There are emerging trends and then there are fully emerged trends
If you take the Cannes 2013 awards as a guide then the idea that brands should take on public spirited causes is now a fully emerged trend
I mean by this not just a commitment to being responsible in the way they do business. No this is something altogether more high profile.
In this years awards many of the award winners- a majority perhaps- were companies communicating how they are working on behalf of citizens and championing public spirited causes
Such as these campaigns
IBM making billboards into seats and shelters for weary travellers.
Dela Dela Funeral Insurance encouraging us to be nice to relatives, before they die.
Channel 4 saluting Paralympic athletes.
Smart Communications providing textbooks for poor schoolchildren using old mobile phones.
Dove encouraging women to value their own beauty.
Oreo cookies celebrating diversity.
Recife Football Club encouraging organ donation.
P&G has become the worlds proud sponsor of mums ( that last one is quite a turnaround- when i started in the biz they were an anonymous chemical company)
What is the thinking behind this? It is based on the belief that people don’t just buy what you do, they also buy why you do it.
Put another way the model is this-
“Love my values,
Love my brand,
Buy my product or service ( at a premium)”
Is it working ? Well Nielsen have just published some research that suggests that it does –
The proportion of consumers willing to pay more for goods and services from companies engaged in corporate social responsibility has increased to 50% globally, according to new research.
The study from market researchers Nielsen also found that 43% of global respondents have actually spent more on products and services from companies that have implemented programmes to give back to society.
That represents just 7% fewer than those expressing willingness to do so and comes amidst signs of a rising trend of goodwill towards socially responsible brands.
Credit should go to Unilever with their 5 levers of change and to the Dove team- the big players who were at in the start of this recent trend .
But i don’t think they invented it – “Love my values love my brand” marketing is really a classic challenger brand strategy as explained by Adam Morgan in Eating the Big Fish. People who pioneered this trend go further back like the late and highly visionary Anita Roddick with The Body Shop. It is just that the rest of the marketing world has taken a long time to catch up with Anita
Roddick was well ahead of her time – a true pioneer
But why this trend now ? Like a lot of emerged trends, There is not just one factor but a combination
– Follow my leader: when Unilever and P&G do something big time, others follow
– Marketing and business theory. John Kay in Obliquity and Jim Stengel in Grow have made the business performance case ; Companies that purely pursue profits ( aka The Shareholder Value School) do less well than those who try to do the right thing. And sometimes doing the right thing means championing causes.
-Staff motivation: people are not just motivated by money. They prefer to work at and perform better at places ( private or public sector) that pursue a higher purpose.
-Customer service: Staff who are believers (and not just mercenaries) deliver better service. Companies like John Lewis for example.
– Premium pricing – if Mintel is right we pay more to companies that give back to society
– Communications effectiveness; It gives a company or brand a true story to tell – one that is worth telling in film (still the most moving of media) and a story to pass on through networks and through social media. Stories worth talking about and participating in.
Strategist, writer and teacher. Ex Ogilvy and ex Google. I am currently working on a start up called Chimnie, which will revolutionise the property market
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