Purpose – more than a tagline, a business imperative, NOT an agency awards strategy
Brandingmag
The independent publisher narrating the global discussion on branding and culture.
“Treating purpose as a one-off or as an opportunity to win awards – which, let’s face it, is often the goal of an agency doing that kind of work for their clients – is a huge miss for the actual company or brand the work represents.” – David Baldwin, founder of Baldwin&
As we near the end of 2022 and everybody thinks of their New Year’s resolutions, it’s a good time for brands to clarify how they plan to better align with their purpose.
First thing’s first: in order to lead with purpose externally, your internal brand culture should be driven by your brand’s purpose (#1). Get your people aligned with that purpose. Don’t just use your purpose as a means of winning awards (#2) as this won’t take you very far in the long run. Practice what you preach instead. Purpose is more than a tagline (#3). Connect it to your actions if you truly wish to improve customers’ lives and assure your brand’s position in their hearts.
David Baldwin explains:
“Purpose shouldn’t just live in the marketing department. Instead, it should be an internal and external cultural imperative for everyone. Purpose should drive the entire company and brand behaviors of which marketing is only one manifestation.
If the company’s culture isn’t driven by the brand’s purpose first, beware because your purpose marketing journey could become a rocky ride.
One first step is to stop thinking of purpose marketing as only a form of cause marketing. Instead, use your purpose to drive your company’s culture, the way the products are made, the kind of people hired, and the value that product brings to people’s life.
Is your company in the business of saving whales or is it to deliver an emotional or rational, tangible benefit of the brand and the products it produces? These are key questions.
Essentially, purpose can be an engine in the company that puts its values into the world and creates behaviors based on those values.
When it’s just a marketing campaign, and Kyle in accounting, Susan in logistics, and Murray the spreadsheet guy, don’t know anything about it or, in fact, maybe they see it for the first time when it runs as a campaign, man, that’s when the trouble starts.
Probably the biggest punching bag on this one is Gillette’s take on toxic masculinity. A very worthy effort but one that didn’t seem to show up in the company’s product offerings. Why, for instance, do they charge women more for a comparable razor than they do men? Little things like this can kill you. So, standing for a new kind of manhood could be very powerful for them but they should first apply this purpose throughout the entire organization and then do the ads.”
David clearly has some strong views on purpose, so keep reading…
“Treating purpose as a one-off or as an opportunity to win awards – which, let’s face it, is often the goal of an agency doing that kind of work for their clients – is a huge miss for the actual company or brand the work represents. But there’s tremendous pressure for many agencies to win awards: for their people, for their profile, for their global rankings. So, this phenomenon isn’t going to go anywhere.
Where we see so much dissonance is when a company says it stands for something and then behaves in a completely contrary way in the marketplace.
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Nike takes a stand to support Colin Kaepernick with a really fantastic campaign but then Phil Knight donates a million dollars to support a GOP candidate for governor in Oregon – that amounts to half of Nike’s contributions to political candidates. I say this not to denigrate the GOP, the candidates, or Phil Knight, he can donate to whomever he would like to. I’m merely pointing out the two behaviors are at odds. The GOP ran a counteroffensive against Kaepernick and used him as a culture war fundraising foil. Where’s the consistency here? Let’s take the politics out of it, the act itself confuses customers. Do you believe in the statement, ‘Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything,’ or not? It seems the answer is not, other than for the marketing department and the agency.
Let’s leave the ad space for a second: Starbucks is all about community and creating a third place for people to gather. They do amazing things for their employees, things like offering a generous college tuition program, maternity leave options, child-care options, commuter perks, and much more. Yet, the minute their community of employees want to unionize, they do everything they can to crush it. Again, this is not to question the issue of unions or benefits, your personal belief is between you and Zeus as far as I’m concerned. It’s about brand consistency. It causes dissonance not only for their customers but, I think, for their employees, as well.
Brand purpose, when adopted by a company, is a very powerful tool and serves as a receipt for the company’s mission and behavior. It doesn’t mean every employee agrees, it just means the company’s mission and position are aligned and consistent, making decisions easier, opportunities clearer to identify, and pitfalls more visible and easier to avoid for all involved.
If your campaigns and advertising reflect that foundational work, enter the hell out of them because that means you’re showing the way. But, if you’re only doing it to win awards, you’re doing it wrong.”
MaryLee Sachs of Brandpie adds to the practicality of the matter by saying:
“CEOs of businesses around the world – and across a range of industries – have realized the core truth that purpose is an essential ingredient to their success: a recent survey shows that 73% of over 1000 CEO respondents reported that they saw purpose as a strategic compass for their business.
It’s wonderful to see that respect for purpose as a business driver is on the rise, but the reality is that business leaders must walk that walk.
A powerful purpose only makes an impactful business driver if leaders are willing to integrate it into every aspect of their business, using it not just as a message, but as a core foundation for action.
Connect your purpose to your actions
The most important step toward activating your purpose is ensuring that it really can function across every level of your business – that you can refer to your purpose as the North Star your entire business can follow.
True purpose champions are leaders who make purpose the central organizing idea for everything they do – and by extension, everything their business does – to create value. One company that has pioneered in this respect is Oatly.
According to the organization’s Chief Sustainability Officer, Ashley Allen – who I recently interviewed – purpose is the bigger idea, bigger than sustainability alone, but environmental purpose has always served as a proactive, guiding force for Oatly. In fact, committing to act sustainably in everything the organization does, from its production methods, to how it influences consumers, to how it treats employees, has helped make Oatly the monumental success it is today, with profits continuing to rise year on year.”
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