Getting to the purpose of brand purpose

‘Brand purpose’ has been conflated with high-minded, social purpose of saving the planet and fighting every social injustice known to man. And while business is vital for making an impact towards these causes, there are more brands getting it wrong than right and the cost to pay is high.

Brand purpose has long been criticised, especially by shareholders. Terry Smith, one of Unilever’s biggest shareholders, is of the opinion that a sustainability approach to purpose is merely virtue signalling, questioning whether soap, ice cream and mayonnaise really require socially driven purpose statements. Unilever has made sustainability the bedrock of their purpose. Its purpose statement is “to make sustainable living commonplace.” The FMCG giant claims that its 28 ‘Sustainable Living’ brands grew 69% faster than the rest of the business, up from 46% in 2017, and delivered 75% of Unilever’s overall growth that year.

Unilever also has a distinct advantage as a holding company who can use its many brands to make its purpose tangible. Its brands take direction and inspiration from the holding company and craft their own purpose statements which serve Unilever well. Unilever’s largest washing powder brand: OMO (or Persil in other markets) is proof of this. The brand’s purpose statement “to encourage people to unleash their full potential, showing their determination and resilience through the power of getting dirty” is powerfully delivered through the brand’s positioning line; “Dirt is good.” Not only is the brand purpose statement geared towards social impact, but it is also specific and relevant to the category.

Some brands have tried and failed at delivering on socially driven purpose statements an example being Pepsi. In 2017 Pepsi launched its “Live for Now - Moments” brand campaign starring Kendal Jenner, who was meant to communicate a message of unity, peace, and understanding, however it fell flat garnering criticism of trivialising the Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality.

Another brand that was accused with virtue signalling is Gillette with its “The Best Men Can Be” brand campaign back in 2019. The ad features stereotypes of masculinity which include bullying and harassment, quite frankly criticising the very men who have been loyal to the brand for over a century and painting them as toxic. Even worse, the brand was seen to be milking the #MeToo movement screaming inauthenticity. Although the message of the ad was right and it managed to start a conversation that needed to be had, Gillette didn’t have a credible say on the matter cause toxic masculinity and being clean shaven have nothing to do with one another.

These failed displays of social purpose, erodes brand trust. Do consumers expect brands to get involved in social issues? Yes, but brands fail dismally at this. In Edelman’s “In Brands We Trust?” special report, 56% of consumers say too many brands are using societal issues as a marketing ploy.

The problem is when we, brand builders and marketers, conflate purpose, ESG and corporate social responsibility but in its simplest form, brand purpose is an exercise in stripping away the layers of your business strategy, how you make money, and getting to the core of why you’re in business.

Brand purpose is not some lofty statement aimed at making an environmental or social impact. Brand purpose can be as simple as “To inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow” Legos purpose statement or “To refresh the world and make a difference” Coca Cola’s purpose statement or “To empower every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more” which is Microsoft’s purpose statement. These purpose statements are inspiring without jumping on any sustainability bandwagons.

More recently, Cadbury made the choice to take inspiration from its “glass and a half” tagline and its original chocolate recipe to focus its purpose on generosity by “Inspiring others to be more generous”. As simple as this statement is, it has the potential to serve as a catalyst to change the world and isn’t that why we’re all here anyway?

 Much to Terry Smith’s disappointment, purpose is not dead. But brands need to make their purpose real, practical, authentic and relevant. It doesn’t need to be some lofty statement, what purpose needs, is to be more down to earth.

The exercise of getting to the core of why you’re in business may be long and tedious and grounding it in something real can prove to take even longer, it’s not only necessary or the right thing to do, it will set you apart.