for. Now, how do you turn purpose into a purposeful brand? Start by looking internally. How do you treat your employees? What are your company values? What are the issues in your business and how can you help tackle them? And by issues, I don’t mean a business problem, but rather, what are the societal issues touching your business that your brand can help solve? And here’s the most important part — be honest with yourselves, admit your failures, and what problems you actually cause. Without the proper, honest introspection, you can’t really be successful.
Though it may seem that articulating the purpose is difficult, the hard part hasn’t really started. The most difficult part is sticking to your purpose, making it actionable and ownable for everyone in the organization every step of the way, and avoiding the short-term pitfalls that put profit and process over the long-term goal of making the community better. This requires inspiration, commitment, and focus. And most importantly, being bold in your purpose and not backing down.
Dream big, act big. In the words of Chicago’s architect, Daniel Burnham, “Make no small plans for they have no power to stir men’s souls, and probably themselves will never be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, knowing that a noble, logical diagram, once recorded, will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency. Remember that our children and grandchildren will do things that will astound us. Let your watchword be order and your beacon beauty.”
And don’t think that redefining your brand purpose has to be some enormous, overnight change that disrupts your business. Start small, yet be impactful and measure your success. After all, this is a long-term process, not a simple short-term fix to “check the box.”
As a Consumer & Commerce Practice co-lead, Toby oversees a portfolio of clients ranging from CPG brands and consumer durable goods to professional services. With over 30 years of experience in all of these categories, Toby combines cross-industry thinking with marketing discipline to help drive business results.
