The purpose of Purpose

As with most debates in the marketing community, the current discussion (or uproar) over the role and effectiveness of ‘purpose’ strategies is both futile and misses the point. Purpose as a component of marketing strategy is here to stay, and Kantar BrandZ can tell you why.

Purpose strategies are nothing new. The first thing that marketers need to do is to establish exactly what they are talking about when the subject is discussed, since we see four types – or levels – of purpose strategy:

Ethical foundation

The company is founded on ethical principles, with an aim to improve society or the world. This informs every decision the company makes, putting purpose equal to profit. Example: Patagonia, The Body Shop

Business strategy

The business adopts a strategy of delivering on a purpose as well as being profitable; it tries to reduce the harm it does through its actions and works towards a positive outcome, because it sees this as a way to make profit by attracting customers, partners and talent. Example: Unilever

Brand strategy

The brand adopts a marketing strategy to promote the brand by ensuring that the brand, product or service does more than just meet consumers’ immediate needs, adding new and potentially differentiating associations. Example: Nike

Advertising strategy

A campaign communicates around a specific initiative designed to support an altruistic goal – a charity, a good cause, a beneficial technology etc. – alongside regular brand messages. Example: Pampers (UNICEF vaccines)

No strategy is guaranteed to be effective. Purpose strategies are no different. Peter Field’s recent analysis of EffWorks identified that, overall, purpose-based advertising strategies did not yield better results, but that those that were well executed could indeed have exceptional performance. This is good news, and supports the concept of purpose-based strategies generally. Further, the higher-level business strategy implications have been made clear by the US Business Roundtable and by investor analysis by Forbes and BCG. If business are behaving more sustainably and purposefully, then it is natural that their brands would use this to inform their brand and advertising strategies.

Currently, our BrandZ data suggests that relatively few brands and trying and succeeding at creating positive consumer attitudes from a purpose-based strategy, at any of the levels described here (much as Peter Field found relatively few successful Purpose campaigns in his analysis). Our evidence shows that it is having a greater influence away from the ‘traditional’ marketing heartlands of Madison Avenue and Silicon Valley, and much more in India, China and South Africa. It’s also more important for B2B brands – demonstrating the influence that the higher-level conversations about responsibility and sustainability among CEOs and business owners is having.

Purpose can work as a strategy for brands when it’s based on the right consumer insight and executed effectively. They are exactly like any other strategy. The BrandZ evidence shows that brands have succeeded in delivering on purpose as an ethical commitment, as a route to product innovation, as a way to define a brand experience, and as a simple reason to communicate.